A 19-year-old ex-Department of Government Efficiency employee was violently beaten during an attempted carjacking in D.C. on Sunday. Now, President Donald Trump is once again threatening to “federalize” the District.
D.C. Police confirmed to WTOP that around 3 a.m. Sunday, officers observed Edward Coristine being assaulted near his vehicle by about 10 juveniles in the 1400 block of Swann Street. Police intervened and were able to take two suspects into custody, while others fled the scene on foot.
The two suspects — a 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl from Hyattsville, Maryland — were arrested and charged with unarmed carjacking, police said.
Police released a photo of a third person of interest in this incident, but no other details about the suspect have been released.
In the police report, officials said Coristine overheard the teens talking about taking the car. He pushed his girlfriend to sit in the car while he dealt with the suspects, who then assaulted him.
Police are offering a $10,000 reward for any tips that lead to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the assault.
Trump calls for changes in DC
The attack grabbed the attention of President Trump, who said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday that crime in D.C. is “totally out of control.”
Attached to the post was an image of a shirtless young man covered in blood on the ground.
He called for the law to be changed to allow minors as young as 14 to be charged as adults “and lock them up for a long time.”
“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 wrote.
At a press conference Tuesday where he signed an executive order to form a task force for the 2028 Olympics, Trump said Coristine “was beat up by a bunch of thugs.”
“Either they’re going to straighten their act out, in terms of government and in terms of protection, or we’re going to have to federalize (D.C.) and run it the way it’s supposed to be run,” he added.
Olivia George, a federal affairs reporter with the Washington Post, told WTOP’s Nick Iannelli that while the president continues to make these threats against the District, the mayor and the city government have played nice and emphasized “shared priorities,” like return-to-office mandates and cracking down on crime.
“This time around, really focusing on what (Mayor Muriel Bowser is) describing as shared priorities and D.C. being a safe, clean place to live,” George said. “Both local leaders and federal leaders alike have described similar priorities, even if it’s kind of cloaked in language that can seem very different.”
Could Trump actually take over DC?
Trump cannot unilaterally take over the District without the help of Congress to repeal the city’s Home Rule Act, which allows the city to have control of its own local affairs, including the ability to elect a mayor, a council of representatives and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners who manage neighborhood concerns.
Trump could interfere with the District’s affairs by issuing executive orders against the city — like the one he signed in March that established a task force to make sure D.C. is complying with immigration authorities among other things. He could also take control of the D.C. police force — but only for qualifying emergencies and for only 30 days without a law being passed to extend it.
Trump floated the idea in 2020 when demonstrators took to the street in large waves, which provoked multiple D.C. Council members and Bowser to speak out against him.
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% from the same period last year.
D.C. police said their investigation into the attack on Coristine remains active and additional suspects are still being sought.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
