A prominent member of the Department of Government Efficiency was beaten in an attempted carjacking in Washington this week, prompting President Trump to renew his threat of a federal takeover of the city.
The victim was Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old software engineer known by his online sobriquet, Big Balls, according to the police, who said he was surrounded and attacked by 10 young assailants outside his car.
In a social media post on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Trump shared a photograph that appeared to show Mr. Coristine lying in the street bleeding, battered and shirtless, writing that crime in the nation’s capital was “totally out of control,” though the city’s crime rates have been falling.
“If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City,” he said.
The president argued that young people in the city do not fear consequences if they commit crimes, tapping into a thorny local issue. Youth crime remains a trouble spot for Washington, with young people making up a majority of the arrests for robbery and carjacking. In April, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced the creation of a special police unit specifically dedicated to preventing and responding to juvenile crime.
“The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14,” Mr. Trump said in his social media post on Tuesday.
The episode marked the latest twist in the saga of DOGE and the young Elon Musk acolytes who came to Washington to reshape the federal government and have remained even after Mr. Musk’s public falling out with the president.
Mr. Coristine, who did not respond to a request for comment, is now working at the Social Security Administration after stints across the federal government. He played a role in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Police officers arrested two 15-year-old suspects, a boy and a girl, both from Maryland, at the scene, according to authorities. Officials said the episode happened in the early morning hours on Sunday in an upscale neighborhood less than two miles from the White House. The two teenagers were charged with unarmed carjacking. The police said they were seeking additional suspects.
Mr. Coristine was with his “significant other” when the 10 young people approached them, according to a police report. He told officers that he pushed his girlfriend into the car “for her safety” and then “turned to deal with the suspects” before being attacked. Police officers patrolling the area interrupted the assault.
Mr. Trump did not identify Mr. Coristine in his social media post. Mr. Musk soon posted about the incident on social media, seeming to put aside his conflict with Mr. Trump and agreeing: “It is time to federalize D.C.”
The president has floated the idea of a federal takeover since the earliest weeks of his second term, a threat bolstered by legislation introduced by congressional Republicans who want to impose their policy agenda on the city’s Democrat-led government. The city has had a limited degree of self-government since the Home Rule Act of 1973.
So far, Congress and the Trump administration have taken a series of smaller bites out of Washington’s autonomy, including handing the city an unexpected $1.1 billion budget hole and creating a federal “D.C. Safe and Beautiful” task force to work with local police officers.
Ms. Bowser has openly acknowledged the challenge of protecting the city’s delicate autonomy, and has taken steps to comply with some of Mr. Trump’s wishes. In March, she ordered the removal of the “Black Lives Matter” mural that was painted on a street leading up to the White House.
She has also pointed to the city’s falling crime rates. In January, officials announced that violent crime in the city had reached a 30-year low, with a 26 percent decline this year compared to 2024. Homicides in the city are also down 13 percent, even after a 32 percent drop last year.
Because the suspects are minors, the office of the District of Columbia attorney general will handle the case. The district has strict confidentiality protections for juvenile crime.
“No one who lives in, works in, or visits D.C. should experience this,” Brian Schwalb, the District of Columbia’s attorney general, said in a statement. “It is horrific and disturbing.”
Erica L. Green contributed reporting.
Nicholas Nehamas is a Washington correspondent for The Times, focusing on the Trump administration and its efforts to transform the federal government.
Campbell Robertson reports for The Times on Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
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