New Delhi: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, US President Joe Biden’s choice to serve as ambassador to India, could face further delay in his nomination by the Senate amid claims that he was aware of former aide Rick Jacobs’ allegedly inappropriate behaviour towards women and men in and around City Hall.
In a letter obtained by US media outlet Politico, Republican Senator Charles Grassley asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay Garcetti’s nomination until an investigation into the scandal is concluded.
“The United States owes it to the Republic of India to send them a qualified Ambassador that will represent the values of the United States,” Grassley wrote, adding that the investigation has uncovered a whistleblower and additional sources who have presented new information that suggest that the probe conducted by the mayor’s office was “incomplete at best”.
In July 2021, Garcetti was named as Biden’s nominee for the position of ambassador to India, but his nomination has been stalled for many months due to Republican pushback. This has raised speculation as to whether he will join the Biden administration before his term as mayor ends in December this year.
Meanwhile, the White House has defended Garcetti, saying that the mayor takes such allegations “very seriously” and that President Biden believes he’ll be an “excellent representative in India”.
In the US, the President nominates ambassadors and forwards their names to the Senate for confirmation.
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Who is Rick Jacobs & how did the scandal unfold?
Since 2013, Rick Jacobs has occupied many positions vis-à-vis Garcetti — as his deputy chief of staff, communications director, political aide, and head of a non-profit that the mayor launched when he was mulling the idea of running for presidency in 2020.
In July 2020, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer Matthew Garza, who served as one of Garcetti’s body guards, went public with a sexual assault lawsuit against Jacobs. He accused Jacobs of giving unwanted hugs, touching him inappropriately, and making crude comments between 2014 and 2019.
Garza described instances where Jacobs would rub his biceps and shoulders while whispering remarks like “you feel so strong” and “your muscles are so tight” in his ear, according to a report by the Intelligencer.
The LAPD officer also accused Garcetti of witnessing the behaviour but turning a blind eye.
In February 2021, Henry Casas, who worked for Garcetti from 2013 to 2018 as a public-engagement director, testified that he saw Garza being harassed and that Jacobs also gave Casas shoulder massages.
“I definitely got hugged. You know, pretty much, you know, my biceps would get grabbed, right, squeezed. Every now and then, you know, I might be sitting down, he’d be behind me and do a — like a quick massage,” Casas said, according to a transcript of the deposition obtained by the LA Times.
He added that it was “common knowledge” inside the mayor’s office that Jacobs was engaged in such activity.
At the time, Garcetti responded with a statement that had he been made aware of any allegation, he would have taken action to address it. Jacobs meanwhile called Garza’s claims “a work of fiction”.
Shortly after Casas’ deposition, journalist Yashar Ali accused Jacobs of giving him unwanted kisses on the lips between 2005 and 2015.
There were some staff, both former and current, of the mayor’s office who argued differently, such as Poonam Narewatt, who testified that she never heard Jacobs make comments of a sexual nature.
Allegations of perjury
Last December, Garcetti was grilled by Republican Senators in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which held a hearing in Washington to consider his nomination.
They raised concerns about accusations that Garcetti “did not respond to those [sexual assault] allegations in a way that would have stopped the behaviour” and ignored the misconduct.
During the hearing, while under oath, the mayor said he “never witnessed” the alleged behaviour, nor was it “brought to his attention”. A month later, the Foreign Relations Committee voted to advance Garcetti’s nomination but the new investigation launched at Grassley’s behest, poses yet another hurdle.
In February, non-profit law firm Whistleblower Aid filed a complaint on behalf of Garcetti’s former communications director Naomi Seligman, accusing him of perjury while questioned during his nomination hearing.
Perjury is the act of intentionally telling a falsehood while under oath.
Seligman claims Jacobs sexually assaulted her in 2016 in LA City Hall itself. Seligman said she informed the mayor’s former chief of staff Ana Guerrero, who allegedly told her that “no complaints would be tolerated because Mr. Jacobs was important to the mayor”.
What also hasn’t helped Garcetti’s case is a 2017 photograph showing Jacob’s hand in front of another man’s genital area, while the mayor stands nearby.
A photograph showing one of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s closest advisors making a sexually provocative gesture, while the mayor stands nearby, raises new questions about Garcetti’s contention that he had no knowledge of inappropriate behavior.https://t.co/m3HsUpHoVJ
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) November 21, 2020
‘Lucrative consulting payments’ to Rick Jacobs
In October 2020, amid the sexual misconduct allegations, Jacobs announced he would be taking a leave of absence from the mayor’s office, and Garcetti has distanced himself from his former aide ever since.
However, in July 2021, reports emerged that Jacobs received “lucrative contracting fees” from a labour union that has been a long-time supporter of the mayor. The labour union in question is the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, which has financially backed the mayor’s political campaigns starting with his first in 2001.
“Garcetti and Jacobs stopped communicating last October [2020]…But while Garcetti cut ties with his former aide in the wake of the harassment allegations, the carpenters union has stood by him,” noted a report by LAist.
This raised questions as to whether the mayor was continuing to protect Jacobs post the lawsuit.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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