Trump Says Probation for Teens Charged in DOGE Attack Is ‘Terrible’

The Washington Post

13:23 JST, October 16, 2025

Two teens arrested in connection with the attempted carjacking of a former U.S. DOGE Service staffer in August – an attack that captured the attention of President Donald Trump and in part ignited his sweeping crime crackdown on the nation’s capital – were sentenced Tuesday to probation, avoiding incarceration.

The decision spurred swift condemnation from the president and administration officials, reviving their ongoing criticism that young people who commit crimes in D.C. are treated too leniently.

“That’s terrible,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon, adding that “the judge should be ashamed.”

A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to a year of probation after he pleaded guilty last month to four counts split between two incidents that took place one night in early August: attempted robbery and simple assault on Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old software engineer known as “Big Balls” who began work in the federal government as a protégé of Elon Musk; and felony assault and robbery at a nearby gas station shortly before.

A 15-year-old girl pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of simple assault for pepper-spraying someone at the gas station. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss another simple assault charge she faced from that night. A judge gave her nine months of probation. The Office of the Attorney General, responsible for prosecuting crimes by juveniles in D.C., had not asked the judge to commit either teen. The judge’s sentence in each case reflected prosecutors’ requests.

U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro – who, like Trump, has clamored for harsher penalties for juveniles who commit crimes – said the decision to sentence the pair to probation was “shocking.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed similar outrage Wednesday.

“One of the big issues in D.C. is these juveniles, they just get a slap on the wrist,” she said on “The Charlie Kirk Show.” “This administration has a completely different philosophy. We need law and order.”

The two teens were part of a group wreaking havoc along a busy nightlife corridor in D.C. about a mile from the White House in the early hours of Aug. 3. No other juveniles have been charged.

“The two of you were together with a larger group of younger people who decided to basically terrorize U Street,” Judge Kendra D. Briggs said to the teens at D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon. One of those incidents, the attack on Coristine, ricocheted throughout the West Wing and around the globe.

The boy, prosecutors said, was among a group that approached Coristine and another person on Swann Street in Northwest Washington in the predawn darkness one Sunday.

“Let me get your car! Let me get your car,” the group said, according to prosecutors. While the other person was able to get into the vehicle and lock the doors, Coristine remained outside and was pummeled by attackers.

Trump posted a picture of a bloodied Coristine to social media, vowing a swift federal intervention if D.C. didn’t “get its act together, and quickly.” Less than a week later, Trump announced he was putting D.C. police under direct federal control and deploying the National Guard to fight crime on the streets of Washington.

Although Trump’s temporary declaration of a crime emergency in D.C. has expired, GOP lawmakers continue to clamp down on the nation’s capital, advancing a raft of bills that would overhaul aspects of the local justice system in line with the president’s demands.

Last month, House lawmakers voted to allow 14-year-olds to be tried as adults for serious crimes and to treat young people more harshly in the D.C. justice system – fulfilling a top request from the administration despite universal opposition from local leaders. The same week, Republican members of the House Oversight Committee grilled top D.C. elected officials, including the mayor, with questions about what they were doing to keep people safe.

Coristine did not respond to a request for comment but posted on X late Wednesday morning.

“This senseless crime must be stopped,” he wrote, adding that many of the people involved in his attack remain on the streets.

“That night could’ve gone far differently. Think of your daughters and mothers,” he wrote. “The same group attacked people before and after us, breaking ribs and stomping heads.”

The person Coristine had been with spoke in court on Tuesday. “I’m a very religious person,” she said, telling the teens how important it was to “stop and think” before acting and recognizing the consequences of their actions.

As part of their sentence, the teens each must do 90 hours of community service. They also must stay away from each other, stay out of cars unless they have the permission of the owner, and stay out of D.C. save for a few court-permitted reasons such as legal appointments and family occasions.

Both teens live in Maryland – the boy with his mother and the girl with her father. Both parents attended Tuesday’s court hearing virtually. It was the teens’ first encounter with the D.C. justice system, although the girl has a pending matter in Maryland, her lawyer said.

Both were charged in juvenile court, where the goal is “is rehabilitation, not punishment,” Briggs said.

“I know you are not unfamiliar to trauma,” the judge told the girl. “I don’t disagree that the trauma you’ve already suffered in life is kind of how you ended up on U Street that day. But I think you also have to think about the trauma that you’re inflicting on others when you engage in the activities that you all chose to engage in a couple of months ago.”

The Washington Post was granted access to the hearing on the condition that it not disclose any details that could identify the teens. The Post generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes.

As part of her sentence, the girl is required to complete weekly drug testing and drug treatment. Both teens will continue to be tracked via electronic monitor. At the courthouse Tuesday, the girl’s device was visible over her socks.

“I have seen a positive change just in the time that I have known her,” her lawyer, Natalie Murphy, told the courtroom Tuesday, urging the judge to sentence her client to just four and a half months of probation. “I’ve seen her making friends, I’ve seen her start work, I’ve seen her make real attempts at following the conditions of this court.”

She has also begun volunteering with a local nonprofit group and drew hope and support from attending church with her father, Murphy said. In the courtroom, the girl is her “most anxious and stressed” self.

“But her teachers, the guidance counselor and me, we see a whole different side” – a young person with “an incredibly bright future,” Murphy said.

The judge had previously admonished the girl for testing positive for marijuana and being late to school on numerous occasions. That was marked progress, though, Murphy said, considering she was truant all of her spring semester.

The boy’s lawyer, Alex Hillmann, also stressed his remorse and commitment to reversing course.

“While those incidents were very serious, he has taken responsibility,” Hillmann said. “He’s on a new path now – one that’s not criminal or violent.”

The boy was among a group who approached a cluster of people outside a gas station, prosecutors said, and ordered them to empty their pockets. Video shows the boy, wearing a black ski mask, hit two people, according to prosecutors. Then he kicked the head of another person on the ground as others took his shoes and watch.

The person was left with a broken rib and needed stitches to his face, prosecutors said.

“I hope that you can figure out everything in the future and I hope you’re ready for whatever consequences that may apply upon you,” the victim told the court Tuesday.

Neither teen spoke Tuesday, although the girl wrote a letter to Briggs that was not read publicly. Both teens will check in with the judge in two months to discuss their progress.