President Donald Trump and Elon Musk expressed outrage Tuesday after two 15-year-olds charged with assaulting former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer Edward Coristine\u2014known as \u201cBig Balls\u201d\u2014were spared jail time. Associate Judge Kendra Briggs of the Superior Court of D.C., a Biden appointee, sentenced the teens to probation after they pleaded guilty to simple assault. The male received 12 months\u2019 probation with home confinement, while the female was sentenced to nine months\u2019 probation and placed in a youth shelter.<\/p>\n
Coristine was attacked during an attempted carjacking in August in Washington\u2019s Logan Circle neighborhood. Police arrested the teens soon after the assault. Following the attack, Trump called for federalizing D.C. and deployed National Guard troops in the city, pushing for similar actions in other Democratic-led cities despite legal obstacles.<\/p>\n
Judge Briggs explained that her focus was rehabilitation, not punishment, hoping the teens would learn from the experience. However, Trump condemned the sentencing outside the White House, saying, \u201cI think the judge should be ashamed of herself,\u201d mistakenly referring to Briggs as a male judge.<\/p>\n
Musk, former head of DOGE and CEO of Tesla, also criticized the verdict on X, calling it a \u201cracist verdict by a racist judge\u201d and demanding \u201cequal justice for all.\u201d Coristine shared his frustration on social media, highlighting that only two attackers were caught while eight remain at large.<\/p>\n
Conservative accounts and figures echoed the outrage, calling for Judge Briggs to be disbarred. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the Biden administration\u2019s approach, emphasizing the need for law and order amid ongoing debates over juvenile crime and federal intervention in cities.<\/p>\n