Attorney General Pam Bondy has appointed Bill Essay, a member of the Council of Riverside – considered the rise and controversial Republican voice in California – as a US lawyer for Los Angeles and surrounding areas, he was sent to office staff and reviewed by Tuesday’s Times.
“Bill is excited to start and will be sworn tomorrow,” plays Atty. Joseph McNally wrote in an email. He pointed out that Essayri had previously served as a prosecutor in the same office, calling his return “return.”
A source familiar with the issue but not authorized to discuss it said that the appointment of the essay is as interim US lawyer, who still needs to be nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate to fill his position permanently.
The essay, who was elected to represent Riverside in 2022, gave him his name in politics by attacking California’s liberal majority’s “awakening” policy in Sacramento. He directs the Central District of California, the country’s most populous US lawyers’ district, covering approximately 20 million people across seven counties.
The 39-year-old essay has been a strong supporter of Trump for many years. Last May, after Trump was convicted of a felony crime related to a plan that would illegally affect the 2016 election, the essay posted on Facebook that he was looking forward to electing Trump as president “to restore rule of law and constitutional principles.”
He criticizes Covid-19 restrictions, key race theory and California policies aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students. He pushed particularly strongly on “parent rights” measures where parents are notified whenever a child is identified as transgender or asks school to change their name or pronoun.
The same issue is the focus of the Trump administration, and last week it announced it was investigating the California Department of Education, which allegedly withheld such information from its parents.
US lawyers are political appointees, and sales in such posts are common in new administrations. But the choice of essays comes amid Trump’s solid efforts to set up loyalists in the highest level government, including law enforcement. It also follows the claim that the Trump administration is hiring and firing Justice Department lawyers based purely on politics and loyalty to Trump and his allies.
Last week, the White House ended Los Angeles federal prosecutor Adam Schleifer.
McNally has been a US lawyer since Biden appointee Martin E. Estrada resigned in January.
In his email Tuesday, McNally praised the essay as a strong choice and praised Bondi’s choice as a vote of trust in the staff at the Central District Office.
“We, working with Bill, can prove that this commitment to public services and that we will make the people of this district safe,” he writes. “It is proof that the Attorney General has appointed one of our graduates in this role.”
That was during Trump’s first term. General Jeff Sessions appointed Nicola Hanna as interim US lawyer in Los Angeles the following month, and Trump nominated Hanna for the office, which was later confirmed by the Senate. The essay managed to follow a similar path to Hannah, but Trump’s intentions towards him were not immediately clear.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The essay also declined to comment when asked Tuesday whether he had been appointed to the position.
Bill Essaylie, California State Legislative District 63, represents Riverside.
(California Legislature)
The essays are part of a cohort of Riverside conservatives who have ties to the White House, some of which met with Donald Trump Jr. and the president’s son Eric Trump a few days before the election. The group included Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is currently running for governor, and Evangelical Pastor Tim Thompson, the leader of 412 Churches in Murieta.
Essayli has worked in the past, including challenges to Covid-19 restrictions. This is Harmeet Dhillon, another conservative counsel in the state appointed administrator of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
Council member Bill Essayri says “the priority treatments that biological boys are receiving,” calling for the resignation of Riverside Unified Superintendent Lenny Hill.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
The essayri is the son of a Lebanese immigrant and, according to his assembly biographies, the first in a family to graduate from university. He is a Muslim and has said in the past, “My religion drives my moral compass, but that’s not what I am.”
A graduate of Chapman University Law School, Essay served as a local prosecutor for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and later served as a US lawyer for the Central District, dealing with cases dealing with “violent and organized crimes, identity theft, bank theft, securities fraud, white fraud, impaired justice and other substance disorders.”
He is also part of the prosecutor who handled the San Bernardino terrorist attack and massive shooting in 2015, McNally said in his email.
The essay first appeared in the office in 2018, focusing on California gas tax, and lost. In 2022 he ran again and won with a focus on school issues. Blasted out “Wake Up Warrior on the Left” for misunderstanding local children, including “our past sins.”
After winning, Essayri became a controversial colleague in Sacramento.
R-Corona Senator Bill Essay will speak at a press conference at the State Capitol in Sacramento on August 28, 2023.
(Rahul Lal/Calmatters)
He was repeatedly removed from the committee by Democratic leaders. Democrat leaders criticized him for not taking part in subcommittee hearings and directing personal attacks with his Congressional members, including social media.
The essays are in Republican circles across California and are attracting attention for the bills he introduced. It required schools to inform parents of children who were interested in changing pronouns in schools or making social transitions in schools.
Congress members cast the measure as a “custody” bill, but LGBTQ+ criticised it sharply as a “out-of-out” measure that puts children at risk in homes that don’t recognize it. The bill never gained traction in Sacramento, but some school boards have introduced similar measures at the local level. Sacramento Democrats responded by pushing legislation banning such policies across the state.
Trump was heavily opposed transgender rights during the election and later introduced several executive orders that sought to reduce those rights, including school, sports and healthcare settings. He argues that, like his essays, such policies are merely “common sense.”
The essay accuses California liberal educators and lawmakers of running a “brainwashing operation” in schools, where he tells kindergarten students that they can “choose one of 20 genders,” and then believes that if the children tell them what’s going on, their parents will be kicked out of their homes.
On April 20, 2018, the signature of the Gas Tax Abolition Initiative, Bill Essay Essay Load Box, Left, and Congressional Candidates John Cox, John Cox, Left and Congressional Candidates.
(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
The essay said he “fears about providing medical services at schools.” There, he said other external healthcare providers, such as state educators and planned parents, will begin offering hormone therapy and other medical treatments to young 12-year-old students at schools without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
“It’s going on here,” the essay claimed without providing evidence.
Trump makes similar false claims about children who are undergoing serious medical intervention in schools to change their gender while unknown to their parents.
On Tuesday, California lawmakers held a hearing on the essays bill banning transgender athletes from female sports athletes. Conservative commentator Matt Walsh testified in support of the bill that was ultimately blocked by the committee.
Los Angeles Times reporter Jessica Garrison contributed to this article.
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