Authorities have arrested two more people for the attack on a White House employee that attracted the attention of President Donald Trump ahead of his decision to deploy National Guard troops to Washington.
Laurence Cotton-Powell,19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, have been charged in the August attack on Edward Coristine, an employee of the administration’s DOGE project, as well as a separate assault that occurred earlier, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Monday.
Two juveniles were recently sentenced to probation for their role in the incident, in which a group of people approached Coristine and a companion near D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood and attempted to rob them, leaving the White House employee bloodied.
The incident appeared to have provided momentum to Trump’s move to deploy federal troops to Washington, which occurred amid a sharp drop in crime in the district after a spike during the pandemic and its aftermath. District officials have cooperated with the deployment and celebrated the latest arrests.
“This is the latest example of the continuous partnerships between our agencies and our collective commitment to removing individuals who harm our communities out of our community,” Chief of Police Pamela Smith said at a news conference with Pirro.
Cotton-Powell and Taylor face charges including robbery, assault and carjacking. They made initial court appearances Monday but did not enter pleas. Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Coristine was walking a woman to her car when he encountered the group of people who punched him and demanded the keys to the vehicle. Police arrived on the scene and the crowd dispersed, authorities said.
District officials said Cotton-Powell and Taylor also face charges for another assault that occurred a few blocks away just minutes before the attack on Coristine, who became widely known as “Big Balls” in the early days of DOGE when the initiative was attempting to shrink the government.
A 15-year-old girl and boy who were arrested the night of the attack on Coristine were sentenced to probation as juveniles, a decision criticized by Trump.
“That’s terrible,” Trump said last week about the sentencing, adding the judge “should be ashamed.”