A 19-year-old computer programmer and engineering student who was one of Elon Musk’s hires into the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency aka DOGE, has spoken about the attempted carjacking and assault in Washington D.C., which caught national attention
Edward “Big Balls” Coristine was one of two victims of the apparent crime in August. He was left with a broken nose and a concussion, with the incident prompting Trump to threaten to call in the National Guard to tackle lawlessness in the city – a move he followed through with a few days later on Monday, 11 August.
Coristine said on Jesse Watters’ Primetime this week, the incident occurred when “a group of ten guys” approached him and a female friend at around 3.00 am in a parking lot.
“As we get to the car and she begins to fumble for the keys, they begin to shout at us, and really quickly I knew something was really off about this situation. So she unlocks the car, I rush her into the driving seat. I close the door behind her and she’s able to lock the doors. Right as I turn around, they’re right up on me – just a few feet away.
“They slammed me against the car and started throwing a bunch of punches. I keep my hands up. I’m getting a lot of punches here and I’m just trying to protect my head the best way that I can.”
It was alleged in a viral social media post at the time of the attack that “eight thugs” carried out the attack, according to Coristine’s colleague in DOGE, Marko Elez.
The pair’s former boss, Elon Musk, described the number of attackers as a “gang of about a dozen young men.”
The photo of Coristine covered in blood immediately after the incident that accompanied the post was also shared by Trump, along with the threat “to take federal control of the city.”
“Luckily, the whole thing didn’t last too long; the police showed up pretty quickly,” Coristine told Watters.
The police did make arrests of one 15-year-old boy and one 15-year-old girl in relation to the attack. The report notes that “multiple suspects remain outstanding.”
The 15-year-old pleaded guilty to felony assault, simple assault, robbery, and attempted robbery in juvenile court last week, according to The Daily Beast. He will be sentenced next month. His alleged accomplice is scheduled to appear in juvenile court in October.
Coristine, born in December 2005, is the son of Charles Coristine, the chief executive of snack company LesserEvil, which actor Gene Hackman co-founded.
Coristine’s maternal grandfather, Valery Martynov, was a KGB lieutenant colonel who was executed by the Soviet Union in 1987 for allegedly acting as a double agent.
Following Martynov’s death, Coristine’s grandmother relocated to the United States with her children, including Coristine’s mother, Anna.
Coristine earned the nickname “Big Balls” during a math class at school – a moniker he later embraced publicly on his LinkedIn profile. That same year, he began studying mechanical engineering and physics at Northeastern University.
Coristine worked briefly at Neuralink, a Musk-run enterprise, before being appointed to DOGE after Trump took office.
He then worked for the government’s General Services Administration, and after resigning in June, he was hired by the Social Security Administration.
