A hotel guest captured video of the vehicle in flames directly outside the hotel doors.
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A Tesla Cybertruck appeared to explode outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday morning. A video shared on X shows the truck engulfed in flames just outside the hotel’s lobby, with the person who captured it saying the Cybertruck “blew up.”
It’s still not clear what caused the fire, or if there were any injuries. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said they are “investigating” and that the fire had been put out. Local news station KSNV News 3 Las Vegas said a vehicle fire was first reported at 8:41AM local time and that police and firefighters were responding.
The news of the fire comes amid numerous reports about Tesla CEO Elon Musk getting closer to President-elect Donald Trump. Musk spent New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago and reportedly sat in during Trump’s dinner with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Musk has also been staying at a cottage on Trump’s Florida property since around Election Day, according to a report from The New York Times.
We haven’t yet found a video of the vehicle catching fire, but several others on X say they witnessed an “explosion” and captured videos of the rising smoke. Stephen Felando claimed the windows shook violently on the 53rd floor of the building; Max Radford claimed there were multiple explosions.
“Ayackle,” who captured the lobby video, says the vehicle lowered itself shortly after pulling up to the lobby, then went boom.
“It started off like colourful fireworks,” they wrote on X.
“I and my husband were literally standing where the luggage is in the footage. I just saw it pulled up, and it lowered itself like a bus, and boom it goes. It first looked like fireworks or something but then I immediately feared our life thinking it could be a bomb and ran,” they added.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have yet to make public statements on the incident, but Eric Trump has weighed in: “Earlier today, a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas. The safety and well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response and professionalism.”
Developing… we’ll add more to this story as more info comes to light.
Update, January 1st: Added more videos, details from those who captured video, and Eric Trump’s statement.
