Under Mary Barra's "leadership" GM reached a $900M deal with DOJ, nder Preet Brahara to settle for faulty ignitions, forged records and 100 deaths.

http://fortune.com/2015/09/18/mary-barra-gm-culture/

>The announcement yesterday of a $900-million settlement between General Motors (gm, -2.55%) and the U.S. Justice Department in the ignition-switch case reveals new information about CEO Mary Barra’s continuing cultural rehab of the company. It’s an unusually powerful story so far—and one reason it’s so compelling is that we still don’t know how it will turn out.

>The agreement by GM to pay a $900-million fine settles criminal charges the U.S. had made against the company for wire fraud and withholding information from regulators about a defective ignition switch that has been blamed for over 100 deaths. The tragic events are not especially surprising in the auto industry. Mistakes are made, lives are lost, cases are settled. What’s new and worth watching is the way Barra is handling the case.

>>4052978

>She apologized publicly and profusely, visited the families of victims, and set up a compensation fund for them before any legal liability had been established. She continued this pattern yesterday. “The mistakes that led to the ignition-switch recall should never have happened. We have apologized and we do so again today,” she said. “I believe that our response has been unprecedented in terms of candor, cooperation, transparency, and compassion.”

>Apparently so. U.S. prosecutor Preet Bharara said the cooperation by GM executives had been “fairly extraordinary…. It’s the reason we’re here after 18 months rather than four years.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/27/jamal-khashoggi-murder-senate-briefing-saudi-arabia-gina-haspel-white-house

>>4053008

closed door hearing

The White House has denied preventing the CIA director, Gina Haspel, from briefing the Senate on the murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi.

The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the defence secretary, James Mattis, are due to give a briefing on US relations with Saudi Arabia to the entire Senate behind closed doors on Wednesday, ahead of a vote that could cut off US support for Riyadh’s military campaign in Yemen.

Who are the Houthis and why are they fighting the Saudi coalition in Yemen?

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On a national security issue of such importance, it would be customary for a senior intelligence official to take part, Senate staffers said. On this occasion, the absence of the intelligence community is all the more glaring, as Haspel travelled to Istanbul to hear audio tapes of Khashoggi’s murder provided by Turkish intelligence, and then briefed Donald Trump.

Senior senators – including the chairman of the foreign relations committee, Bob Corker – have called for Haspel to appear, but there was no sign on Tuesday evening that she will take part.

Officials said that the decision for Haspel not to appear in front of the committee came from the White House, but the national security adviser, John Bolton, denied it. “Certainly not,” he told reporters, but left it unclear why there would be no intelligence presence.

MS polls close soon