Editor鈥檚 note: This story includes descriptions of sexual harassment and racist language.
In June 2017, Eric Garcetti gathered with a group of his staffers, advisers and lobbyists on a hotel rooftop in Miami Beach, Florida.
At the time, Garcetti was a rising star in the Democratic Party. He had just been reelected mayor of Los Angeles, the second-biggest city in the U.S., and he was actively laying the foundation for a potential presidential campaign.
Garcetti鈥檚 staff was in Miami Beach for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. On the final night of the conference, with the sunset fading over the hotel pool, the group posed for pictures.
One of those photos would go on to haunt Garcetti鈥檚 political career, from his time as mayor of Los Angeles to his current post as U.S. ambassador to India.
In the middle of the photo, Garcetti is smiling, giving two thumbs-ups.
Garcetti is flanked by people he : a pair of lobbyists, a business executive and a city official.
On the left is one of Garcetti鈥檚 closest political allies at the time, a man named Rick Jacobs. Jacobs is a powerful and well-connected figure in LA politics and was part of Garcetti鈥檚 inner circle. He had been a political consultant, fundraiser, deputy chief of staff, trusted adviser and friend to Garcetti for years.
In the photo, Jacobs is standing just a couple of feet from Garcetti, posing with his outstretched hand placed deliberately in front of a lobbyist鈥檚 crotch.
That lobbyist would later testify that he found the situation upsetting and embarrassing.
鈥淚 thought Rick Jacobs should be ashamed,鈥 he said. (NPR is not naming him as a victim of sexual misconduct.)
For years, the photo circulated among Garcetti鈥檚 City Hall staff, the kind of photo that people gossiped about and showed at after-work happy hours.
For some, the photo of Garcetti, with his eyes looking toward the camera, functioned as a kind of visual metaphor.
When the photo was taken on that hotel rooftop, Garcetti said, he was looking the other way.
Just a few years later, in 2020, an LAPD officer on Garcetti鈥檚 protective detail sued the city of Los Angeles and that Jacobs sexually harassed him over the course of 2014 to 2019 and that Garcetti witnessed the behavior and failed to act. That lawsuit led to the release of the photo, along with a cascade of accusations from people in and around the Garcetti administration.
Multiple city employees testified in depositions that Jacobs subjected them to unwanted massages and hugs, crude sexual comments and racist language without facing any consequences.
Jacobs denied all wrongdoing, calling the allegations against him 鈥減ure fiction.鈥 Under oath, Jacobs denied sexually harassing anyone. He , however, that he referred to his Asian American assistant at City Hall as a 鈥淐hinaman.鈥 He that he posed for the photo next to Garcetti as part of a 鈥渞eally stupid joke.鈥 Asked whether he made 鈥渃omments of a sexual nature鈥 in front of Garcetti, Jacobs it was 鈥減ossible.鈥
Garcetti said he never saw inappropriate behavior from Jacobs, in public or private, at any time. He he could not even recall Jacobs telling a joke, let alone an off-color comment.
After the lawsuit was filed, Garcetti initially stood by Jacobs and said they would continue to work together while a city-commissioned sexual harassment investigation was ongoing.
鈥淔undamentally, this is something that should take a process forward, but shouldn鈥檛 keep somebody who has been a committed public servant from being able to serve our community and our world,鈥 Garcetti told reporters in July 2020. Garcetti stopped working with Jacobs months later, when additional accusations became public.
Despite the allegations, Garcetti fought to keep his political career on track while maintaining that he was completely unaware of any inappropriate behavior. Ultimately, he narrowly won confirmation in the U.S. Senate as ambassador to India amid questions about what he knew about the harassment allegations and when.
Months after Garcetti was sworn in, city leaders approved a $1.8 million settlement to resolve the lawsuit.
Like most settlements, this one did not include any admission of wrongdoing.
Garcetti told NPR, 鈥淚 was surprised by the settlement. I wish it had gone to trial.鈥
Dueling investigative reports 鈥 one commissioned by the city of Los Angeles and the other by Senate Republicans 鈥 came to opposite conclusions. As a result, the truth of LAPD officer Matthew Garza鈥檚 allegations remains legally unresolved.
The closure of the case allowed NPR to use the California Public Records Act to obtain more than a thousand pages of unredacted transcripts of depositions of Garcetti鈥檚 inner circle.
NPR has also obtained, and is publishing for the first time, excerpts of the video of Garcetti鈥檚 deposition, showing his body language, facial expressions and demeanor as he responds to tough questions about the harassment allegations.
The evidence includes new allegations of workplace misconduct and retaliation against those who spoke out against Jacobs and Garcetti. In total, the records raise concern about Garcetti鈥檚 truthfulness, as well as the Biden-Harris administration鈥檚 decision to fully support Garcetti鈥檚 nomination as ambassador to India. NPR鈥檚 investigation also reveals the tension at the heart of a Democratic political scandal in the #MeToo era, between political ambition and a commitment to addressing sexual harassment.
The White House declined to answer NPR鈥檚 questions for this story.
Jacobs also did not respond to emails and text messages seeking comment. When an NPR journalist reached Jacobs by phone and identified himself as a reporter, Jacobs responded, 鈥淥h,鈥 and immediately ended the call.
Multiple former members of the Garcetti administration say that the evidence refutes Garcetti鈥檚 consistent denials.
鈥淭o watch him lie like that is such a betrayal,鈥 said Naomi Seligman, who served as Garcetti鈥檚 communications director from 2015 to 2017 and who has Garcetti of committing perjury.
鈥淭here are a lot of lives and people he left behind him that have been hurt, because of his inability to own his responsibility in this situation,鈥 said Suzi Emmerling, who served as Garcetti鈥檚 communications director from 2017 to 2019.
Here are four key takeaways from NPR鈥檚 investigation:
1. Concerns about Jacobs鈥 alleged misconduct at work spanned more than a decade
By the time LAPD officer Garza went public with sexual harassment allegations against Jacobs in July 2020, Garcetti and Jacobs had been friends for nearly two decades. In a 2016 email, Garcetti Jacobs 鈥渁 dear friend, as well as one of my most trusted advisors.鈥
Throughout much of that time, people who knew and worked for Jacobs had concerns about his conduct, according to deposition testimony. Multiple employees testified that such concerns were widely known.
Jacobs met Garcetti in 2003, when Jacobs was working on former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean鈥檚 presidential campaign, and Garcetti endorsed Dean. Garcetti鈥檚 wife, Amy Wakeland, also worked on the campaign and was also friends with Jacobs.
In politics, Jacobs was known as a formidable, and even ruthless, fundraiser. After Dean鈥檚 campaign ended, Jacobs created a liberal group called the Courage Campaign, which is best known for its advocacy in support of same-sex marriage. Jacobs is gay.
The organization was small. Jacobs, who led the organization from 2005 to 2013, estimated in his deposition testimony that it had roughly eight employees at any given time.
NPR spoke to six former employees of the group. These former employees asked to speak anonymously, because they said they fear retaliation from Jacobs, who is still influential in LA politics as a consultant and .
In interviews, these former employees said that Jacobs frequently made crude sexual comments at work and that he frequently hugged, squeezed and kissed the employees he managed.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen any other leader I鈥檝e worked for have that level of physical contact in the workplace,鈥 said one former employee.
Another former employee, a gay man, said that Jacobs forcibly kissed him on the lips, touched and 鈥渁ggressively鈥 hugged him without his consent, and subjected him to 鈥渓ewd and sexually graphic comments,鈥 according to a summary of his complaint later provided to investigators for the city.
The organization was virtual and did not have a formal office. As a result, former employees said, work meetings often took place at Jacobs鈥 home and sometimes over alcoholic drinks, blurring the line between personal and professional. Evening fundraisers, which also frequently involved alcohol, made those lines even fuzzier. Jeremy Bernard, who did not work for the Courage Campaign but knew Jacobs socially during that time, agreed that Jacobs could be 鈥溾 and 鈥溾 when drinking alcohol, according to his testimony.
In his deposition, Jacobs denied ever sexually harassing any employee of the Courage Campaign.
When asked whether he had kissed an employee without his consent, Jacobs replied, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 recall doing so. Not without his consent.鈥
Jacobs is no longer formally associated with the Courage Campaign, which renamed itself Courage California and is now led by Executive Director Irene Kao.
NPR contacted Kao for comment about the former employees鈥 allegations.
鈥淭he allegations you shared happened some time ago, so I don鈥檛 think it would serve any purpose to send them to me at this time,鈥 Kao wrote in an email. 鈥淎ny allegations of any kind of discrimination or harassment is taken very seriously by Courage California, and we believe all parties should be afforded a just legal process.鈥
Kao declined to comment on Jacobs鈥 role with the organization, citing concerns about privacy.
During that same era, before Jacobs was hired at City Hall in 2013, Yashar Ali, a freelance journalist and former political fundraiser, said that Jacobs grabbed his face with two hands, forcibly kissed him on the lips at a party and said, 鈥淕od your lips are so soft.鈥 Ali, who is gay, said the kisses were not consensual and made him uncomfortable. He said he did not push Jacobs away.
鈥淎nd once he did that, and I didn鈥檛 object to it, he continued,鈥 Ali told NPR in an interview. 鈥淏ut not objecting to something is not consent. It鈥檚 just not objecting.鈥 He estimates that Jacobs kissed him about a dozen times over the years and that Garcetti was sometimes present at these parties.
Jacobs spoke about this allegation with investigators for the city. 鈥淚n Mr. Jacobs鈥 experience growing up and as a gay man, kissing on the mouth was a common way to greet others,鈥 the investigators wrote in their report. Jacobs said that he believed the kisses with Ali were consensual and part of a 鈥渃utesy little game.鈥 Ali told NPR that Jacobs鈥 statement was 鈥渁bsurd鈥 and false.
NPR spoke to multiple sources who said that Ali鈥檚 story is consistent with their own experience and that Jacobs was widely known to touch people at parties in ways that made them uncomfortable. The and both reported additional accounts of men who said Jacobs groped them at parties.
Garcetti鈥檚 own description of Jacobs鈥 behavior at parties has changed over time.
In his deposition, Garcetti , 鈥淚 have no memory of ever meeting鈥 Ali. But he said he witnessed Jacobs kissing people on the lips as a greeting in social environments.
鈥淚 think he might have been receiving it as much as somebody giving it,鈥 Garcetti .
In an interview with city investigators, Garcetti said the contact he witnessed was appropriate, because Jacobs is gay and Jewish and, as Garcetti put it, Jews are an affectionate 鈥渉ugging kind of people.鈥
But in his response to NPR鈥檚 questions for this story, Garcetti had a different answer.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 recall ever seeing Rick Jacobs kiss anybody, aside from social kisses on the cheek to say hello,鈥 Garcetti wrote in an email.
NPR sought clarification of Garcetti鈥檚 answer, given that he had previously seeing Jacobs kiss people on the lips.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no contradiction,鈥 Garcetti wrote in a follow-up email. 鈥淚 only ever saw Rick kiss others during the normal course of social greetings, and I never witnessed any inappropriate behavior. I鈥檝e given this testimony consistently.鈥
2. At LA City Hall, allegations of unwanted massages, kisses, sexual innuendo and racist comments
When Garcetti began running for LA mayor in 2013, Jacobs raised more than $2 million to support Garcetti鈥檚 campaign and attack his opponent.
Shortly thereafter, Garcetti hired Jacobs as his deputy chief of staff and gave him a special title, 鈥渆xecutive vice mayor.鈥 Together, Garcetti and Jacobs a nonprofit called the Mayor鈥檚 Fund for Los Angeles. The organization raises private, tax-deductible donations from individuals, corporations and charities to help pay for initiatives in the city. Since its founding, the organization has about whether corporations, wealthy donors and even the government of Qatar, which is known for censorship and repression, were with Garcetti. And while the Mayor鈥檚 Fund is technically independent from the city government, it had an office at LA City Hall. (After Karen Bass became LA mayor, the organization moved its office out of City Hall and embraced regarding donations.)
In addition to the Mayor鈥檚 Fund, Jacobs also worked with Garcetti to create a nonprofit called Accelerator for America, which helped boost Garcetti鈥檚 presidential ambitions, as well as a political action committee called the Democratic Midterm Victory Fund, which raised money from big donors in Hollywood and business. Among the PAC鈥檚 donors were the tech billionaires and .
鈥淩ick Jacobs brought Eric Garcetti to the ball,鈥 said Seligman, the former Garcetti communications director. 鈥淩ick Jacobs introduced him to the biggest donors he has. Rick Jacobs was his ticket.鈥
In Garcetti鈥檚 world, Jacobs 鈥渉ad more power than any other adviser,鈥 said Emmerling, the other former Garcetti communications director.
In a 2019 email to some of his top advisers, Garcetti wrote, 鈥淚 have led a new culture at City Hall that has been recognized as the best in the country.鈥
Behind the scenes, the picture was much darker, and often beset by internal rivalries.
Jacobs himself told city investigators that City Hall was an environment of 鈥渓iteral hatred.鈥
Five city employees testified that Jacobs subjected them to unwanted, inappropriate or otherwise discomfiting physical contact at work, including a forcible kiss, massages, squeezes and tight hugs.
Other City Hall employees testified that they witnessed physical contact between Jacobs and other employees. Former Chief of Staff Ana Guerrero, who remains close to Garcetti, told city investigators that Jacobs used hugs to 鈥渁ssert his dominance鈥 with lower-level employees, though she did not describe the contact as sexual harassment. A former press secretary for Garcetti testified that Jacobs sexually harassed her fianc茅 at a dinner party.
Julie Ciardullo, then chief legal counsel in the mayor鈥檚 office, testified about an incident that she said Garcetti personally witnessed, in which Jacobs allegedly cornered her in a cramped elevator and pushed against her body, joking about the 鈥渢ight fit.鈥 He was 鈥渏oking around鈥 and 鈥渋nvading my personal space,鈥 even after she told him to 鈥渃ut it out,鈥 Ciardullo testified. Jacobs stopped only after Garcetti intervened, she said. Ciardullo said that she did not consider the incident sexual harassment. Garcetti鈥檚 spokesperson that he did not remember the incident, but Ciardullo鈥檚 鈥渄escription is consistent with how [Garcetti] would handle any situation where he witnesses someone behaving unprofessionally.鈥
Multiple witnesses testified that Jacobs regularly made sexual comments and jokes to employees.
In addition to Jacobs鈥 racist reference to his Asian American assistant 鈥 which three witnesses testified to 鈥 investigators for Senate Republicans that Jacobs used the term 鈥測ellow people鈥 to describe participants at a U.S.-China summit. Paul Kadzielski, a former digital director in the Garcetti administration, that 鈥渙ccasionally [Jacobs] would make jokes of a racial nature that would make me uncomfortable.鈥
The testimony and other evidence in the case suggest that concern about Jacobs鈥 workplace behavior was widely known.
鈥淢y impression was that Rick鈥檚 behavior was common knowledge among people who were my superiors,鈥 Anna Bahr, a former Garcetti press secretary, 鈥渁nd my expectation of any repercussions for him was zero.鈥
Emmerling told NPR that Jacobs was seen as 鈥渂eyond untouchable,鈥 so people were reluctant to speak out. 鈥淓veryone would just say, 鈥榃ell, he鈥檚 always gonna win. You鈥檙e never gonna push back against him or any of his behavior and prevail. So you truly don鈥檛 have a choice but to just accept it,鈥欌 Emmerling said.
Garcetti 鈥 and reiterated to NPR 鈥 that he never witnessed any inappropriate behavior of any kind from Jacobs.
鈥淎s someone who has spent years advocating for victims of sexual harassment, I was deeply saddened to learn about these allegations during the course of the litigation,鈥 Garcetti told NPR in an email. 鈥淲hat frustrates me most is that I was only made aware of these allegations years later, in [a] lawsuit and through the press during a campaign to damage my political career. I wish these individuals 鈥 and their supervisors 鈥 had come forward while this behavior was allegedly taking place. Had that happened, I would have taken immediate action to stop it.鈥
3. A hush agreement kept an allegation of workplace misconduct and retaliation secret
One revelation from the records obtained by NPR is that the sexual harassment lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles was not the first time Jacobs faced a formal claim of workplace misconduct.
Because of a confidentiality agreement, the details of the accusation were hidden from the public. NPR is reporting them now for the first time.
While at City Hall, Jacobs served as the board treasurer of the Mayor鈥檚 Fund and also as a kind of liaison between the fund and Garcetti. After he left his city position, Garcetti wrote in an that Jacobs 鈥渨ill continue to keep me apprised of and engaged in the excellent work the Fund is doing.鈥
In 2018, Jeremy Bernard, a former social secretary in the Obama White House, the role of CEO of the Mayor鈥檚 Fund. Bernard had been a close friend of Jacobs. But that relationship changed when Bernard became alarmed by Jacobs鈥 treatment of Mayor鈥檚 Fund employees.
Bernard testified that Jacobs 鈥渃ould be quite rude鈥 to female employees and treated them poorly in comparison with male employees.
According to testimony from the case obtained by NPR, this was not an isolated concern for women in and around the Garcetti administration. Multiple people who worked in and around City Hall said under oath that Jacobs bullied and abused female colleagues.
Jacobs was 鈥,鈥 was 鈥溾 and 鈥,鈥 testified one senior adviser to Garcetti. He was 鈥溾 and was 鈥,鈥 said a fundraiser for Garcetti. 鈥,鈥 said a former press secretary for Garcetti. He was 鈥,鈥 testified one former administration official. He was ,鈥 said another former official.
Bernard testified that he reported concerns about Jacobs鈥 treatment of female employees to the chair of the board of the Mayor鈥檚 Fund, Kathleen Brown, in April 2020. (Brown is a former California state treasurer, and her father, Pat Brown, and her brother, Jerry Brown, both served as governor of the state.)
A few days later, Bernard participated in a conference call with Brown and Jacobs. On that call, Bernard said, he was fired.
Bernard that he was 鈥溾 by what took place and that he believes his firing was an act of retaliation for reporting workplace misconduct.
鈥淒id you form an impression that Rick Jacobs retaliates against people that complain about him?鈥 Bernard was .
鈥淵eah. I think that is a fair assumption,鈥 he replied.
There鈥檚 a reason this complaint has not been publicly reported before.
Bernard and Jacobs were bound by a surrounding the circumstances of Bernard鈥檚 firing, deposition testimony indicates. Bernard declined to comment to NPR in any way about the circumstances of his departure from the organization.
An attorney representing the Mayor鈥檚 Fund for Los Angeles, Lisa Von Eschen, told NPR in an email, 鈥淚t is the policy of the Mayor鈥檚 Fund for Los Angeles not to comment on personnel matters,鈥 and said that because of changes in the board membership, no current board members were involved in the decision. She did not answer a question about whether the organization still intends to enforce any confidentiality agreement about Bernard鈥檚 dismissal.
Brown, the former board chair, did not respond to multiple messages from NPR seeking comment.
Bernard that 鈥淚 assume [Garcetti] knows鈥 about the reason for his firing, but he was not certain.
Garcetti told NPR that he was not involved in personnel decisions of the Mayor鈥檚 Fund and was not aware of the circumstances of Bernard鈥檚 exit.
鈥淎side from one instance of a colleague complaining that Rick had taken credit for their work, and Rick calling that person territorial 鈥 a professional conflict which I helped resolve 鈥 no complaints about Rick were ever raised with me,鈥 Garcetti told NPR. 鈥淎s I鈥檝e said too many times to count over the years 鈥 if anyone had ever made me aware of any inappropriate behavior, I would have acted to stop it.鈥
4. Multiple allegations that Garcetti lied under oath
Two eyewitnesses testified that they heard Garcetti personally express concern about Jacobs鈥 behavior before the lawsuit made allegations of misconduct public.
鈥淭he mayor and his wife had a conversation in the car about Rick Jacobs鈥 inappropriate behavior,鈥 testified LAPD officer Matthew Garza, who often drove with Garcetti around the city. 鈥淚 believe they used the wording that it was going to eventually 鈥榖ite them in the ass.鈥欌
Garcetti and his wife that they did not have this conversation.
Bernard, the former CEO of the Mayor鈥檚 Fund for Los Angeles, that Garcetti told him something to the effect of, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe Rick worked out at City Hall and that we got through it without a lawsuit.鈥
鈥淚 have never said that to anybody, publicly or privately,鈥 Garcetti in his own deposition.
鈥淎nd were you ever concerned that while Rick Jacobs worked at City Hall, that he might cause a lawsuit somehow?鈥 asked Greg Smith, the attorney for Garza.
鈥淣o, I was not,鈥 Garcetti replied.
NPR showed Garcetti鈥檚 testimony to Bernard.
鈥淚鈥檓 surprised that he denied it. I heard it. And I heard him say it numerous times,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 find it hard to believe that he doesn鈥檛 remember it.鈥
Garcetti told NPR that he stands by his testimony.
He was also asked in his deposition whether he could recall Jacobs telling jokes at work.
When asked in his deposition whether he made 鈥渏okes of a sexual nature鈥 in front of Garcetti鈥檚 LAPD protective detail, Jacobs , 鈥淥h, it is possible.鈥
鈥淗ave you ever done it in front of the mayor as well?鈥 Smith asked Jacobs.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 recall,鈥 Jacobs responded.
Garcetti was more definitive.
鈥淚 can recall him laughing at jokes, but I can鈥檛 recall him telling a joke,鈥 Garcetti .
鈥淒id he ever tell any jokes dealing with men鈥檚 body parts that you recall?鈥 Smith asked Garcetti.
鈥淚n my presence, no,鈥 he replied.
鈥淎nd you would have never laughed at 鈥 never laughed at anything. If you never heard it, you never laughed, right?鈥 Smith added.
鈥淚 would鈥檝e 鈥 not only did I not laugh, I did not hear it, I did not laugh. Had I heard it, I would not have laughed, and I would鈥檝e taken action,鈥 said Garcetti.
Emmerling told NPR that in her position as communications director, she attended a meeting with both Garcetti and Jacobs in which Jacobs made a joke 鈥渁bout snorting cocaine off of a man鈥檚 penis.鈥
鈥淚 think we all laughed,鈥 Emmerling said, including Garcetti.
Garcetti denied Emmerling鈥檚 account to NPR.
鈥淎bsolutely not. This didn鈥檛 happen,鈥 Garcetti wrote in his email to NPR. 鈥淚 can say with certainty that I would remember a grotesque joke like that, and there鈥檚 simply no world in which I would allow that kind of a comment in a professional setting.鈥
Garcetti maintains that he honestly addressed all questions about the harassment allegations. He told NPR that any criticism that he failed to properly respond to harassment allegations as LA mayor was 鈥渟illy.鈥
鈥淚 have personally supported victims of harassment my entire life and will continue to do so until the day I die,鈥 Garcetti told NPR in an email. 鈥淚 have been very honest even as this touched my own office that every one who has made an accusation deserves to be heard and investigated. What I cannot do is lie about my experience 鈥 what I have witnessed, what I have heard, what I have known.鈥
Emmerling told NPR that she 鈥渁bsolutely鈥 believes Garcetti is lying.
鈥淥nce you tell your first lie, then you鈥檙e dug in,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd he has no choice now but to continue lying.鈥
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Barrie Hardymon edited this story, and Monika Evstatieva produced it. Research from Barbara Van Woerkom, with art direction and photo editing by Virginia Lozano and graphic by Juweek Adolphe. Copy editing by Preeti Aroon with help from Desiree Hicks. Audience engagement support from Danielle Nett and Ameera Butt.
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