US Embassy Distressed Over Allegations by Authorities in London

“Charges against the United States Ambassador to the Court of Saint James's Robert ‘Woody’ Johnson surfaced during a routine inspection of operations at the embassy”, former and incumbent officials of the United States said. They also added, these are to be addressed by the State Department’s inspector general.

“Johnson is accused of making insensitive remarks that contravene department personnel guidelines. But Johnson’s former deputy has alleged, the ambassador tried to intervene with British government officials”, the officials said. British officials say Johnson made no requests about sporting events during a meeting he had with the former secretary of state for Scotland David Mundell in early 2018, the timeframe in which the subject is alleged to have been raised, and the golf tournament was not awarded to Turnberry.

In a statement the British Government said, no request was made regarding the British Open or any other sporting event. It did not address whether the subject came up at all with Mundell or in any other conversations, Johnson may have had with British officials. However, Trump denied he ever asked Johnson to make the case for Turnberry, on Scotland's west coast, and Johnson has dismissed all allegations of inappropriate behavior. A well-respected and two-time U.S. Ambassador, Lewis Lukens, who is also a retired career Foreign Service officer, said that he had alerted Johnson and State Department officials in Washington.

“I had warned Johnson that intervening on Trump’s behalf over the venue would run afoul of federal ethics rules. But, he said, Johnson had done it anyway with no apparent pushback from the department”, Lukens said. The two current U.S. officials said they are aware about Johnson’s behavior. A former embassy employee said Johnson’s questionable behavior and comments toward and about women and minorities were not isolated and were witnessed by numerous staffers on a weekly, if not daily, basis. That former employee and the other officials were not authorized to discuss the ongoing inspector general report and spoke on the condition of anonymity. A Trump campaign contributor and the owner of the New York Jets football team, Johnson, took to Twitter to defend his reputation, saying the allegations that he made insensitive remarks were false.