Garcetti ‘likely knew or should have known’ about aide’s alleged sexual harassment, report finds

A high Senate Republican launched an investigation Tuesday that concluded Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti “probably knew or ought to have recognized” {that a} former high adviser was allegedly sexually harassing metropolis workers, a discovering that seems to contradict the mayor’s assertion that he was unaware of any inappropriate conduct.

A 23-page report launched by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa mentioned his workplace’s investigation discovered it was “extraordinarily unlikely” that the Democratic mayor, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to function ambassador to India, wouldn’t have been conscious of the misconduct allegations towards his former aide, Rick Jacobs.

The White Home issued a press release saying Biden had confidence in Garcetti and known as on the Senate to substantiate him.

“This partisan report was successful job from the start, and most of the claims have already been conclusively debunked by extra severe impartial studies,” mentioned the assertion by spokesman Chris Meagher. “It repackages allegations already addressed underneath oath and doesn’t interview key individuals.”

The report marks the most recent growth in Garcetti’s effort to fill one of many nation’s most distinguished diplomatic roles. The nomination has been languishing within the Senate since July, because the mayor confronted questions on what he knew, and when, relating to the allegations towards Jacobs.

At a Senate Overseas Relations Committee listening to in December, Garcetti informed senators contemplating his nomination that he by no means witnessed Jacobs sexually harass certainly one of his police bodyguards, allegations which are on the middle of a lawsuit filed towards his administration.

The lawsuit costs that Jacobs regularly sexually harassed the police bodyguard whereas Garcetti ignored it or laughed it off. The mayor has repeatedly denied the claims. Jacobs has known as the allegations of misconduct “fiction.”

Grassley disclosed the investigation in March, saying he had obtained “quite a few credible allegations” that Garcetti was conscious of the sexual harassment however did nothing to cease it. On the time, he mentioned he couldn’t vote to substantiate Garcetti, saying the nation deserved an envoy who will “characterize the values of the US.”

Investigators interviewed 15 witnesses, learn 26 depositions taken within the lawsuit and consulted different supplies, together with emails and textual content messages. The report mentioned Garcetti and Jacobs declined to be interviewed.

A lot of the proof cited within the report has beforehand been made public. Nevertheless, one apparently new account includes a whistleblower who allegedly noticed Jacobs on the U.S.-China Local weather Summit in 2015 sexually harass an worker who was engaged on a laptop computer, together with urgent his groin space on the particular person’s again. Senior staffers later laughed it off, the report mentioned.

“Investigators consider this allegation is credible as a result of it matches the sample of conduct described by a number of different senior employees members in Mayor Garcetti’s workplace, and due to its similarity to allegations” within the lawsuit, the report discovered.

In a press release, Garcetti spokeswoman Dae Levine mentioned, “No new information had been uncovered on this report and Mayor Garcetti strongly reaffirms the easy reality that he by no means witnessed or was made conscious of sexual harassment.”