Politics
Column: U.S. Atty. E. Martin Estrada steps down, looks back at his 'labor of love'
The granite steps leading up to the old federal courthouse in downtown L.A. are sturdy and regal. But something disturbing dotted them Friday that I never would have expected:
Ash.
The Eaton fire 15 miles to the northeast was still raging. Downtown was eerily empty. The lunchtime sun was bright, tinting everything in a sickly golden tone.
I was there to interview U.S. Atty. E. Martin Estrada, who is expected to announce Monday that he will step down Friday as head of the Central District of California, which prosecutes federal crimes in coastal counties from San Luis Obispo to Orange.
He was supposed to make his plans public early last week. But he delayed as the most destructive wildfires in L.A. history put a sad coda on his 2½ years as Southern California’s top federal prosecutor.
Members of his team have lost homes in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. More had to evacuate. Drones messing with firefighting efforts — a federal crime — meant his prosecutors were ready to press charges if necessary. Scammers were already preying on victims — crimes that Estrada’s office prosecuted in the wake of the 2023 Monterey Park mass shooting and other local tragedies.
“If I had my druthers, I wouldn’t be leaving, especially at a time of crisis,” Estrada said from a large table at his 12th-story office. Two computer screens at a stand-up desk behind him glowed. “I don’t like leaving things undone. But I don’t really have my choice here, so I got to go.”
Even if he doesn’t resign from a job he described as a “labor of love,” his days are numbered, with Donald Trump soon assuming the presidency.
It’s customary for U.S. attorneys to tender their resignations when a new president enters office. They know the incoming commander in chief usually wants a fresh start and prefers to appoint people from his own crew. That’s why Estrada wanted to talk to me.
A Democrat and the first U.S. attorney of Guatemalan heritage, he has emphasized diversity in his office and profession and made it a point to speak in both English and Spanish during news conferences. He was the type of U.S. attorney who invited civil rights icon Dolores Huerta to speak to his team — she led them in cries of “¡Sí se puede!” — and regularly spoke to inner-city kids about the importance of people like them in positions such as his.
That mentality is anathema to the incoming Trump administration, and Estrada acknowledged that politics in Washington are more “partisan” that ever.
“There’s so much fear in the community, concern about this next administration — what may happen, what may not happen,” said the son of Guatemalan immigrants. “But it’s important for people to know that this good work will continue.”
U.S. Atty. E. Martin Estrada at his office in the old federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles in 2024.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
Estrada sounded earnest, even mawkish, befitting his trim frame and boyish looks. I also know to not underestimate his insight. This is the person, after all, whose record against criminals of all stripes speaks for itself. His prosecutors won a conviction against L.A. political powerhouse Mark Ridley-Thomas on corruption charges (Ridley-Thomas is appealing) and got guilty pleas from former L.A. Councilmember Jose Huizar and former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do. Estrada praised his team for going after white supremacist gangs, fentanyl dealers, environmental polluters and other miscreants while favoring no party and no ideology.
“So I really think the work will continue, because we’ve done it and shot right down the middle,” he said.
Would the 47-year-old stay in his role if Trump asked him to?
“Yes, I would,” he responded without hesitation. “But it’s clear, based on where the politics are in D.C., that it’s not in the cards.”
Does that upset him?
“I went through different administrations, Republican and Democrat,” Estrada said. “I see what people go through. So I truly believe that the culture here is one of doing the right thing for the right reasons. My hope is that the new administration looks at what’s been going on, sees the work that’s been done and says, ‘I agree, we got to support this.’”
Any advice for his successor?
“See the work that’s been done, listen to the community and see the needs this community has. And I think that will lead you to a similar path to what I have done.”
After a few weeks off to indulge in his passions of running and cycling, Estrada plans to return to private practice, where he worked for eight years before President Biden appointed him in 2022. Before that, he was a prosecutor in the office he now leads. Going forward, he wants to focus on civil rights cases because “it’s in my blood — like, I can’t not do that.”
For now, there’s one last week of work. He teased a “big announcement” on a case that he declined to elaborate on, save for a smile.
“My philosophy has always been like running,” Estrada said. “I’ve always been a racer. Finish to the tape.”
He glanced at public affairs officer Ciaran McEvoy, who had silently looked on throughout our half-hour conversation.
“They’re going to be happy to see me go,” he said of his staff. “I was like the Energizer Bunny.”
He and McEvoy have known each other since the fourth grade at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Costa Mesa.
“No one would ever accuse Martin of laziness,” McEvoy deadpanned, drawing a chuckle from his boss.
“We accomplished a lot,” Estrada replied. “I’d like to be there to help continue to develop some of the more junior lawyers and make sure they get on the right path. But I’m confident they’ll get there.”
U.S. Atty. E. Martin Estrada prepares to announce criminal charges against Ippei Mizuhara, a former interpreter for Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles in 2024.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
I looked at all the mementos that hadn’t been put in boxes yet and asked which would best exemplify his time as U.S. attorney. He pointed to a trio of photos of him with Huerta, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Biden.
Estrada eventually focused on a framed letter from students at Utah Street Span School in Boyle Heights, which he’s visited for years. It featured their signatures, a smiling flower and a note of thanks and congratulations.
“That’s what matters to me — not just my personal legacy, not just what people write about me, but having a real impact in people’s lives,” he said. “I truly believe the work in this office has an impact on people’s lives.”
He brought up the Conception case. In 2019, a dive boat caught fire off Santa Cruz Island, killing 34 people in the deadliest maritime disaster in modern California history. In 2023, federal prosecutors won a conviction from a federal jury, which found boat captain Jerry Boylan guilty of gross negligence. A judge sentenced Boylan to four years in prison (he remains free on appeal).
Estrada met with the family members of the victims “over half a dozen times” and particularly remembers a mother who spoke only Spanish.
“I talked to her about the loss of her daughter so many times,” he said. “I looked to hire people who reflect the diversity of this area. And that is the kind of impact that I hope will last for many years.”
We shook hands. The sky outside seemed even smokier than before. Estrada brought up the wildfires again and how they’re coloring his last weeks in a way that makes him proud of the people he’s worked with and will leave behind.
“They’ve have really come together. They’ve told their affected colleagues, ‘Come stay with me’ or ‘What do you need?’ It’s a reminder: Our folks are not moguls,” he said. “They’re community members, like the people they serve. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Southern California’s U.S. attorney for the next five days excused himself and went back to work at his stand-up desk.
Politics
Trump-aligned House holdouts accused of holding ‘life-saving’ veterans bill ‘hostage’ over SAVE America Act
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A sweeping veterans package supporters describe as the largest expansion of veterans’ health care and benefits in more than a decade is expected to return to the House floor when lawmakers come back from the July recess, but backers warn the legislation could once again become collateral damage in the Republican standoff over the SAVE America Act.
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act rolls roughly 60 veterans bills into a package that would dramatically expand veterans’ health care and benefits. At its core, the legislation would cement veterans’ access to community care outside the VA while increasing benefits for combat-wounded veterans, caregivers and Gold Star families, expanding mental health services and enacting dozens of additional reforms.
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., told Fox News Digital he intends to bring the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act back for a vote as soon as the House reconvenes next week.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – MARCH 17: Eugene Simpson, 29, from Dale City, Virginia goes through physical therapy at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C. with Michael Minor, a kinesiotherapist with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs on March 17, 2006 in Washington, D.C., USA. (Photo by Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images) (Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images)
HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN
The legislation was held up last month after a group of House Republicans joined Democrats to defeat a procedural vote, stopping the House from taking up the bill.
“I’m feeling good as long as my members stay with us on the rule,” Bost said. “Right now, there’s some politics being played, not about this bill, but just in general.”
The bill became entangled in a broader House Republican fight over the SAVE America Act, legislation championed by President Donald Trump that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
On June 30, the House voted on H. Res. 1398, the procedural rule governing floor consideration of several bills, including the National Defense Authorization Act and the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. The rule failed after 14 Republicans joined Democrats in opposition, preventing the House from taking up the veterans package and bringing floor business to a standstill. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., claimed to have voted against the rules vote in protest against House leadership’s handling of the SAVE America Act. As a result, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson sent the members home early.
Bost accused the holdouts of effectively putting veterans legislation on hold.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs building is seen in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (Photo by Alastair Pike / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images) (Photo credit should read ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Image)
‘IT’S A MESS’: GOP TURNS ON HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AS VOTER ID BLOCKADE STALLS TRUMP’S AGENDA
“They’re holding all bills hostage,” Bost said. “They’re not voting for any rule. Any bill that has to pass a rule before it comes to the floor—which this bill does because of its size—can’t move.”
Although Bost said he supports the SAVE America Act and has voted for it three times, he argued the Senate’s failure to act should not stop the House from advancing unrelated legislation.
“I agree with that bill,” Bost said. “But the Senate still has to do their work. We don’t stop our work because the Senate isn’t doing it.”
With 23 legislative days left in the Congressional session, Concerned Veterans for America Strategic Director John Byrnes, a supporter of the bill, said time is of the essence.
“There are lots and lots of things that have to get done,” Byrnes told Fox News Digital. “There’s also the National Defense Authorization Act, which is a must pass every year, so these things eat up time. There’s requirements to have debate on these, which eat up session time.”
Byrnes argued that every procedural delay pushes other legislation further down the calendar.
“This bill will save lives in 2027,” Byrnes said. “If we lose veterans because they could have had faster, better access to health care, we’re never going to get those veterans back.”
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill. ( )
TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE IN THE SENATE DESPITE REPUBLICAN REVOLT
But Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who also voted no on the procedural vote, told Fox News Digital that he has concerns about how the bill is financed.
“I appreciate what the chairman’s trying to do in some respects, but there’s a few issues,” Roy said.
Among them, Roy pointed to provisions offsetting new spending through changes affecting other veterans.
“You’re taxing certain veterans to provide some sort of benefits and changes to other veterans,” Roy said. “There are concerns about some of the pay-fors.”
Veterans of Foreign Wars has also taken issue with Section 108 of the bill, warning that it would codify changes to future disability ratings for tinnitus and sleep apnea to help finance other veterans priorities.
But Bost said this is inaccurate.
“No veteran is going to have their benefits reduced,” Bost said. “If you’re receiving a benefit right now, that’s not going to be reduced at all.”
Roy, who previously served two years on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said he supported a lot of what the bill was seeking to accomplish; but said other pieces of legislation are priorities, too.
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“There is a block of us for whom border security, the SAVE Act and demonstrating our leadership on major issues is critical,” Roy said. “Some of these other bills may or may not get hung up based on a desire of many in the conference to see movement on other things.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Luna’s office and the White House for comment.
Politics
Assassinations unleashed under Trump haunt Iran war endgame
WASHINGTON — Shortly before President Trump ended a ceasefire with Iran this week, Israeli officials presented his team with intelligence indicating Tehran was hatching new plots to kill him.
It was not the first such warning. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies have tracked evidence for years of Iranian efforts to target the president, with signals only increasing since the start of the war.
Their desire to target Trump and his top aides began six years ago, just outside Baghdad International Airport, when the president ordered a drone strike that killed Iran’s most powerful general. The assassination of Qassem Suleimani brought the two countries to the brink of war.
Yet even as full-scale war was averted, top Iranian officials vowed revenge for the strike, authorizing attempts on the lives not just of the president, but of his secretary of State and national security advisor, among others, even after they had left office.
Now, calls for revenge have reached a sharper pitch in Tehran, after a joint U.S.-Israeli operation killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war in February.
At Khamenei’s funeral ceremonies this week, red flags of vengeance flew throughout the capital as protesters explicitly called on their government to “kill Trump.” His son, Mojtaba, the new supreme leader, was absent from the commemorations, fearing assassination himself.
Mourners hold an anti-President Trump banner at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque during mass funeral prayers for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family in Tehran on Sunday.
(Morteza Nikoubazl / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The prospect of foreign assassination plots targeting U.S. leaders puts the United States in dangerous new territory, where its embrace of political killings could ultimately place its own officials at unprecedented risk. And experts fear the existential threat of assassination has pushed peace further out of reach: When both sides believe their survival is at stake, the trust required for diplomacy becomes far harder to achieve.
Israeli news organizations have reported that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, cited Iranian attempts to kill Trump in recent years as part of his case to go to war in the first place.
A U.S. official told The Times that a range of serious threats exist against the president, including from Iran, but that Israel’s intelligence pointed to a more specific plot. The official did not provide further details. Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has said in recent months that the government sees vengeance against U.S. officials as “its legitimate duty and right,” and “will fulfill this great responsibility and duty with all its might.”
“The Suleimani killing accelerated a lifting of restraints on foreign assassinations — and the taboo on targeting and killing foreign leaders, with U.S. military assets, has been more or less lifted,” said Matt Dallek, a political professor at George Washington University.
“If the United States sets the example of how to conduct international relations, and it is using assassination of foreign leaders as a political weapon, it’s only logical that other countries will be more inclined to also engage in assassinations,” Dallek added. “It does seem likely that Trump will have a bigger target on his back.”
Returning from a NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday, Trump was forced to switch back to an old model of Air Force One — equipped with specialized defensive technologies — from a new plane given as a gift by Qatar, after the Secret Service warned of potential threats to the aircraft from Iran.
“They want to take out the U.S. leader — me,” Trump told reporters aboard the plane. “I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long.”
The threat has remained on his mind in the days since. In an interview with the New York Post, Trump told the reporter, “I hope you’ll miss me,” adding that he has “been on their list for a long time.” And in a subsequent social media post Friday night, he warned of a catastrophic response he instructed the administration to pursue in the event Tehran succeeds.
“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he wrote, “with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!”
The United States had a decades-old prohibition against assassinating foreign leaders before Trump’s presidency, codified in an executive order signed by President Ford in 1976 over concerns of a CIA plot to kill Fidel Castro.
The policy was only strengthened further by subsequent administrations, fearing a new international standard for targeted killings could result in unintended consequences in the halls of Washington.
Other administrations have been accused of targeting foreign leaders before. Under the Obama administration, an international coalition targeting the Libyan regime of Moammar Kadafi during the country’s 2011 civil war struck his fleeing convoy, leading to his capture and killing by rebel fighters.
But experts say Trump’s explicit targeting of Suleimani and Khamenei — and his public celebration of their deaths — marks a new paradigm.
“Through words and actions, President Trump has done more to normalize political violence than any other U.S. president, certainly in modern times,” said Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago and author of “Our Own Worst Enemies: America in the Age of Violent Populism.”
“On the international front alone, the president routinely brags about killing Iranian leaders and seizing the leader of Venezuela, among others,” he added, “to the point that assassination is becoming the new normal in international politics.”
Politics
Trump takes unusual step, lets bipartisan housing bill become law unsigned amid SAVE pressure campaign
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A bipartisan housing bill became law Saturday at midnight after President Donald Trump declined to sign it, capping a weeks-long saga over whether the president would veto the measure amid frustrations with Congress over his stalled agenda.
Trump refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — legislation aimed at expanding the nation’s housing stock and lowering costs — in an attempt to pressure Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, despite the housing bill clearing both chambers with overwhelming majorities.
“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, which is polling at 97% with the Republican Party, and very high with the non-politician Dumocrats,” he declared on Truth Social Friday morning.
The Trump-backed election measure, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and impose voter ID requirements, has struggled to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
Meanwhile, the House has not passed a version of the bill that includes the president’s proposed crackdown on mail-in voting and banning men from women’s sports.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)
HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN
Under the U.S. Constitution, Trump had 10 days, not including Sundays, to sign or veto the housing measure after the House formally transmitted the legislation to the White House in late June. The president ultimately chose neither option, allowing the measure to become law without his signature.
Though Trump declined to veto the legislation, he sharply criticized elements of the bill and argued it should not have been a legislative priority in recent weeks.
“It’s so unimportant … compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in late June. “I think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It’s saving America from crooked elections.”
Trump went on to call the housing bill “a yawn,” adding, “compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”
It would have taken a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a veto — a margin the House and Senate exceeded when they passed the legislation. However, it remains unclear whether so many Republicans would have defied the president had he vetoed the bill.
Trump also appeared to criticize the bill over a provision restricting Wall Street investors from purchasing single-family homes — a policy he first proposed during his January State of the Union address and later urged Congress to pass. Trump previously argued the investor ban would give individual homebuyers a leg up against private equity firms in the housing market.
“I don’t want to hurt people that own houses, too,” Trump later told reporters, appearing to reference the provision. “These people, for the first time in their lives, they have valuable houses. They’ve become rich. I don’t want to hurt them either. What you want to do is what’s good for everyone, get the interest rates down.”
The law also aims to boost housing supply by streamlining federal environmental reviews, loosening rules around the construction of factory-built homes, and incentivizing local governments to modify their zoning laws to allow more housing, among roughly 60 provisions.
Trump’s souring on the legislation created headaches for Republicans, who touted the bill as an affordability win as voters grapple with high housing costs.
“It’s irresponsible to postpone signing the Housing bill due to the SAVE Act,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a retiring lawmaker who lost re-election to a Trump-backed challenger, wrote on social media. “We need to start delivering relief to people for the high cost of housing ASAP!!”
Construction workers stand on the roof of homes under construction at a new housing development on June 24, 2026, in Valencia, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
WARREN TELLS TRUMP TO ‘SIGN THE DAMN BILL’ AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON
Trump abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation at the U.S. Capitol in June with GOP leaders. The stage had already been set, with at least one senior Republican arriving unaware the president had called off the event shortly before it was scheduled to begin.
The president then declared he would not sign the legislation until Congress passed the SAVE America Act, despite Senate GOP leaders insisting the votes do not exist to advance the measure.
Trump has also expressed frustration with the Republican-controlled Senate for declining to weaken the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the upper chamber.
“GET SMART REPUBLICANS, IF YOU DON’T, YOU WON’T BE IN OFFICE FOR LONG!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
Before Trump came out against the bill, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “one of the most significant pieces of housing affordability legislation in American history” and said it included an array of policies “long championed” by Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 15, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Trump political operative James Blair touted the legislation for including the president’s Wall Street investor ban, which he referred to as a “signature commitment.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has argued that Republicans will still promote the landmark housing bill ahead of November.
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“We’ll still celebrate it, but he’s trying to make a point, and I think he’s making it very effectively,” the speaker recently told reporters, referring to Trump. “And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don’t get that right, everybody’s concerned about what happens next.”
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