Despite allegations that his office covered up sexual assault and harassment, former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to India was approved by the Democrat-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but also with the backing of two Senate Republicans.
“Garcetti, who welcomed the nomination from President Joe Biden in 2021, has been accused of turning a blind eye when a Los Angeles police officer was allegedly sexually harassed by a former top aide to the mayor. The former Los Angeles mayor denied the allegations, saying he did not witness any inappropriate behavior,” the Daily Wire reported.
The allegations against Garcetti have created a two-year vacancy in New Delhi, which is unprecedented. It is also highly problematic, given that India is a major country and the past two administrations have been focused on building better relations with the world’s largest democracy as a bulwark against Chinese aggression and as Beijing moves closer to Moscow.
Despite the scandalous allegations, the committee voted in favor of Garcetti’s nomination by a margin of 13-8, with Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, both Republicans, voting in favor. According to Politico, the Democratic Party, including Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, plan on supporting Garcetti’s nomination.
Minority ranking member Sen. James Risch (R-ID) told Punchbowl News on Capitol Hill that he would vote against Garcetti’s nomination citing “new evidence [that] has raised enough questions regarding his judgment,” according to the Daily Wire.
“We must ensure that any chief of mission will, without question, protect our foreign service officers and embassy staff from all types of harassment,” Risch, who backed Garcetti previously in committee, said.
After almost 600 days since his nomination by the Biden administration, Garcetti has overcome a hurdle and advanced in the nomination process. The delay stemmed from a hold placed on his nomination by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The Daily Wire added:
Rubio included Garcetti’s nod in a list of “questionable individuals” nominated by the Biden administration, saying in a press release, “one of these nominees has ignored credible sexual assault accusations in his prior office.”
Congress advanced the former mayor’s nomination last year in the previous Congress just before he faced the sexual assault accusations, which surfaced when the Los Angeles area struggled during COVID as it faced intense lockdowns that contributed to residents moving out of the city.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) requested an investigation into Garcetti last year that delayed the mayor’s ambassador nomination Senate confirmation vote.
According to CBS News, the investigation found that it was “more probable than not” that the former L.A. mayor was aware that his former aide Rick Jacobs “sexually harassed multiple individuals and made racist comments towards others.”
“Mr. Jacobs’ behavior was widely known and talked about,” the report reads. “It was pervasive, widespread and notorious — to the point that Mr. Jacobs sexually harassed someone in front of the mayor for a picture that would be memorialized for all of time. Such overt conduct suggests at best that Mr. Jacobs had no fear of any repercussions.”
In an email statement to The Daily Wire, Naomi Seligman, Garcetti’s former communications director and whistleblower who testified about sexual abuse at L.A. City Hall, including her own victimization, expressed her disappointment regarding Garcetti’s advancement in the nomination process, stating that it is “disheartening, to say the least.”
“Today’s vote, on International Women’s Day no less, shows a real disconnect between the rhetoric we hear from elected leaders who claim to support victims of workplace sexual harassment and the pass they give to party loyalists in the next breath,” Seligman said.
“It was already clear from the time of his nomination that Garcetti was unfit to represent our country, and each passing month reveals new embarrassments to the President and the Senate – from prior perjury before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, strong arming senators to support his nomination, more witnesses and victims of sexual harassment, and multiple members of the Garcetti administration facing corruption charges and serving prison sentences,” she added.
Garcetti’s nomination now goes to the full Senate for a vote.
