U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced new charges on Monday against two more suspects accused in the savage August assault on Edward Coristine, a young former staffer with the Department of Government Efficiency. This fresh development underscores what patriotic Americans have been warning about for months: Washington, D.C., is suffering from a breakdown of basic public safety that local officials refuse to fix.
Federal prosecutors say the newly charged men, identified as 19-year-old Laurence Cotton-Powell and 18-year-old Anthony Taylor, face counts including attempted unarmed carjacking, robbery, and assault with intent to commit robbery. These are serious felonies, yet the broader reaction from the city’s liberal establishment has been embarrassingly tepid, prompting the feds to step in where local leaders have failed.
The attack itself was brazen: Coristine says a pack of roughly ten teens surrounded and beat him during an attempted carjacking in Dupont Circle, an episode that left him bloodied and concussed and shocked the nation. Two 15‑year‑olds were arrested soon after, but their light treatment and release only fueled outrage and the sense that juvenile offenders in D.C. are treated with kid gloves.
President Trump seized on the incident, rightly pointing to the hemorrhaging of public safety and using the case to justify a federal law-and-order response, including deploying federal agents and the National Guard to the capital. Conservatives who have watched cities crumble under progressive policies saw this as a necessary correction after years of leniency that has emboldened violent criminals.
Shockingly, local courts have demonstrated the very softness that invites more violence: judges released the juvenile suspects under minimal restrictions, and two teens in the case ultimately received probation — a slap on the wrist that tells would-be criminals they can act with impunity. Voters who value safety should be furious that career criminals and repeat offenders are recycled back onto the streets while victims like Coristine are left to pick up the pieces.
Authorities say the two newly charged suspects are also tied to a separate robbery at a gas station just before the attack on Coristine, and prosecutors continue to hunt for additional members of the group who remain at large. This continuing trail of violence proves the point conservatives have been making for years: soft policies, soft prosecutions, and weak local leadership create an invite for chaos that only strong enforcement can resolve.
Hardworking Americans deserve to walk their neighborhoods and park their cars without fear of being swarmed by gangs of teenagers. It’s time for voters and elected officials to demand real accountability, back prosecutors and police who will do the job, and restore common-sense punishments so criminals learn that America will no longer tolerate the breakdown of law and order.
