DOGE’s ‘Big Balls’ hurt in Washington attack
WASHINGTON—Two 15-year-olds have been arrested in Washington in connection with the attempted carjacking and beating of “Big Balls,” one of the most prominent members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
President Donald Trump said the attack on Edward “Big Balls” Coristine gives more reason for the federal government to seize control of the nation’s capital.
Coristine was among the most visible figures of Trump’s DOGE, which was tasked with slashing federal bureaucracy.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Coristine was assaulted at about 3 a.m. on Sunday in the city’s Logan Circle neighborhood by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman whom police identified as his significant other.
The Metropolitan Police Department said the group approached the couple’s car and made a comment about taking it.
Coristine pushed the woman into the vehicle for safety and turned to confront the group. Several teens then attacked him, police said, until officers patrolling nearby intervened. As officers moved toward the group, the teens fled on foot.
Bloodied
Trump posted a photo on his Truth Social account showing the photo of a bloodied man sitting on the ground.
“Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens,” Trump said.
He added that youth offenders “are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them.”
“[T]hey will be almost immediately released,” Trump also said.
Two 15-year-olds from Maryland were arrested on charges of unarmed carjacking, police said.
The attack gave new fuel to long-standing Republican efforts to challenge Washington’s autonomy, with Trump threatening to bypass local authority and impose direct federal control over the city.
In a social media post and remarks at the White House on Tuesday, the president described crime in Washington as “out of control.”
“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,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Elon Musk who led DOGE reposted on X Trump’s Truth Social post.
‘To the point of concussion’
The billionaire CEO of X said that “a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC.” Coristine “ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her.”
“It is time to federalize DC,” Musk added.
The District of Columbia has long served as a symbolic battleground in debates over crime and governance, and its lack of statehood has made it uniquely vulnerable to federal intervention.
Republican leaders have frequently seized on episodes of violence to portray the city as a case study of violence in cities run by Democratic mayors, even as city officials note that violent crime overall is down more than 25 percent from the same period last year.
Nevertheless, local officials have acknowledged that there has been a surge in youth crime, particularly carjackings, which remain a serious concern.
In April, city officials formed the Juvenile Investigative Response Unit as a response to rising crime involving minors.
Just last year, a 14-year-old was charged with killing a Lyft driver in a botched carjacking, and a significant portion of carjacking arrests in Washington involve juveniles.
The Metropolitan Police Department said its investigation into the attack on Coristine remains active and additional suspects are still being sought.
