Conservative pundit and social media personality Benny Johnson used an appearance in the White House Press Briefing Room’s “new media” seat to rail against crime in Washington, D.C. and suggest a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer, who was recently assaulted in the district, be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“As a DC resident of 15 years … I have witnessed so much mugging and so much theft I lost track. I was carjacked. I have murderers on my Ring camera and masked shootings,” Johnson said at the top of Tuesday’s briefing. “I witnessed a woman on my block get held up at gun point for $20. And my house was set ablaze with my infant child inside.”
The right-wing pundit then turned his gaze to other reporters seating in the White House.
“So to any reporter that says, and lies, that DC is a safe place to live and work,” Johnson said turning back to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Thank you for making the city safe.”
Johnson is one in a growing number of D.C.-based supporters of President Trump who have shared stories of feeling unsafe in the district, praising the president’s decision on Monday to mobilize the national guard in the district and take control of its police department.
Trump’s announcement came on the heels of a number of high-profile crimes involving people with ties to government, including an incident earlier this month in which Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, a 19-year-old former DOGE staffer, was attacked.
Johnson on Tuesday suggested the White House honor Coristine as part of its pledge to crack down on D.C. crime.
“Will the president consider giving the presidential medal of freedom to Big Balls?” he asked Leavitt.
“I haven’t spoken to him about that,” the press secretary chuckled in response. “But perhaps its something he would consider.”
Johnson is the latest in a slew of right-leaning podcasters, social media influencers and content creators on the right the White House has sought to elevate in the briefing room as a means to promote the president’s agenda and push back on mainstream media coverage of his administration.
During Monday’s wide-ranging press conference announcing the D.C. crime crack down, conservative commentator Brain Glenn told Trump he was “robbed last year, on the street by these teenage thugs who had a gun and got away with it,” and suggested “adult crimes deserve adult penalties.”
Trump’s crime crackdown has angered Democrats and some local leaders in D.C., many of whom have pointed to statistics showing decreases in crime in the district in recent years and warned the president is overstepping his authority.
