I think not a journalist, but a journalist's source [1].
I think the facts are something like:
- Martin Tripp, a Tesla employee working at the Gigafactory, leaked to a journalist that Tesla was wasting a large amount of raw material when making batteries
- Tesla identified that the leak came from Tripp and fired him
- Musk told the local sheriff and The Guardian that they had been tipped off that Tripp intended to come in and shoot up the factory
- Tripp disputes that he wanted to shoot up the factory
- Tripp was visited by police
- There was a civil lawsuit from each side, Tripp ended up having to pay $400K for leaking his employer's corporate trade secrets
I think the facts are something like:
- Martin Tripp, a Tesla employee working at the Gigafactory, leaked to a journalist that Tesla was wasting a large amount of raw material when making batteries
- Tesla identified that the leak came from Tripp and fired him
- Musk told the local sheriff and The Guardian that they had been tipped off that Tripp intended to come in and shoot up the factory
- Tripp disputes that he wanted to shoot up the factory
- Tripp was visited by police
- There was a civil lawsuit from each side, Tripp ended up having to pay $400K for leaking his employer's corporate trade secrets
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/21/tesla-whi...