Biden admin renominates Garcetti as US envoy to India, triggers protest

President Joe Biden’s administration has renominated former Los Angeles mayor Eric M Garcetti to be the ambassador of the United States to India, although his confirmation was blocked at the Senate of the American Congress last year in the wake of the allegation that he was aware of sexual harassment committed by one of his top aides.

The renomination of Garcetti, 51, to be the US ambassador to India has triggered a strong protest from the legal organisation ‘Whistleblower Aid’. The organisation represents a woman, who earlier worked as a communications director in the office of the Mayor of Los Angeles and accused Garcetti’s top aide Rick Jacobs of harassing her sexually. Renominating Garcetti “does a grave disservice to victims and survivors of workplace sexual harassment”, Libby Liu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Whistleblower Aid, said.

The White House, however, appeared confident about securing the US Senate’s confirmation for the appointment of Garcetti as the envoy of Washington DC to New Delhi.

“We’ll continue to seek the confirmation of Mayor Garcetti, who has — who was, as you all know, voted out of committee unanimously and with strong bipartisan support to serve as ambassador to India,” Biden’s Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said.

She was briefing media persons at the White House shortly after the administration announced that it had sent to the US Senate nearly 60 nominations for key positions in the government and the judiciary – including several, who could not secure the confirmation during the tenure of the last Congress.

“As Secretary (of State, Antony) Blinken, said very recently, our relationship with India is crucial and it’s consequential, so we see this as a very important nomination,” she said, adding: “And as been — as you know — been reported, we’ll continue to seek the confirmation of Mayor Garcetti, who has — who was, as you all know, voted out of committee unanimously and with strong bipartisan support to serve as ambassador to India.”

The optimism of the Biden Administration over getting Garcetti confirmed as the US ambassador to India apparently stems from the fact that the Democratic Party now has a 51-49 majority in the Senate. The party earlier had the bare minimum hold in the 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided upper chamber of the US Congress.

Biden had first nominated Garcetti, then the Mayor of Los Angeles, as the next US ambassador to India on July 9, 2021.

Garcetti, however, could not take up his assignment in New Delhi as his nomination has not been confirmed by the US Senate. He was accused of being aware of the alleged sexual misconduct of his top aide Jacobs. The then Mayor of Los Angeles denied the allegation persistently during a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination in December 2021.

But a whistle-blower, Naomi Seligman, who had earlier worked as the communications director at the office of the Mayor of Los Angeles, urged the US Senate officials to examine his claims further. This prompted Republican Senator Chuck Grassley to get his office to conduct a probe and come out with a report on May 10 this year. The report concluded that Garcetti was likely aware of the alleged misconduct by Jacobs.

Earlier, Garcetti’s nomination was blocked by Republican Senator Joni Ernst.

The Biden Administration in October 2022 appointed career diplomat Elizabeth Jones as the new acting envoy of Washington DC to New Delhi.

The US Embassy in New Delhi has been headed by acting envoys ever since the term of Kenneth L Juster as the American Ambassador to India concluded in January 2021 with the end of the presidency of Donald Trump.