The carjacking heard round the world

Published August 22, 2025 6:10am ET



President Donald Trump’s temporary federal takeover of some law enforcement functions in the District of Columbia was prompted by the carjacking of a young man known for his nickname, “Big Balls,” near Logan Circle in the morning of Aug. 3.

The young man’s name is Edward Coristine. He used “Big Balls” as his LinkedIn name as a joke, and it caught on, he told Fox News in an interview before the attack. The 19-year-old was in Washington because he was one of the founding code monkeys for the Department of Government Efficiency and has since hopped around to other agencies, working on bureaucracy streamlining initiatives.

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