[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]os Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he is “not responsible 100 percent for the actions of everybody” in City Hall after revelations over the weekend that the FBI probe into City Councilman Jose Huizar is in fact a part of a much wider investigation of more than a dozen City Hall insiders, including current and former members of Garcetti’s administration.
“I am not responsible 100 percent for the actions of everybody in this building, the elected officials and stuff. But I do take my responsibility seriously,” the mayor said.
“I do expect every city employee to participate fully and cooperate fully with the FBI,” Garcetti said in response to a reporter’s question at City Hall on Monday.
“We will certainly get to the bottom of it inside this building. It is my expectation the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI should, and I have zero tolerance, absolute zero tolerance of any malfeasance or anything wrong that happened here.”
The warrant was filed in federal court in November and revealed in a tweet by a George Washington University researcher on Saturday. The names listed in the warrant make up a veritable who’s-who of the City Hall power brokers.
In addition to naming Huizar and several of his council aides and family members, the warrant revealed the FBI is looking into Councilman Curren Price; Deron Williams, chief of staff to Council President Herb Wesson; Raymond Chan, who was Garcetti’s deputy mayor of economic development until he retired in 2017; and Joel Jacinto, whom Garcetti appointed to a full-time, paid position on the Board of Public Works.
[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]he search warrant does not point to evidence of criminal activity by any of the people named in the document and no one has been arrested or charged in connection with the investigation. And it should be noted that the warrant does not indicate the FBI probe reaches all of the way to the mayor himself.
“As a son of a prosecutor who devoted his life and a led the first division that actually went after public officials from police officers to elected officials, I am trained to not only support but to also assist and make sure we get to the bottom and to the truth in anything,” he said.
Garcetti’s father, Gil Garcetti, was L.A. County district attorney from 1992 to 2000.
What remains to be seen is what more could come out of the federal investigation, as Garcetti said himself on Monday. “We don’t know from the subpoena is it for emails, for witnesses, or is someone a target,” he said. “I learned a long time ago. Don’t conjecture. Let people do their work and support it.”
