Statement for the Senate
Record by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
On the nomination
of Eric Garcetti to be U.S. Ambassador to India
March 24, 2022
Mr.
President, two weeks ago I
introduced a statement into the record which indicated my intent to object
to any unanimous consent request relating to the nomination of Mayor Eric
Garcetti to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of India. I did so because I had received multiple whistleblower
complaints that Mayor Garcetti witnessed and was aware that his Deputy Chief of
Staff, Rick Jacobs, sexually harassed city employees. In my statement, which I have copied below, I
made clear that I needed to investigate the allegations being made by
whistleblowers and that I needed to review the investigation that the City of
Los Angeles had commissioned which supposedly cleared Mayor Garcetti of any wrongdoing.
At
the time, I instructed my staff to complete this investigation in no more than
two weeks, since it’s not my intent to drag this out. My staff spoke with additional whistleblowers
and subsequently made three separate requests to representatives of the Mayor
to send us the City’s investigative report—on March 11, 18, and 21. The Mayor’s staff provided me with a copy of
the report on March 21. However, we were just notified last night, March 23, that
there was also an updated report along with a summary that was completed
several months after the original report that my office received on March 21.
While
I’m still reviewing this report, my staff informs me that the report is focused
exclusively on allegations made that Mr. Jacobs sexually harassed an LAPD
officer. It does not address other allegations made, including allegations that
Mr. Jacobs had sexually harassed the Mayor’s senior staff and made racist
comments toward staff in front of the Mayor.
Due
to the extremely narrow scope of this report; the fact that many of the
allegations brought to my office were not investigated in that report; and the
fact that we only received the updated report last night, I have instructed my
staff to continue investigating these allegations.
As I
said earlier, it’s not my intent to drag this out and I anticipate that my
investigation will be concluded in the near future.
Statement from March 10, 2022:
Mr.
President, I intend to object to any unanimous consent request at the present
time relating to the nomination of Mayor Eric Garcetti, of California, to be
the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of India.
I
will object because I have received numerous credible allegations from multiple
whistleblowers alleging that Mr. Garcetti, while Mayor of Los Angeles, had
knowledge of sexual harassment and assaults allegedly committed against
multiple city employees and their associates by his close advisor, and that he
ignored the misconduct. The allegations involving
the mayor’s office have been the subject of public reporting and a purportedly independent
investigation. However, serious
questions remain regarding the alleged misconduct, as well as the mayor’s
knowledge of that misconduct.
First,
whistleblowers who have spoken with my office have not previously spoken to the
Foreign Relations Committee, and are presenting new allegations that must be
fully investigated.
Second,
the investigation of the Los Angeles mayor’s office reportedly found no
wrongdoing by the mayor or his staff.
However, information provided by multiple whistleblowers strongly
suggests that this investigation was incomplete at best. The extent to which the investigation was
truly independent is also not clear, and the report has not been made public.
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. Mayor Garcetti may very
well be fully qualified, but at this time, the Senate needs to look into these
allegations further.
So
until my staff and I have conducted a thorough investigation and are able to
speak with everyone involved I cannot vote to confirm Mr. Garcetti.