Trump allies and rising Republican star Essayli named Los Angeles top attorney

Atti. General Pam Bondi has appointed Riverside County Councilman Bill Essayli, considered a rising Republican voice in California and a controversial Republican voice as U.S. attorney in and around Los Angeles.

“Bill is happy to start and will be sworn in tomorrow,” Joseph McNally wrote in an email. He noted that Essayli had previously worked as a prosecutor in the same office and referred to his return as “hometown”.

Essayli later on Tuesday sent a sentence to parliament spokesman Robert Rivas, resigning from his seat to accept the appointment.

Sources familiar with the matter, but have no right to discuss the matter publicly, said Essayli will be an interim U.S. attorney and still need to be nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate in order to fill the post permanently.

“I intend to carry out the President’s mission to restore trust in our judicial system and pursue those who dare to cause harm to the people of the United States and the country,” Essayli said in a statement.

Essayli, who was elected as part of the 2022 representative Riverside County, has somehow attacked part of the reason for his so-called California liberals’ “wake-up” policy in Sacramento. He will take charge of the most populous U.S. Attorney Region in Central California, covering about 20 million people in seven counties.

Essayli, 39, has been a staunch supporter of Trump over the years. Last May, Eseyly posted on Facebook after Trump was convicted of felony crimes with a plan that illegally affected the 2016 election that he looked forward to electing Trump as president, “restore the rule of law and our constitutional principles.”

He criticized COVID-19 restrictions aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students, critical race theory and California policy. He made a special effort to make special efforts to “parent rights” measures, informing parents whenever a child is identified as transgender or requesting a change of his name or pronoun at school.

The same issue is the focus of the Trump administration, which announced last week that it was investigating the California Department of Education’s allegedly withholding information from parents.

American lawyers are political appointments, and in the new administration, turnover of such positions is common. But Trump’s efforts to install loyalists in the highest administration including law enforcement, including law enforcement, are to make a choice among Trump’s powerful efforts to install loyalists. It also accused the Trump administration of hiring and firing Justice Department lawyers based purely on politics and loyalty to Trump and his allies.

Last week, the White House terminated Los Angeles federal prosecutor Adam Schleifer, who has been investigating pro-Trump business executives.

McNally has been a U.S. lawyer since Biden-appointed Martin E. Estrada resigned in January.

McNally praised Essayli as a powerful choice in an email Tuesday, and Bondi’s choice was a vote of confidence in central regional office staff, which he said was “incredible work”.

“Those of us who work with Bill can demonstrate this commitment to public service and keep the people of the region safe,” he wrote. “This proves that the Office Attorney General has appointed one of our alumni to this position.”

In Trump’s first semester, it was early morning. General Jeff Sessions appointed Nicola Hanna as Los Angeles interim lawyer for the second month, and Trump nominated Hanna to the office, which he later received confirmation from the Senate. Essayli may have followed a similar path to Hannah, although Trump’s intentions for him are not clear.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Essayli also declined to comment when asked earlier Tuesday whether he was appointed to the position.

Essayli is part of a conservative roster of Riverside County linked to the White House, some of whom met with Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the president’s son, just days before the election. The group includes Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is currently running for the gubernator, and Evangelical Pastor Tim Thompson, the leader of the 412 church in Murrieta.

Essayli has worked in the past with the challenges of Covid-19 restrictions, including Trump’s nomination for Harmeet Dhillon, another conservative attorney who led the Department of Justice’s civil rights division.

Convention Bill Essayli talked about trans athletes who competed in girls’ high school sports at Riverside Unified School District in 2024.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

According to his rally biography, Essayli is the son of a Lebanese immigrant and the first person in his family to graduate from college. He is a Muslim and has said in the past: “My religion drives my moral compass, but that’s not everything to me.”

Essayli graduated from Chapman University Law School and served as a local attorney in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and then as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District, where he handled cases of “violent and organic crime, identity theft, bank fraud, securities fraud, securities fraud, white-collar fraud, justice in judicial justice and multiple matters.”

McNally noted in an email that he was also part of the team of prosecutors responsible for completing the San Bernardino terrorist attacks and mass shootings.

Essayli first ran for the office in 2018, focusing on the gasoline tax in California and lost. In 2022, he ran again, focusing on school issues – Exploding the “Warriors on the Left” to misunderstand local children, including “the sins of the past.”

After winning, Essayli became a controversial colleague in Sacramento.

Congress Bill Essayli (R-Corona) addressed a press conference in Sacramento in 2023.

(Rahul lal/calmatters)

Democratic leaders have been repeatedly removed from the committee, criticizing him for neither attending subcommittee hearings nor peer parliamentary members, including on social media, and conducting personal attacks on his peer assembly members.

Essayli, who has gained attention in Republican circles outside California, introduced a bill that would require schools to inform parents’ children who identify with trans people or express interest in changing pronouns or conducting social transitions in schools.

Congress raisers viewed the measure as a “parent rights” bill, but LGBTQ+ advocated that it criticized it as an “outing” measure, which would harm children in unacceptable homes. The bill never gained attention in Sacramento, but some school boards have proposed similar measures at the local level. The response from Sacramento Democrats was to pass a law unless such policies were adopted statewide.

Trump has had serious competition for trans rights during the election and has since proposed several executive orders trying to expand those rights, including in school, sports and health care settings. Like Essayli, he also claims that such policies are “common sense.”

Essayli accused California freelance educators and lawmakers of doing “brainwashing” in schools, where they told kindergarten students that they could “select one of 20 genders” and then “brainwash” the kids, thinking their parents would tell them that their parents would kick them out if they told them what was going on.

Governor’s candidate John Cox, a signature box for left-wing and parliamentary candidate Bill Essayli, for the April 20, 2018 petrol tax abolition initiative.

(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

Essayli said his “concern” is that they will start providing health care in schools, where state educators and other external health care providers, such as family planning, will begin providing hormone therapy and other medical treatments to students under the age of 12 without the knowledge or consent of their parents.

Essayli claimed without providing evidence: “This is the situation here.”

Trump is overwhelmed by his parents when he receives serious medical interventions to change his gender while in school.

On Tuesday, California lawmakers held a hearing on a paper bill that would prohibit transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. Conservative commentator Matt Walsh testified in favor of the bill, which was eventually blocked on the committee.

Times worker Jessica Garage contributed to the report.