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Protesters target Tesla showrooms over Elon Musk’s cost-cutting

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Protesters target Tesla showrooms over Elon Musk’s cost-cutting

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Protesters gathered outside Tesla showrooms across the US on Saturday to demonstrate against the drastic cuts Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser to President Donald Trump, is imposing on the federal government.

Organisers cited 37 protests across the country as part of an effort co-ordinated through the social media hashtags #TeslaTakedown and #TeslaTakover.

Musk’s car company is emerging as a target for political outrage in the US and Europe in response to the billionaire’s outsized influence in the White House.

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Through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), Musk has orchestrated the dismissal of tens of thousands of civil servants, and gained access to sensitive US Treasury payments. He has also voiced his support for the German far-right and called for the centre-left government of Sir Keir Starmer in the UK to be thrown out.

What began with Tesla owners slapping bumper stickers on their cars saying “I bought this before Elon went crazy” has grown to activists projecting an image of Musk making a gesture many have likened to a Nazi salute on to Tesla’s factory in Berlin.

Protesters rally at a Tesla showroom in New York on Saturday. © Bloomberg

The UK campaign group Led by Donkeys joined with Germany’s Centre for Political Beauty in January to project the image, part of a longer montage of Musk’s recent political statements. The group said it was produced in response to the Tesla chief executive’s endorsement of German far-right political party, the AfD.

Local news outlets have reported on arson and attempted arson at Tesla showrooms in Oregon and Colorado. Earlier this month a Tesla showroom in The Hague was defaced with graffiti that included swastikas and anti-fascist slogans.

Dutch police confirmed to the FT that they were in contact with Tesla and the investigation was continuing, but no arrests had yet been made.

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Tesla’s stock, which climbed after the presidential election, fell 6 per cent on Tuesday to $328.50. It rebounded to close the week at $355.84 but is still down 12 per cent since the start of the year.

“The worry of the Street is that Musk dedicating so much time — even more than we expected — to Doge takes away from his time at Tesla,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

“In addition, Musk’s Doge-related actions and more powerful alliance with Trump clearly could alienate some consumers to move away from the Tesla brand.”

About 50 to 100 protesters turned out in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, carrying signs saying, “Dethrone Musk” and “If Tesla survives, your country dies”.

Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, was one of them. Since Musk’s power is not derived from election to public office, he said, boycotting and divesting from Tesla is the only tool available to curb his agenda.

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He argued that Tesla was overvalued and that its core business of making and selling cars was deteriorating. Significant losses could force investors to sell, triggering a drop in the share price and forcing Musk to sell a portion of his shares to meet a margin call.

“Every Tesla sale that you prevent, every dollar not spent servicing a Tesla, not charging at the Supercharger — these further degrade the business,” Niedermeyer said.

“It’s not easy, it’s not guaranteed, but we do have the opportunity to wipe out a huge amount of Elon Musk’s wealth.”

In Chicago, protesters carried a banner saying “Stop buying Nazi cars”.

City resident Lisa Pereira said she came to the demonstration because “you have to do something”. She said she was disturbed by the administration’s attempts to crush diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, its aggressive immigration enforcement, and the power wielded by Musk.

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“Everything is a little off the rails,” she said. “So I decided I had to show up. I had to be in cahoots with my soul.”

Chris White said he attended on Saturday because he fears “we’re living through a fascist coup”.

“My kids are trans,” he said. “I’m getting told they don’t exist. I don’t know if their healthcare will exist.”

Though one man yelled from a truck, “Elon’s my hero!” most passers-by in the heavily Democratic city expressed support.

“I’d rather buy a Rivian,” said one, referring to the electric-truck maker whose showroom was a block away from the protest.

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Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Finn Gomez/Getty Images

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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