Senate set to confirm ex-LA mayor Garcetti as India envoy after controversy

Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was on the verge of being confirmed as US ambassador to India Wednesday after his nomination cleared a key Senate test vote — with seven Republicans voting in favor despite a sexual misconduct scandal involving one of Garcetti’s top advisers.

The Senate voted 52-42 to proceed to a final confirmation vote on Garcetti, 52, whose nomination process was dragged out after his former top political adviser Rick Jacobs was accused of sexual assault, harassment and making racist remarks.

Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Steve Daines of Montana, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Todd Young of Indiana and Susan Collins of Maine all voted to move forward with Garcetti’s confirmation.

Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii voted against advancing Garcetti to a final vote.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that he strongly opposed Garcetti’s confirmation because the California politician had “enabled sexual harassment and racism to run rampant in the Los Angeles mayor’s office.”

“When the nomination expired, I had hoped President Biden would recognize his egregious mistake, believe the victims, and change course,” Grassley added. “President Biden failed to do so. Indefensibly, at the same time the Biden administration decries sexual harassment and racism, it’s now twice nominated an individual to represent our country abroad who has enabled those very same disgusting acts.”

Grassley and fellow Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst placed a hold on Garcetti’s nomination last year to look into the allegations. Though the nomination expired in January 2023, Biden decided to re-up Garcetti for the role the same month.

Garcetti, who was initially picked for the New Delhi post in July 2021 after serving as co-chair of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, will be installed in one of the most significant diplomatic posts for directing Washington’s approach to China.

Garcetti previously served on the board of directors for an affiliate of the Asia Society, a nonprofit group with links to Chinese companies and organizations that have pushed Beijing-backed propaganda, The Washington Free Beacon has reported.

Garcetti served as LA mayor from 2013 to 2022 after sitting on the city council for 12 years before that. Former US Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) replaced Garcetti as the city’s mayor in January.

Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) admitted to reporters before the vote on Wednesday that he hadn’t “whipped [Garcetti’s] nomination.”

South Dakota Republican Whip Sen. John Thune said Tuesday that “having that position open for this long for a huge ally, like India, isn’t a good thing.”

He added, “But at the same time when you get somebody into a consequential position like that, you want to: one, make sure they’re qualified; two, that they’ve got the character to carry the job.”

A Los Angeles police officer and a former mayoral spokeswoman both accused Jacobs of sexual harassment when he served as Garcetti’s deputy chief of staff from 2013 to 2016.

The officer, Matthew Garza, and communications director, Naomi Seligman, said Jacobs would engage in unwanted physical touch, at one point forcibly kissing Seligman during her tenure from 2015 to 2017.

The accusations spawned a 310-page report, which was delivered to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last November, and senators delayed Garcetti’s vote in order to consult it.

Grassley said his office also independently “identified over 19 individuals who’ve either witnessed Jacobs’ behavior or were the victims of it,” including “his former Communications Director, senior staffers, junior staffers, businessmen, civic leaders, and a Los Angeles Police Department officer assigned to protect him.”

Garcetti testified at a December 2021 confirmation hearing that he “never witnessed” the behavior, “nor was it brought to my attention, the behavior that’s been alleged.”

Months later, Biden expressed “confidence” in Garcetti despite the allegations.

“The president has confidence in Mayor Garcetti and believes he’ll be an excellent representative in India,” then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in March 2022. “His nomination advanced unanimously with bipartisan support in committee. The White House and the State Department are making calls to senators and working to earn bipartisan support for his nomination. He should receive a vote in the Senate expeditiously.”

Hagerty and Young voted the same month to move forward to a floor vote for Garcetti’s confirmation, earning a rebuke from Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho).

“While information on the question of his knowledge of harassment by a former senior aide is still being collected, new evidence has raised enough questions regarding his judgment that I will be voting no,” he said.

But Young told The Wall Street Journal last week it was a “national security imperative to immediately have an ambassador in place in India.”

“We can’t afford to wait any longer,” he said.