But according to half a dozen current and former embassy employees, Mr. Johnson regularly bothered his black and female members with comments about their appearance or race. A black diplomatic woman told colleagues that Johnson disparaged her efforts to schedule events for Black History Month, allegations that were first reported by CNN.
Mr. Johnson, the diplomat said, once asked him if he had to speak to an audience that was “just a group of blacks.” She told the diplomat, who later left the Foreign Service, that she was “marginalizing” herself. On the occasion of Martin Luther King’s birthday, she asked what made the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worth a vacation.
In June 2018, Mr. Johnson lashed out in anger after a visit from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos because his staff organized a reception at his residence, Winfield House, which included teenagers, some of whom were racial minorities who they had won funds to make recruiting visits to American universities. Mr. Johnson complained that he had become blind; some officials suspected that he was uncomfortable with the guests.
The weekly meeting of senior ambassadorial staff, which brought together the heads of embassy departments, as well as the CIA, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies with outposts in London, could be particularly tense, according to four members. current and past staff. Mr. Johnson, they said, liked to open the proceedings with lighthearted comments that often fell flat.
At one meeting, a person in attendance said, Mr. Johnson pointed to a black artillery sergeant, who was leading the Navy security detail at the embassy and wearing black pants and a black polo shirt. “Black: I like it,” he said, without reacting from the Navy, but grimaced from the others in the room.
Two people close to Mr. Johnson said their comment stemmed from the fact that the new uniforms for the NFL team he owns, the New York Jets, released last year, were black. Others viewed the episode as evidence of Mr. Johnson’s clumsiness rather than racist intent, part of a pattern of tin-eared humorous attempts.
Mr. Johnson regularly commented on the appearances of female staff members, once pointing out to colleagues that he had seen one of the women working out at the embassy gym that morning. Although he actively recruited women for embassy jobs, his actions had the effect of excluding them, According to various diplomats.
