A Democratic congressman who called Elon Musk a “d***” now faces investigation over what the Department of Justice claims was a “threat” made to the billionaire.
California Rep. Robert Garcia accused the DOJ of “silencing” him for critical comments he made about Musk during an interview.
Garcia shared a letter he received from the top federal prosecutor, Ed Martin, who has repeatedly vowed to protect members of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and threatened to investigate critics of President Donald Trump.
“So if you criticize Elon Musk, Trump’s DOJ will send you this letter,” Garcia said. “Members of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration. I will not be silenced.”
Last week Garcia held a “DOGE Demolition” hearing with other House Democrats where he displayed a large image of the billionaire. He jokingly referred to it as a “d*** pic,” which Martin referenced in the letter.
Martn asked Garcia to “clarify” February 12 comments he made on CNN when he was asked how the Democrats could stop Musk. “What the American public want is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight,” Garcia said. “This is an actual fight for democracy.”
“This sounds to some like a threat to Mr Musk – an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you call a ‘d***’ – and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry,” Martin wrote in the letter.
“We take threats against public officials very seriously,” Martin added.
Appearing on MSNBC Friday, Garcia said it was “pretty clear” that the Trump administration was trying to “intimidate” members of Congress “who are actively opposing and criticizing” the president and Musk.
“It’s crazy that they want to investigate me for essentially using a metaphor and for taking on Elon Musk,” Garcia said. “And I think what’s what’s really disturbing in this moment is that we know that we’ve got to fight fire with fire. We know we’ve got to bring the energy to this fight as Elon Musk is raiding the federal treasury to give himself and his billionaire buddies a tax cut, and they want to police that language. “
Fellow Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett came to Garcia’s defense and said Martin’s intervention was “feckless and weak.”
“Please explain how a guy gets his feelings hurt by a member of congress talking about the very legal fight that we are engaged in for the rule of law, our Constitution, and hell just plain ‘ol decency, instead of the corrupt self-dealing on the backs of the most vulnerable that this administration is engaging in!” Crockett wrote in a post on X.
Martin is leading an effort to protect Musk and his DOGE staffers from what he said were “despicable” threats.
“We must protect our cops, our prosecutors, our DOGE workers, the President, and all other government employees from threats against our nation,” Martin said in an email to staff obtained by Rolling Stone.
“My initiative to hold accountable those who threaten workers is named Operation Whirlwind. We will stop the storm of threats against officials at all levels,” he added.
