Garcetti has claimed multiple times to have no knowledge of his ex-adviser Rick Jacob's alleged harassment
A former staffer for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said she was 'abandoned' by Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee after the panel voted to move his nomination as US ambassador to India forward despite allegations he covered up for an adviser accused of sexual assault.
'I’ve been a women’s advocate and a loyal Democrat my entire life, and I feel really abandoned by the party I love,' Naomi Seligman told Los Angeles Magazine on Monday.
Seligman is one of four women who accused ex-Garcetti adviser Rick Jacobs of sexual harassment, which Jacobs denies.
She claimed the Democratic mayor of California's largest city knew about Jacobs' behavior and did not intervene to stop it, and accused President Joe Biden of 'not caring' about her and other sexual assault survivors' concerns.
Pressed about some of the accusations at his Senate confirmation hearing in December, Garcetti told Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen that he 'never witnessed' Jacobs' alleged harassment nor was he made aware of it.
Garcetti's nomination was approved by the Democrat-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. Seligman slammed lawmakers who voted to advance Garcetti as 'pathetic.'
She pointed out the party's stated commitment 'to #MeToo and women,' adding that they 'did not live up to those values.'
'Where’s Kirsten Gillibrand? Where’s Elizabeth Warren? Where are these warriors for women? That guts me... Has #MeToo ended in the Senate? If we don’t have them, who do we have?' Seligman asked.
Naomi Seligman (left), a former aide in the Los Angeles Mayor's office, tore into 'pathetic' Senate Democrats for voting to move Garcetti's nomination forward despite allegations he ignored bad behavior from his ex-adviser Rick Jacobs (right)
Neither Senators Gillibrand nor Warren are on the Foreign Relations committee.
Biden rewarded Garcetti's early support of his 2020 bid in July when he nominated him to be ambassador to India in July last year.
The White House told LA Magazine that the president believes Garcetti's repeated claims that he had no knowledge of the accusations.
But Seligman accused Biden of simply not caring.
'When the
