by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News October 22, 2025
Federal authorities have charged two teens in the attempted carjacking and brutal beating in Washington, D.C. of Edward Coristine, the 19-year-old former DOGE staffer known as “Big Balls.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced on Monday that Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, have been charged with robbery and assault over their alleged roles in the Aug. 3 attack on Big Balls. They were also charged in a separate incident which took place at a DC gas station minutes before the attack.
According to Pirro, Cotton-Powell and Taylor, along with a gang of several others, assaulted and robbed another individual minutes before attacking Coristine. Upon seeing the gang of roughly 10 suspects approaching, Coristine pushed a female friend into her car to try and keep her safe.
“He was then attacked by multiple suspects who then punched him repeatedly, causing significant injuries to him. They got him on the ground, and as they were doing so, they demanded the car from the woman who was inside the car and had already locked the car. They were banging on the car, they were pulling on the car door, trying to get the car open, and were telling the woman in the car to hand over the keys,” said Pirro.
Several days after the assault, President Donald Trump posted a picture of Coristine bleeding, battered and shirtless — writing on Truth social “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City.”
Days after that, Trump declared a local crime emergency — placing the DC police department under direct federal control.
“This case underscores the escalating challenges that we face in confronting crime in Washington, D.C.,” said Pirro, adding that the case highlights “the need for accountability among young offenders.”
Pirro noted that Cotton-Powell’s had a rap sheet a mile long — having been arrested twice in the U Street corridor last year alone. Less than two weeks after the attack on Big Balls, Cotton-Powell was arrested again nearby.
The federal charges came days after a DC Superior Court judge let two 15-year-olds off with probation for the pair of Aug. 3 incidents. In her decision to go light on crime, Judge Kendra D. Biggs said that the goal of juvenile court “is rehabilitation, not punishment.”
Federal charges for alleged attackers of former DOGE staffer ‘Big Balls’ added by Editor Two on
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