ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has been charged with an act of terrorism after he threatened to burn down an xAI facility because he was upset with its founder, Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump, authorities said.
Ethan Paul Early, 25, of Ashland City, was arrested and charged on Feb. 20 after he spoke with a police officer about the threats, according to an affidavit. He was booked into jail on $500,000 bond, court records show. A lawyer listed in court records for Early did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.
A police officer in Ashland City, located northwest of Nashville, said he received a call from a friend of Early’s who was concerned after Early said he wanted to burn down one of Musk’s data centers because he was upset with the tech billionaire and Trump, the affidavit says.
The caller advised that Early said he intended to use thermite and had already begun buying the material to make the compound, which causes intense heat.
The officer went to Early’s home and asked him what he was thinking of burning down, the affidavit says. Early said Musk had an “AI factory” in Memphis. Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, operates a supercomputer in Memphis, located about 200 miles (321 kilometers) west of Ashland City.
Early told the officer that he was no longer thinking about going through with the idea “and that he had good friends that had talked him out of it,” the affidavit says.
“The Defendant admitted that he had gotten too wrapped up in politics and had went ‘too far down the deep end,’” the affidavit says.
Early told the officer that he felt he “had to do something” and was “ashamed of himself to get so carried away,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit does not say what exactly Early was upset about. Early told the officer that he had thrown the material away.
Musk, through the Department of Government Efficiency, has been working to cut the size of the federal government under Trump’s administration. Those cuts include layoffs of government workers.
