LA mayor sees urgent need for India envoy post since war

Bloomberg

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti — whose nomination as US ambassador to India has faced months of delay — said there’s a pressing need to fill the role since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This is an urgent national-security moment,” Garcetti said in an interview at LA’s City Hall. “And I think our country deeply feels that right now — and the importance of having someone on the ground in India.”
Garcetti, who served as co-chair on Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, has been awaiting Congressional approval since he was announced as the president’s choice in July. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced his nomination, which now must go to a full vote in the chamber.
Two Republican senators may try to hold up his confirmation over concerns about his alleged handling of harassment claims against a top staffer. Los Angeles police officer Matthew Garza, a former bodyguard to Garcetti, has sued Rick Jacobs — a former top aide to the mayor — for alleged harassment.
Garcetti, 51, has strongly denied accusations that he was aware of the behavior. An investigation commissioned by the city cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said this month that he couldn’t vote to confirm Garcetti until he does his own investigation after hearing from whistle-blowers. GOP Senator Joni Ernst this week joined Grassley’s call.
“I’m not surprised by anything in politics,” Garcetti said. “It’s a political process so I understand that there’s politics.”
If confirmed, Garcetti will be heading to a country where he’ll manage US ties with the world’s biggest buyer of Russian weapons.
India, along with China, has taken a position calling for peace while abstaining from a vote on a United Nations draft resolution for Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw forces from Ukraine.