In Senate hearing to become envoy to Japan, Rahm Emanuel both defends and expresses regret over handling of Laquan McDonald shooting

CHICAGO — Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel both defended and expressed regret over his handling of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald under questioning from senators during a confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination as U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez of New Jersey noted the hearing fell on the seventh anniversary of McDonald’s murder at the hands of a Chicago police officer and offered Emanuel an opportunity to address the defining event of his tenure as mayor.

“Seven years ago, a young man had his life taken on the street in the city of Chicago. He had all the promise ahead of him and a police officer took his life, killed him,” Emanuel said. “I said then, ‘I’m the mayor and I’m responsible and accountable for fixing this so this never happens again.’ And to be honest, there is not a day or week that has gone by in the last seven years I haven’t thought about this and the what-ifs and the changes and what could have been.”

While Emanuel said he should have done more to push reforms, he did not specify what he would have changed about how he responded to the McDonald shooting.

Though he’s been out of office for more than two years, Emanuel has faced sustained criticism for his administration’s resistance to releasing police dashcam video of the shooting and its decision to quickly reach a $5 million settlement for McDonald’s family. The mayor repeatedly has denied that he or his administration engaged in a cover-up and reiterated that stance at Wednesday’s hearing.

After lamenting the loss of McDonald’s life, Emanuel defended his administration’s resistance to release the video while the matter was under investigation by the FBI, U.S. attorney and local police oversight officials. He noted a recent New York Times report that concluded there still is not a uniform standard of policy for the release of police video.

Emanuel said his efforts not to jeopardize an ongoing investigation by prematurely releasing evidence “runs headlong into another very important value, and that is the deep suspicion, distrust and skepticism that exists in the community of the authorities investigating the authorities and getting to the bottom of what happened.”

He said the longer an investigation takes, the more skepticism grows that it’s really “a whitewash, a cover-up.”

“My view is the last person you want to make a unilateral decision about the release of the video while the FBI, the U.S. attorney and the state’s attorney ... are investigating, is a politician,” Emanuel said. “It should be made by professionals. The moment a politician unilaterally makes a decision in the middle of an investigation, you’ve politicized that investigation and more importantly, you may have endangered the prosecution and bringing somebody to justice.”

Emanuel, however, also took blame for not doing enough to provide stronger oversight of the Chicago Police Department, which since McDonald’s murder has been placed under a federal consent decree to force reforms. Emanuel said he thought actions he took in his first term to reform the department were enough, but in retrospect, “they were inadequate to the level of distrust.”

“They were, at best, marginal,” Emanuel said. “I thought I was addressing the issue, and I clearly missed the level of distrust and skepticism that existed. And that’s on me.”

The former mayor then went on the note he had the support of several Black aldermen, community leaders and the backing of the Rev. Marvin Hunter, McDonald’s great uncle. Emanuel said he has prayed with Hunter and discussed what they would fix with the nation’s criminal justice system if they could “wave a magic wand.”

“There is more to this individual than the caricature that is presented in the public,” Hunter wrote about Emanuel in his letter to the committee. “I felt what is in his heart, and I know him to be a decent and honorable man who is willing to listen, eager to learn and show a deep level of compassion.”

Emanuel said Hunter’s support spoke to “my person and my character, not just my professional abilities.”

“That doesn’t take away from the fact that a grave tragedy occurred seven years ago,” Emanuel said in concluding his remarks on McDonald. “And that tragedy sits with me, as it has, every day and every week for the last seven years.”

The hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee comes as the White House has expressed “very strong confidence” Emanuel will be confirmed. A vote by the committee is expected in a couple of weeks. Emanuel’s confirmation, along with a package of other ambassador appointments, then would move to a vote before the full Senate, which is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats.

Some high-profile progressive Democrats in the U.S. House have expressed opposition to Emanuel’s appointment, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York who has called it “deeply shameful.”

“Laquan McDonald should be alive today. Instead, on the anniversary of his death, the man who helped cover up his murder is being considered for an ambassadorship,” U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones of New York tweeted Wednesday. “Rahm Emanuel has no business representing the United States. I urge my Senate colleagues to reject his nomination.”

While no Senate Democrats have said they would oppose Emanuel’s confirmation, many have yet to say how they will vote, including progressive stalwart Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

If a handful of Democrats vote against Emanuel, that is likely to be outweighed by Emanuel’s support among Republicans, White House sources have said. Four Senate Republicans have backed Emanuel’s nomination, including Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, who introduced Emanuel before the committee Wednesday.

Hagerty, who served as ambassador to Japan under former President Donald Trump, has supported few Biden political appointments. But he said he intended to provide Emanuel with “the bipartisan support that I was fortunate to receive in this committee. A critical post like this deserves no less from a qualified and capable nominee.”

Hagerty also expressed confidence Emanuel will be confirmed. “It’s become clear to me that Mayor Emanuel shares my unwavering commitment that the relationship between the United States and Japan is the cornerstone for peace and prosperity in the entire Indo-Pacific region,” he said.

Emanuel also was introduced by Illinois’ senior senator, Dick Durbin, who said the former mayor “delivered a legacy we still enjoy in the city of Chicago and state of Illinois today.”

He touted Emanuel’s efforts to expand the public school day and school year, institute full-day kindergarten, improve the city’s transportation system and build the city’s downtown Riverwalk.

“I can tell you what is obvious, he is bright, energetic and focused,” Durbin said of Emanuel. “Any mayor who can cobble together a budget in the Chicago City Council is ready for major league diplomacy.”

In his statement to the committee, Emanuel thanked his wife of 37 years, Amy Rule; his son Zach, a Navy intelligence officer; his daughter Ilana, who works at a cable news network; and his daughter Leah, who is attending Princeton University. As he has previously, he stressed the important role his parents played in setting a foundation for his career in public service.

Emanuel also touted his travel to Japan as mayor and his work with international mayors on climate change as experience that has prepared him for an ambassadorship. The former mayor told the committee that after his trip to Tokyo, the governor there signed onto the Chicago Climate Charter municipal agreement he created and two Japanese companies, DMG Mori and Beam Suntory, relocated offices to Chicago.

Emanuel’s 44-member delegation for that 2018 trade trip to Japan and China was made up mostly of business heavyweights, including donors with ties to nearly $2 million in contributions to Emanuel’s campaign, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.

“As mayor, my administration made it a priority to bring the world to Chicago, and Chicago to the world,” Emanuel said. “During my tenure, Chicago led the nation in corporate relocations and foreign direct investment for seven consecutive years.”

Emanuel said little else about his tenure as mayor, illustrating how he was hamstrung on touting Chicago accomplishments as many are not relevant to an ambassadorship half the world away.

But his talk of corporate relocations and relationships with sister cities abroad on his resume plays directly into criticisms from progressives that he was a "Mayor 1%" who was more focused on corporate tax breaks and his standing at the national and international levels than he was with dealing with crime and education in the working-class neighborhoods.

In his testimony, Emanuel vowed to “work seamlessly, across the aisle, across the Capitol and across the Pacific to advance America’s interests in the vital Indo-Pacific region.”

“We are at a critical juncture in American foreign policy in this region,” Emanuel said. “What we build in partnership with Japan over the next three years will determine America’s posture for the next 30.”

That last remark echoed a go-to Chicago stump speech line for the former mayor, when he often emphasized his vision for the city by proclaiming that “what we do in next four years will determine Chicago’s future for the next 40 years.”

———

(Chicago Tribune’s John Byrne contributed to this story.)

———