WASHINGTON — A House Democrat is pledging that he will “not back down” after he said he received a letter from the Justice Department insinuating remarks he made about Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser to President Donald Trump, could be seen as threatening and requesting he provide an explanation.
“We have a constitutional right to criticize the administration and the actions of Elon Musk," Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., wrote in a post on X on Friday regarding the letter. "Trump’s Department of Justice should not work to silence Members of Congress. We will not back down.”
In a separate post on Thursday, the California Democrat asserted that “Trump’s Department of Justice is targeting me for criticizing Elon Musk.”
The letter signed by Ed Martin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who was just tapped by Trump to serve in the role permanently, asks Garcia to submit a response by Monday clarifying remarks he made in an interview with CNN on Feb. 12.
In the interview, Garcia was asked about bringing a picture of Musk to a committee hearing and calling it a “d--- pic” in reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Grenne, R-Ga., previously showing nude photos of former President Biden’s son, Hunter, at a hearing. Musk was not nude in the photo Garcia displayed.
“Well, he is a d---,” Garcia told CNN. “I think he’s also harming the American public in an enormous way.”
The California Democrat went on to say that the American public wants Democrats to “bring actual weapons to this bar fight.”
“This is an actual fight for democracy, for the future of this country, and it’s important to push back on the chairperson of this committee,” he added, referring to Greene.
“This sounds to me 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,” Martin, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, wrote in his letter to Garcia. “We take threats against public officials very seriously.”
The Washington Post was the first to report on the letter.
Garcia pushed back on the notion that his comments were threatening, saying in an interview with CNN on Thursday that he doesn’t believe “a reasonable person” would listen to his remarks in the Feb. 12 interview and view it that way.
“Violence, of course, is never the answer,” he continued. “But this is a country that also people have a right to be able to push back and oppose whatever government is in power.”
He went on to call the idea that members of Congress can’t push back on the Trump administration with “figures of speech” as “dangerous.”
Earlier this month, Martin wrote to Musk pleading to pursue legal action against “anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people.”
“I recognize that some of the staff at DOGE has been targeted publicly,” Martin wrote, referring to Trump’s full-force effort to cut government spending and shrink the federal workforce, known as the U.S. DOGE Service and helmed by Musk, at least in practice. “At this time, I ask that you utilize me and my staff to assist in protecting the DOGE work and the DOGE workers.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia did not respond to Spectrum News’ request for comment regarding the letters and Garcia’s response.
Musk has become a key figure in Democrats’ efforts to push back against the second Trump administration, particularly as it embarks on its widespread campaign to slash the size of the federal government. The campaign has already led to mass layoffs across departments and apparent efforts to shutter entire agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.
