WASHINGTON — The American ambassador to Britain, Robert Wooden Johnson IV, urged State Division investigators in opposition to publicly reporting a
WASHINGTON — The American ambassador to Britain, Robert Wooden Johnson IV, urged State Division investigators in opposition to publicly reporting allegations that he made sexually or racially inappropriate feedback to embassy employees, in line with a report launched on Wednesday.
The report, the product of a routine inspection of the U.S. diplomatic mission to the UK performed over a three-month interval within the fall, beneficial that officers on the State Division’s headquarters in Washington overview Mr. Johnson’s conduct.
Specifically, it mentioned that employees on the American Embassy in London had reported being topic to “inappropriate or insensitive feedback” by Mr. Johnson on subjects that will have included references to “faith, intercourse, or coloration.”
The ultimate report from the State Division’s Workplace of Inspector Common didn’t present any particular examples of feedback, though American diplomats have beforehand instructed The New York Occasions that Mr. Johnson had offended embassy employees a number of instances with suggestive remarks since changing into ambassador in August 2017.
Investigators additionally reported low morale amongst embassy workers, a few of whom mentioned Mr. Johnson had questioned their motives, or implied he would take away them from their jobs, for elevating issues about a few of his concepts.
The ultimate report requires the State Division’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs to coordinate with the division’s Workplace of Civil Rights to look at Mr. Johnson’s conduct, “and primarily based on the outcomes of the overview, take applicable motion.”
In a Might 27 letter to the inspector common’s workplace, Mr. Johnson, who is understood by his nickname Woody, mentioned he rejected the conclusion that he might have violated the civil rights of embassy workers. He additionally mentioned that, since no worker had filed a proper criticism in opposition to him, inspectors ought to rethink “together with the advice within the closing report and concluding that my actions have negatively affected morale.”
“If I’ve unintentionally offended anybody within the execution of my duties, I deeply remorse that, however I don’t settle for that I’ve handled workers with disrespect or discriminated in any means,” Mr. Johnson wrote in his response to inspectors, which was included within the report.
It was the one one of many report’s 22 suggestions that drew pushback from embassy management.
The report doesn’t point out a separate controversy that surfaced final month about Mr. Johnson: that he instructed a number of colleagues in February 2018 that President Trump had requested him to see if the British authorities may assist steer the world-famous and profitable British Open golf event to the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland.
Investigators beforehand instructed The Occasions that the difficulty was not raised by employees throughout interviews on the embassy in London or consulates elsewhere in the UK between September and December 2019.