Joni Ernst Joins Grassley in Placing Hold on Eric Garcetti’s India Nomination

Outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti faces new obstacles to confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to India as Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) has joined her colleague Sen. Chuck Grassley in placing a hold on his nomination over allegations that he tolerated sexual harassment in his office.

Breitbart News noted earlier this month:

As Breitbart News previously reported, Garcetti’s aide, Rick Jacobs, faced numerous allegations of sexual harassment, including claims made by a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer and a prominent left-wing journalist, Yashar Ali.

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Garcetti has denied knowing about Jacobs’s misconduct, telling Elex Michaelson of L.A. Fox affiliate KTTV-11: “Repeating an untruth doesn’t make it any less untrue.”

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Left-wing activists, including Black Lives Matter demonstrators, have long opposed a Cabinet post for Garcetti, who was one of President Joe Biden’s earliest supporters in the 2020 primary.

Axios reported Wednesday:

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) has placed a “hold” on Eric Garcetti’s nomination to be ambassador to India, demanding details about how the Los Angeles mayor handled allegations of sexual harassment by his staff — and whether he’s been honest explaining them to the Senate.

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India has tried to remain neutral in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, frustrating the White House. It’s also a vital ally for the U.S. in its efforts to contain China. Yet more than a year into the Biden administration, the United States has no ambassador to the world’s largest democracy.

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“I want some clarity here. I want to know: Were there sexual harassment issues that came up in the workplace that were not addressed by Garcetti?” Ernst told Axios. “If that’s true, that’s really concerning.”

Garcetti’s nomination moved through committee hearings in January, and could still pass a floor vote, but that would eat into the Senate’s schedule.

Garcetti told the Los Angeles Times that he had been warned by State Department staff to prepare for possible objections toward the end of the process: “‘Just know at the end that political things can happen. So be ready.’,” he quoted them as saying.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.