The Democrat-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee is on notice from a non-profit government whistleblower group which called supporting former L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s ambassador to India nomination “a bitter pill to swallow” amid allegations his office covered up sexual assault and harassment.
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.
Foreign Relations Committee officials are expected to vote on the embattled nomination of Garcetti next week after nearly 600 days since his nod from the Biden administration.
Libby Liu, chief executive of Whistleblower Aid, the non-profit legal organization supporting individuals who lawfully report government and corporate law-breaking, issued a statement on Garcetti’s nomination to serve as ambassador to India.
“Any support in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for this nominee is a bitter pill to swallow for all those who believe that enabling and covering up sexual harassment and abuse should be disqualifying for public office in America,” Liu said. “The evidence is clear that he is unfit to represent our country anywhere in the world, and especially to the world’s largest democracy with a deeply troubled record on gender-based violence.”
The CEO of Whistleblower Aid on the nomination of Eric Garcetti to serve as Ambassador to India.
Why are Democratic Senators like @maziehirono and @SenDuckworth supporting a man who enabled and covered up sexual assault and harassment? https://t.co/TDygHlyRsq pic.twitter.com/kJfRF5itYO
— Yashar Ali 🐘 یاشار (@yashar) March 1, 2023
The allegations against Garcetti surfaced when the Los Angeles area struggled during COVID as it faced intense lockdowns which partly resulted in people leaving the city. Under Mayor Garcetti, the homelessness problem in Los Angeles also became more of an issue, and he has faced criticism over his inability to combat it.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) requested an investigation into Garcetti last year that delayed the mayor’s ambassador nomination Senate confirmation vote.
The report found, according to CBS, that Garcetti “more probable than not” 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.”
Democrat female senators Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois reportedly told Politico they plan on supporting Garcetti’s nomination despite the allegations against him.
“I’m ready to move on,” Hirono said.
Duckworth, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had previously called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to take the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh brought on by Christine Blasey Ford “very seriously.”
She indicated she would also support Garcetti’s nomination.
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Other Democrats did not disclose where they stood on the matter, while several others said they were looking into the allegations.
“Some of the issues I want to go over and see how much culpability or responsibility is with him in regards to the sexual harassment,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Politico.
Last week, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 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.”
The issue has left an unprecedented two-year vacancy in New Delhi, which has left Republicans and some Democrats uncertain about supporting Garcetti because of his past actions.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the chair of the Foreign Relations panel, told CNN on Tuesday that he expects the vote for Garcetti’s nomination vote to happen next week.