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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Charlie Kirk Interviews Acting US Attorney Bill Essayli on California Crime Crackdown and Senate Confirmation Roadblocks
Charlie Kirk sits down with Bill Essayli, the acting US Attorney for the Central District of California, to discuss the aggressive new approach to fighting crime in California. Essayli reveals ongoing investigations into $24 billion in homelessness fraud, major gang takedowns targeting sex trafficking operations, and the strategic use of warrants to bypass sanctuary city policies. However, Essayli faces an insurmountable confirmation obstacle: the Senate's "blue slip" tradition allows Democrat Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla to effectively veto presidential appointees in their states. This procedural roadblock prevents qualified prosecutors and judges from serving in blue states, even as Republican senators historically defer to Democratic presidents. Kirk and Essayli discuss how this broken system undermines the will of voters and handicaps federal law enforcement efforts across multiple states.
Bill Essayli, the acting US Attorney for the Central District of California, outlined the significant initiatives his office has undertaken since April to address California's crime crisis. The first priority has been investigating what Essayli describes as homelessness fraud, where $24 billion has been spent over five years with conditions only worsening. According to Essayli, many individuals have been enriched through these programs, and his office has open investigations with results expected soon.
Essayli's office has launched Operation Guardian Angel, which focuses on obtaining warrants for criminals in state custody. While sanctuary jurisdictions are not required to comply with ICE detainers, they must legally comply with warrants, creating a workaround for federal immigration enforcement.
Hoover Street Gang Takedown
One of the most significant recent operations involved the takedown of the Hoover Street Gang in Los Angeles. The early morning raid resulted in the indictment of 11 leaders who were operating in the Figueroa corridor, described by Essayli as one of the worst sex trafficking corridors in the world. The gang members were pimping out young women and children as young as 14 years old. Essayli emphasized that while the prior administration weaponized the Department of Justice, his team is focused on making American communities safer.
Behind-the-Scenes Support from Democrats
Despite public resistance, Essayli revealed that behind the scenes, many Democratic mayors and local leaders are actually requesting federal intervention. They understand that California's criminal justice system has been weakened to the point where it cannot effectively prosecute serious crimes. With closing prisons and watered-down felony consequences, state prosecutors lack meaningful tools to incarcerate criminals.
However, the cooperation ends when it comes to immigration enforcement. Essayli's office has filed over 53 cases for assaults and interference with federal agents as local officials deploy what he describes as "thugs" to resist Border Patrol and ICE operations. His office has also filed over 900 cases for illegal reentry after deportation, known as 1326 cases, which the Biden administration had stopped filing.
The Blue Slip Confirmation Crisis
Essayli explained his peculiar status as acting US Attorney, which stems from a Senate procedural tradition called the "blue slip." He has never been nominated to the Senate because California Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff have refused to even meet with the White House to discuss candidates. The Attorney General initially appointed him as interim US Attorney for 120 days. When that period ended, the judges declined to make him permanent but also did not name a replacement, leaving him as the top DOJ employee in the office and effectively the acting US Attorney.
The blue slip tradition allows home-state senators to effectively veto presidential appointees, including both US Attorneys and federal judges. Charlie Kirk noted the absurdity of winning an election but being unable to install qualified prosecutors because of a non-constitutional procedural courtesy. This affects states including Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine.
Partisan Application of Senate Courtesy
Essayli pointed out a critical asymmetry in how the blue slip tradition is applied. In Republican states, Republican senators typically defer to Democratic presidents, acknowledging that election winners deserve their appointees. However, in blue states, Democratic senators refuse to extend the same courtesy, treating their states as personal fiefdoms where they act as kingmakers for judges and prosecutors.
Kirk and Essayli discussed how this broken system prevents qualified federal prosecutors and judges from serving, undermining the electoral mandate and handicapping law enforcement efforts across multiple states. The problem extends beyond US Attorneys to federal judges who issue temporary restraining orders and injunctions against federal enforcement efforts, including one judge who recently blocked Border Patrol agents from conducting immigration enforcement.
Mayor Karen Bass and Sanctuary City Resistance
The conversation turned to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has publicly declared her intention to resist federal immigration enforcement. While Essayli would not comment on specific investigations, he explained that sanctuary city policies walk a legal line. Mayors can refuse to cooperate or use city resources to assist federal law enforcement, but they cross into criminal territory when they take active steps to impede or interfere with federal operations.
Essayli offered a straightforward solution: Congress could easily remedy the sanctuary city problem through federal funding conditions. Just as the federal government ensures uniform highway speed limits and a drinking age of 21 across all states by threatening to withhold federal dollars, Congress could eliminate sanctuary policies by making federal funding contingent on cooperation with immigration enforcement.
The Scale of Crime and Enforcement
Despite not being technically on the border, the Central District of California is considered a border district by the DOJ and handles some of the largest drug interdiction cases in the country. With millions of illegal immigrants in the district, Essayli's office has filed over 900 illegal reentry cases just in the current year. The office regularly indicts drug traffickers, gang members, those possessing guns and drugs, child molesters, and human traffickers, though this work receives minimal media coverage compared to other stories.
