When decrying the vandalism of Teslas as domestic terrorism directed at Elon Musk and President Donald J. Trump, the chairman of the legislature’s Conservative Caucus told reporters that a Connecticut state lawmaker was one of the victims. But the story told Monday by Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wa llingford, lacked critical details. The incident occurred five months before Trump returned to the White House in January. And the man charged with keying a Tesla owned by a Democratic state senator did not fit the profile of an anti-Trumper — he is a Republican and a former gun lobbyist who unsuccessfully fought passage of the post-Sandy Hook gun-control laws. The vandalism of the senator’s car on Aug. 8 never was publicized. But the accused vandal and his politics were known to Fishbein by other means: The man is one of Fishbein’s legal clients, though not in the Tesla case. A police record shows the owner of the damaged Tesla Model 3 is Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, and the man arrested is James Crook, 47, of Madison, one of her constituents in the eight-town 12th Senate District. Fishbein acknowledged Tuesday night through a House spokesman that the incident in which Crook was arrested was the anonymous example he offered Monday as political vandalism in Connecticut inspired by animus to Trump and Musk. He declined to be interviewed or make further comment. It was the only example of Tesla damage in Connecticut he offered. At a press conference on Monday, Fishbein said, “These attacks are undeniable, hate-filled political statements from people trying to intimidate and silence the president and his advisors.” Musk, the world’s richest man, has taken time from running Tesla, SpaceX and his other ventures to oversee the Trump administration’s efforts to radically downsize the federal government. Last week, Fishbein wrote a letter to Attorney General William Tong highlighting what he called “acts of domestic terrorism” that “are being carried out as a form of political retaliation against President Trump and entrepreneur Elon Musk.” Crook was arrested in October and charged with first-degree criminal mischief, a class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison.  The threshold for a felony charge in a vandalism case is damages exceeding $1,500. The estimated cost of repairing the car was $4,684.91, according to the Guilford police affidavit supporting an application for an arrest warrant. His case is pending, with a notation in an otherwise sealed file that typically indicates an application has been made for a diversionary program available to defendants with no criminal records. Democrats say Cohen had notified colleagues of the incident, but she made no public comment about the case and declined to say anything Tuesday on Fishbein’s characterization of it. Fishbein represents Crook in a divorce and child custody case now in its fourth year. Crook did not respond to a message left on his phone, but the police affidavit states that he admitted to causing the damage after being informed the vandalism was captured on video. The Tesla’s 360-degree video coverage of the vehicle’s exterior showed a white male exiting a UPS store in the Village Walk Plaza on Boston Post Road in Guilford, dragging a key along the length of the Tesla’s passenger side, then leaving in a Chevrolet pickup truck registered to Crook, according to the affidavit. Crook told police the woman driving the Tesla had bumped his truck when opening her car door, infuriating him. Police say when they asked if keying the car was the best response, Crook replied, “Figured one good turn deserves another.” According to the affidavit, the video shows that Cohen never struck Crook’s truck. Cohen’s car had legislative plates with the number 12, denoting her Senate district. Crook denied noticing the plates or Cohen, police said. In the report, Cohen is quoted as saying she did not believe she ever had dealings with Crook, though her support of gun control and opposition to the expansion of hunting would place her at odds with Crook’s former employer.  Cohen was first elected in 2018, after Crook had ended his relatively brief career as a lobbyist for the Coalition for Connecticut Sportsmen, a defunct organization that had been run by his father, Robert T. Crook. “This is my first year as a lobbyist,” the younger Crook said at rally by gun owners outside the state Capitol in April 2013. “People have called it trial by fire.” The 2013 session was dominated by the crafting and passage of a sweeping gun control law inspired by the shooting deaths of 26 children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School the previous December.  Crook called the measure “the political-extortion-Pelosi-anti-gun bill.” U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California was then the leader of the House Democratic minority.  He lobbied for at least four years.  Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, during the COVID pandemic, wearing a mask in response to a House rule he opposed. Credit: MARK PAZNIOKAS / CTMIRROR.ORG Fishbein was elected to the House in 2016 on a ticket led by Trump. He represents the 90th House District of Wallingford and Middlefield and serves as the ranking House Republican on the legislature’s Judiciary Committee. The Conservative Caucus he leads has 10 members, all Republicans in the House. Fishbein complained Monday that the political left had turned on Musk after praising him as a pioneer in making and marketing electric vehicles. “Now,” he said, “after he aligned himself with President Trump’s policies of rooting out fraud and shrinking the federal government, those same voices have branded him a villain, and his company, and its products, are being violently attacked.” ...read more read less