President Joe Biden’s decision to stand behind his embattled nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to India faces new scrutiny as the nomination of two-term former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti heads again to the Senate.
The troubled nomination has revived criticism of the president’s decision to reward political allies with plum diplomatic posts.
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Garcetti, a one-time presidential prospect, was a prominent Biden surrogate throughout the 2020 race, serving as national co-chair for the Biden ticket and a co-chair of the vice presidential nominating committee before the president nominated him to be ambassador to India more than 19 months ago.
“Biden has always been someone who prized loyalty, and I think he sees Eric as a political ally who went to the mats for him at critical points during the campaign,” said Brett Bruen, a former Foreign Service officer and a member of the Obama administration’s National Security Council. “But this reinforces why the calculation for naming somebody [ambassador] should not be ‘what did you do for me during the campaign.’ It should be ‘what are you going to do for our country.’ That’s clearly not what is driving the decision to leave an embassy without leadership for over two years.”
Bruen called Biden’s decision to reward political allies with important diplomatic posts “embarrassing,” charging that the president’s favors to donors and other backers were hurting American interests.
“This is quite frankly the most embarrassing example of how Biden has prioritized politics over the national security interests of the U.S,” he said.
The discovery of classified documents at Biden’s Washington think tank has renewed attention to his ambassador to Germany, former University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, who spearheaded the development of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement where files were found. Federal records show that the university accepted more than $100 million in contributions from Chinese entities, the Saudi Ministry of Defense, and others under her leadership, donations that surged once Biden left office and joined the university as it sought to expand its overseas footprint.
“They come with a lot of baggage, which isn’t conducive to diplomacy,” Bruen added. “Garcetti, in the interest of our diplomacy and certainly during a very fragile time in the Indo-Pacific region, has to recognize that this is bigger than his own ambition.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will take up Garcetti’s nomination again on Tuesday after he failed to secure enough Senate votes during the last Congress. Biden in January renominated Garcetti despite senators refusing to commit to confirming the two-time former Democratic mayor amid allegations that he was aware of a top aide sexually harassing subordinates. Several Democrats were among the holdouts.
Now, Republicans are poised to press the issue, with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the committee, placing a hold on the nomination and alleging that Garcetti “has ignored credible sexual assault accusations in his prior office.”
Garcetti has denied any knowledge of the complaints, but many Democrats remain unconvinced.
“No one believes his denial,” a California Democratic strategist said.
Efforts by Garcetti’s supporters to influence Senate Democrats have yet to yield results.
Politico reported how Garcetti’s allies privately pressured Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) last year by delivering “the strong impression that the Arizona Democrat could find himself cut off from donor networks should he refuse to back” the former Los Angeles mayor’s bid. Yet “these kinds of tactics backfire,” a source familiar with the effort told the outlet at the time.
The White House in January explained Biden’s decision to stand by Garcetti, insisting to reporters that the former mayor is “well qualified.”
“Our relationship with India is crucial and it’s consequential, so we see this as a very important nomination,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, adding that the White House remains “hopeful that the full Senate will confirm him promptly.”
Still, Garcetti has embraced other opportunities.
In an announcement Monday, the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University said Garcetti would join a cohort of four distinguished visiting fellows at the center.
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“These leading individuals with decades of experience working on energy policy in the public sector will work closely with students and faculty across the university to provide a wealth of valuable experience and knowledge they’ve acquired in their careers,” said Jason Bordoff, the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy.
In a statement, Garcetti said he was “excited ... to help elevate the groundbreaking local climate work underway around the world.”