Congressional members allege Acting U.S. Attorney Essayli violated professional standards
LOS ANGELES (KEYT) – On Tuesday, 13 members of Congress signed a letter requesting that the Department of Justice look into allegations that Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli violated the agency's standards of conduct as well as the state bar's rules of professional conduct.
"The rule of law depends upon the strict adherence of government lawyers, particularly those who serve in the highest levels of the DOJ," opened Tuesday's letter. "DOJ [Department of Justice] prosecutors wield enormous powers, and any concerns about abuse of these powers calls into question the impartiality and fairness of our criminal justice system."
The letter, signed by ten members of the California Congressional delegation including Congressman Salud Carbajal, then goes on to list multiple allegations of prosecutorial misconduct including filing prosecutions with too little evidence and dropping cases against politically connected defendants.
"The matters described below represent serious breaches of the Rules and the Justice
Manual that warrant investigation and potentially disciplinary action, including removal from his
post as Acting U.S. Attorney," argued the letter.
Citing media reporting this year, Acting U.S. Attorney Essayli is alleged to have personally overruled recommendations from senior prosecutors about a lack of evidence to support indictments, instructed staff to ignore Justice Department policies, and directed attorneys under his supervision to resubmit failed indictments to new grand juries without seeking any new evidence.
One example of this noted in Tuesday's letter was the indictment against, Alejandro Orellana, a protester charged with aiding and abetting civil disorder for handing out face shields to protesters earlier this year in east Los Angeles.
"[A]n act which on its face could not reasonably be thought to be a criminal offense," stated the letter.
The indictment against Orellana was signed by the Acting U.S. Attorney himself and "his top deputy, Jennifer Waier", something Tuesday's letter characterized as "highly unusual" explaining that these types of indictments are commonly signed by line attorneys.
One of the Congressional members who signed the letter, Congressman David Min, is a former federal prosecutor with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a member of the House Oversight Committee, and Chair of the Fighting Corruption Task Force.
"Federal agents raided the home of this individual [Orellana], who had no criminal record and was not accused of any violence or evasion, in an unnecessarily militarized approach, reportedly breaking down his door, smashing his window, and detonating flash grenades in his home," detailed the letter.
The charges filed against Orellana were later dropped.
In another case, charges against another protester were dropped after videos posted to social media were presented in court showing that the affidavit used by the prosecution relied on false statements.
Acting U.S. Attorney Essayli claimed on social media that the person was charged with, "punching a border patrol agent in the face", but the criminal complaint was for a charge of conspiracy to impede a federal officer and did not mention any punch and the video presented in court showed no evidence of the social media claim noted Tuesday's letter.
The letter argued that these cases show a pattern of improper conduct by the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and his social media posts were cited as "extrajudicial statements" that could influence the prosecutions his office managed.
Acting U.S. Attorney Essayli is alleged to have informed DOJ staff that he intended to use his position to, "criminally charge politicians, judges, or other officials who block the Trump agenda, according to four people who were either part of those conversations or briefed on them."
While selective prosecutions were one part of the claims in Tuesday's letter, allegations of dropping cases against politically connected people were also made.
According to the letter, days after his initial appointment as Interim U.S. Attorney, "Mr. Essayli reportedly met with [Andrew] Mr. Wiederhorn's defense team and after the meeting, Mr. Essayli suggested that the [corporate fraud] case against Mr. Wiederhorn could be dismissed if Essayli received a permanent appointment [to the position of U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California]."
"Shortly after the Trump Adminsitration moved to extend Mr. Essayli's tenure by naming him Acting U.S. Attorney, Mr. Essayli's office began filing reversals in controversial cases," stated Tuesday's letter. "Charges against Mr. Wiederhorn, his alleged accomplices, and his company were dropped, along with an unrelated gun possession charge against Mr. Wiederhorn."
Essayli was appointed the interim U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California in March of this year after the previous U.S. Attorney abruptly tendered his resignation in January, just days before the second inauguration of President Trump.
On July 29, Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Essayli -a former federal prosecutor and elected member of the California Assembly at the time- to serve as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District two days before a 120-day statutory limit to his service as an interim U.S. Attorney.
Essayli resigned his position as the Interim U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and accepted the Attorney General's appointment as the Acting U.S. Attorney the same day.
"I hereby resign my position as Interim United States Attorney for the Central District of California effective at 5:00 p.m. PDT today, July 29, 2025," read a letter written by then-Interim U.S. Attorney Essayli to Attorney General Pam Bondi on July 29. "I look forward to continuing to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California."
In October, U.S. District Judge Seabright ruled that Acting U.S. Attorney Essayli had been serving unlawfully in the position after defense teams for three men facing federal gun charges made the claim while requesting their respective charges be dropped.
While the federal judge did not dismiss the charges, noting that the charging documents were lawfully signed by other attorneys for the government, Judge Seabright did rule, "He [Essayli] is disqualified from
participating in Defendants’ prosecutions as Acting United States Attorney."
"In sum, because Essayli was not a PAS officer [a position appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate] when he resigned from the position of Interim United States Attorney, his resignation from that position could not and did not trigger § 3345(a)[of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998]," concluded Judge Seabright.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California is not alone in facing legal questions about the procedures used by the Trump Administration to fill the position.
An appellate court heard arguments last month about Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba in New Jersey and Acting U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah of Nevada had her previous disqualification paused by while the U.S. Department of Justice appeals the decision barring her from serving.
Additionally, both former Director of the FBI James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James separately challenged the appointment of Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia regarding criminal charges levied against each of them in addition to other dismissal-related claims.
A federal judge dismissed both complaints after finding that Halligan was unlawfully appointed to the position of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
"When millions of Americans voted for a change in leadership in November, they voted for a new direction. That choice should not be undermined by political obstruction in Congress or by criminal defendants," argued acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba on social media who is also facing claims of her authority to serve in the position without Senate approval.
Yesterday, a panel of three appellate judges in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court opinion that the Trump Administration violated the law when it named Habba as acting U.S. Attorney.
"Under the Government’s delegation theory, Habba may avoid the gauntlet of presidential appointment and Senate confirmation and serve as the de facto U.S. Attorney indefinitely," ruled the panel on Dec. 1, 2025. "This view is so broad that it bypasses the constitutional process [requiring Senate approval] entirely."
"He [District Judge Seabright] says I have served unlawfully as the acting, but he says I served lawfully as the first assistant. Its a distinction without a difference. And he says so in his order, it doesn't make a difference," noted Acting U.S. Attorney Essayli during a press conference announcing federal charges against ten people on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
Your News Channel reached out to the Acting U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility for a statement and more information regarding the allegations and their respective responses will be added to this article when they are received.
"At minimum, this misconduct appears to violate several CRPC [California Rules of Professional Conduct] Rules as well as DOJ’s standards of conduct," concluded the letter. "We respectfully request that the [Department of Justice's] Office of Professional Responsibility immediately initiate an investigation into Mr. Essayli’s conduct, notify us when it has initiated the investigation, and keep us informed of the investigation’s progress and findings."
