Authorities announced the arrest of two teenagers in connection with the alleged brutal assault of a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee during an attempted carjacking in the nation’s capital over the weekend.
A 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl from Hyattsville, Maryland, have been charged with unarmed carjacking, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., announced Tuesday. Police did not provide their identities, as both suspects are juveniles.
Police said the investigation is still underway, with several individuals still outstanding.
A group of teenagers assaulted Edward Coristine, often known as “Big Balls,” around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday in the city’s Logan Circle district. According to authorities, the teens attempted to carjack him and his significant other, a woman.
According to police, Coristine forced the woman into the vehicle for protection before turning to face the group. According to authorities, many of the teens then attacked him before officers patrolling nearby intervened. The teenagers fled on foot as police officers drew closer.
Coristine, one of President Donald Trump’s DOGE’s most public figures, was bloodied in the incident, according to a photo posted by the president on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.
The assault prompted Trump to threaten to federalize Washington, D.C., ordering that local minors and gang members over 14 be prosecuted as adults.
“The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs,” Trump wrote. “Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Former DOGE CEO Elon Musk commented on X, providing more of the story.
“A few days ago, a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC,” Musk wrote. “A @Doge team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her. It is time to federalize DC.”
The president expressed that criminals seem to be “unafraid” of police because “nothing ever happens to them.”
“Washington, D.C. must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see,” he wrote in the post. “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore.”
