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Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would like to express my strong opposition to the nomination of Eric Garcetti to be Ambassador to India. I am compelled to vote against Mayor Garcetti due to the serious allegations that he enabled sexual harassment and racism to run rampant in the Los Angeles mayor's office.

During my career, I have prioritized protecting victims of sexual harassment and sexual abuse. In 2005, I cosponsored the Violence Against Women Act. That bill provides vital aid to the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women and to law enforcement to protect victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

Over several Congresses, I have co-led bills introduced by Senator Gillibrand to defend victims of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. I cosponsored resolutions introduced by Senator Feinstein to raise awareness of sexual assault. These include the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act of 2021, the Speak Out Act, the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, and a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

I have also pressed the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security for more transparency and accountability on their handling of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Moving into the next Congress, Senator Durbin and I have agreed to jointly pursue these inquiries.

With respect to Mayor Garcetti, several credible whistleblowers approached my office about concerning allegations that he was aware of and enabled his deputy chief of staff Rick Jacobs to sexually harass several employees within the mayor's office.

These men and women allege that Rick Jacobs engaged in inappropriate physical conduct without their consent. They alleged that Rick Jacobs made crude sexual remarks and gestures towards staff and others. They alleged that he made blatantly racist remarks toward Asians and other minorities.

These allegations have also been publicly reported in the Los Angeles Times. Text messages made public by the Los Angeles Times indicate that these instances were common knowledge among the Garcetti staff. One picture that has been made public shows Jacobs inappropriately touching an individual next to him. In the picture Mayor Garcetti is standing on the other side of Mr. Jacobs. For Mayor Garcetti to claim that he didn't know what was going on defies reason.

There is also a pending lawsuit by a Los Angeles police officer against the city of Los Angeles as a result of this type of disgraceful behavior. The kinds of behavior mentioned in the lawsuit include Jacobs subjecting the police officer to unwanted hugs, shoulder massages, and crude sexual language.

In total, my office identified over 19 individuals who have either witnessed Jacobs' behavior or were the victims of it. So who are these brave and courageous individuals who made these allegations?

Are they Republican operatives?

No. They are his former communications director, senior staffers, junior staffers, businessmen, civic leaders, and the Los Angeles Police Department officer assigned to protect him.

Despite attempts by Mayor Garcetti and the Biden administration to frame complaints against him as a political hit job, some of the individuals who have come forward and shed light on misconduct are from Mayor Garcetti's own staff.

How hypocritical is it for this administration to encourage victims of sexual harassment to speak out, yet when they do so against a powerful ally of Joe Biden, they are ignored? And they have been ignored in this matter even after providing evidence of harassment, including photographs and text messages.

When convenient, Democrats have supported claims of harassment with far less.

Just last week, President Biden signed into law a bill sponsored by Senator Gillibrand that I cosponsored which enabled survivors to speak out about workplace sexual assault and harassment. Continuing to push this nominee after signing that bill into law is the very definition of tone deafness.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration is sending a message to victims of sexual harassment in the workplace that they will only be believed when politically convenient. As a result, the Biden administration and all those who support this nomination have no credibility when it comes to protecting victims of sexual harassment.

I conducted a thorough investigation of the allegation irrespective of partisan politics. That is my reputation. The evidence is clear that Jacobs engaged in blatant sexual misconduct and racist behavior and did it for years. The evidence is clear that Mayor Garcetti either had direct knowledge of it or chose willful ignorance as a defense.

Nobody is that brazen to engage in this type of outrageous behavior against other people unless they know that they have a powerful enabler protecting them. Based on the facts and the evidence, the enabler is Mayor Eric Garcetti.

To defend himself, Mayor Garcetti has pointed to a report which inconceivably purports to clear Jacobs of any wrongdoing. The report was conducted by a law firm hired and paid for by the city of Los Angeles.

Mayor Garcetti and the City of Los Angeles would be liable if the report concluded sexual harassment occurred. The report was also delivered to the city of Los Angeles under attorney-client privilege, apparently in the hope that no one outside the city would ever see it.

The report failed to interview multiple firsthand witnesses. The interviews were not taken under penalty of perjury.

The report focused exclusively on allegations of sexual harassment made by the Los Angeles Police Department and--get this--failed to give due weight to other witnesses.

For example, the report includes an interview with Jacobs in which he admits he used racist language, kissing, hugging, and squeezing people's shoulders. The report also identifies the individual in the lewd photo I mentioned earlier. The report says that the individual stated that Jacobs' actions weren't funny and embarrassed that person.

That makes it clear. It makes it clear nonconsensual, physical contact occurred. It is evidence that sexual harassment occurred. Oddly, the report makes no attempt--no attempt whatsoever--to reconcile how it can conclude there was no sexual harassment after clearly describing sexual harassment throughout.

These aren't acts of transparency; these are acts to sweep this whole thing under the rug. Although Mayor Garcetti may be indifferent to the allegations and the actions of his deputy chief of staff, my colleagues and I have a duty to take such concerning allegations and take them very seriously. Whether here in the United States or abroad, there is no place for sexual misconduct or racism.

Mayor Garcetti has had countless opportunities over the years to stand up for victims by removing his deputy chief of staff, which he failed to do. These fundamental failures by Mayor Garcetti are incompatible with the office that he seeks. Therefore, I can't, in good conscience, vote for him.

I strongly encourage my colleagues to review all of this evidence found in my investigative report as well as what is reported in the press. The facts and the evidence compel me to vote no, and I hope my colleagues will join me in doing the same.

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