(JustPatriots.com)- On Wednesday, the nomination of former LA Mayor Eric Garcetti to be President Biden’s Ambassador to India cleared the first hurdle when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 13 to 8 to advance it to the full Senate for a vote, NBC News reported.
Garcetti’s nomination has been held up since July 2021, partly due to questions about his handling of sexual harassment claims made against a former aide when Garcetti was mayor of Los Angeles.
In Wednesday’s committee vote, two Republican Senators, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Todd Young of Indiana, joined the 11 Democrats to advance Garcetti’s nomination to the full Senate.
It isn’t clear when the full Senate will vote on Garcetti’s nomination. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that he hoped to bring up the vote soon. Only a simple majority is necessary for Garcetti’s confirmation.
The Foreign Relations Committee previously voted to advance Garcetti’s nomination in January 2022, but it never received a full vote in the Senate due to opposition from some Senate Democrats. The president renominated Garcetti earlier this year after his previous nomination lapsed.
Garcetti’s nomination has been clouded by questions over what he knew about the allegations made against his former advisor Rick Jacobs, who, according to a lawsuit, repeatedly sexually harassed one of then-Mayor Garcetti’s police bodyguards. Garcetti is accused of ignoring and laughing off the harassment, an accusation Garcetti has repeatedly denied, ABC News reported.
During his initial confirmation hearing in December 2021, Garcetti said he knew nothing about the harassment, claiming he “never witnessed” it nor was it “brought to my attention.” He said if he had known about it, he would have “immediately” taken steps to stop it.
In May 2022, Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley released a report of an investigation into the allegations that concluded Garcetti “likely knew or should have known” that Rick Jacobs was engaging in sexual harassment.
