Edward Coristine, the young engineer known as “Big Balls” who previously worked for the Department of Government Efficiency, was savagely attacked in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 3.
The young man pushed his girlfriend into the safety of a car, then turned to confront a pack of thugs who ultimately left him bloody and beaten on the roadside.
‘This is Liberation Day in D.C.’
This incident — just one of many in the crime-ridden city, which has a 2 rating on Neighborhood Scout’s crime index, where 100 is safest — enraged President Donald Trump, who stated the following day, “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 noted on Monday that “Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today!” and that the “days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people, are OVER!”
After teasing the liberation of D.C. on Truth Social, the president announced during a White House press conference that he will federalize the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and deploy the National Guard, calling the state of play in the capital an “emergency.”
‘It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness.”
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” said Trump. “We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I’m officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and President Donald Trump. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The president is placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police under federal control and deploying the National Guard to “re-establish law, order, and public safety” if needed.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has assumed control of the MPD.
“You want to have safety in the streets. You want to be able to leave your apartment or your house where you live, and feel safe, and go into a store to buy a newspaper or buy something. And you don’t have that now,” said Trump.
“It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness.”
In addition to cracking down on “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,” Trump vowed to “get rid of the slums where they live” and to send the District’s illegal aliens packing.
“They fight back until you knock the hell out of them because it’s the only language they understand,” said Trump, underscoring that he has instructed law enforcement to adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to abuse from criminal elements.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the press conference that National Guard units will begin pouring into D.C. over the course of the week.
Bondi noted, “Crime in D.C. is ending and tending today. We are going to use every power we have to fight criminal fear.”
According to Trump, the MPD will “immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers, and criminal networks to get them the hell off the street, maybe get them out of the country.”
Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser tried to downplay the crime in her city on Sunday, telling MSNBC’s “The Weekend” that “it is true we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023; this is 2025.”
“We’re going to keep talking to the president, working with his people on the issues that are high priority for him,” said Bowser. “If the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here, but it won’t be because there’s a spike in crime.”
Bowser suggested further that Trump’s decision was “not the most efficient use of our Guard.”
The president hinted that in addition to cleaning up D.C., he is also setting his sights on other cities, including Chicago, for crackdowns on crime and ruinous leftist policies.
This is a developing story.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Washington, D.c., District of columbia, Crime, Muriel bowser, Democrat, National guard, President donald trump, Trump, Dc, Home rule, Politics
