REPORT: MAYOR ‘LIKELY KNEW’ ABOUT ALLEGATIONS
Senator’s probe looks at accusations against Garcetti aide
A Republican senator’s investigation into allegations surrounding Mayor Eric Garcetti and his former top aide found it “extremely unlikely” that Garcetti was unaware of the aide’s alleged inappropriate behavior.
The report released Tuesday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, concluded that Garcetti “likely knew or should have known that Rick Jacobs was sexually harassing multiple individuals and making racist comments towards others.”
Grassley, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, ordered the report earlier this year after whistleblowers approached his office with accusations about Garcetti and Jacobs, a high-level aide who helped propel the mayor’s political career.
Garcetti in July was nominated by President Biden to become ambassador to India.
Grassley said Tuesday that he would allow Garcetti’s nomination to move forward but intends to vote no on the nomination if it goes to the full Senate.
Following the release of the report, Garcetti said, “While I strongly disagree with the opinion reached in this report, I am pleased that Sen. Grassley has lifted his hold and hope that my nomination by the president
can be considered by the Senate soon.”
Both Jacobs and Garcetti declined to be interviewed by Grassley’s investigators. Garcetti spokesperson Harrison Wollman earlier this month said the mayor offered to meet with Grassley, but the meeting has not occurred.
It was not immediately clear what impact the investigation would have on Garcetti’s nomination.
The White House issued a statement Tuesday afternoon dismissing the investigation as biased and incomplete. White House spokesperson Chris Meagher said Grassley’s “partisan report was a hit job from the beginning,” and the claims “have already been conclusively debunked.”
“The president has confidence in Mayor Garcetti,” Meagher continued, “and believes he will be an excellent representative in India at a critical moment and
calls for the Senate to swiftly confirm him.”
The Senate confirmation process has dragged on for months as Grassley and other senators signaled doubts about Garcetti’s nomination. His second and final term as mayor ends in December, and multiple candidates are vying in the June 7 primary to succeed him.
The allegations surrounding the mayor’s office became public in 2020, when a Los Angeles police officer who worked as Garcetti’s bodyguard sued the city, claiming Jacobs sexually harassed him and the mayor witnessed the behavior but didn’t intervene.
Jacobs has denied harassing anyone but said in deposition testimony that he may have hugged the officer. He has said he may have made sexual jokes in front of the mayor’s security detail.
Other city staffers have said in deposition testimony or in interviews with the Los
Angeles Times that it was widely discussed in the mayor’s office that Jacobs sexually harassed people.
Garcetti’s nomination was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January. A month earlier, Garcetti told the panel he had never witnessed the misconduct alleged by the police officer. He has also said he never witnessed any inappropriate behavior by his aide.
Email correspondence reviewed by the Los Angeles Times through public records shows that Grassley’s investigators in recent weeks contacted several top staffers in Garcetti’s office, including adviser Ana Guerrero, seeking to interview them for the report.
Grassley’s investigators interviewed 15 witnesses and read 26 depositions taken in the civil lawsuit of LAPD Officer Matthew Garza. Eleven other individuals working for or close to the mayor refused to meet with investigators, the report said.
The report largely includes evidence that has already been made public. However, one of the new allegations is from a witness who described an incident in which Jacobs allegedly massaged and rubbed his groin against another person at the 2015 U.S.-China Climate Summit in Los Angeles.
The report cites witnesses who claimed that Jacobs made racist remarks at the conference.