The Most Shocking Admission from Shady Boeing CEO’s Testimony
If the bosses at Boeing intended for CEO Dave Calhoun’s performance during a Senate hearing to smooth over the company’s abject turmoil, they were woefully mistaken.Calhoun was forced Tuesday to answer on the record whether the embattled aerospace company had retaliated against any of the more than a dozen whistleblowers who have raised concerns over the safety standards and ethics of the company, and he gave the answer many already suspected to be true.“I know it happens,” said Calhoun, adding that the company had taken action against those who had retaliated. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who asked Calhoun the question, also read testimony from the late John Barnett, a Boeing whistleblower who was found dead in his vehicle from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In his opening remarks, Blumenthal said that Barnett had “committed suicide under the immense pressure the company put on him for raising safety claims.”Barnett, who brought up concerns about missing parts, was apparently called by one of his supervisors 19 times in one day, and was told, “I’m going to push you until you break.”Blumenthal recounted Barnett’s testimony in which he said one of his coworkers was physically assaulted for raising concerns about safety. The senator asked whether Calhoun had followed up on this report, and the CEO said he didn’t know.Calhoun was also absolutely decimated by a surprisingly strong line of questioning from the blatantly opportunist Senator Josh Hawley, who demanded that he should resign. But after the hearing ended, Calhoun’s humiliation was still far from over. Nadia Milleron, whose daughter was killed in a 2019 Boeing crash, tore into Calhoun Tuesday night during an interview on CNN for his opening apology to the family members of people who died in two 737 Max crashes. “I apologize to the grief we have caused,” he’d said, turning to face the family members present in the Senate chamber. “I want you to know we are totally committed to work focused on safety.” Milleron wasn’t so convinced. “It wasn’t a real apology. What he was doing is he doesn’t want us to know the details of how it happened,” she told CNN’s Abby Phillip. Milleron recounted making eye contact with Calhoun as he gave his apology. “He looked at me in the eye and he said, ‘I am sorry,’ and I said, ‘You are sorry? Are you sorry for the bombs Boeing produced that kill innocent kids in Rafah? Are you sorry for that, too?’”Boeing helped to develop Israel’s missile defense system, and has continued to arm the Israeli Defense Forces as it wages its brutal military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 people, including thousands of young children.“Like how can he sleep?” MIlleron asked rhetorically. “This person is a psychopath. We can not have people running these companies that do not care about human life. We have to have responsible people running these companies.”
If the bosses at Boeing intended for CEO Dave Calhoun’s performance during a Senate hearing to smooth over the company’s abject turmoil, they were woefully mistaken.
Calhoun was forced Tuesday to answer on the record whether the embattled aerospace company had retaliated against any of the more than a dozen whistleblowers who have raised concerns over the safety standards and ethics of the company, and he gave the answer many already suspected to be true.
“I know it happens,” said Calhoun, adding that the company had taken action against those who had retaliated.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, who asked Calhoun the question, also read testimony from the late John Barnett, a Boeing whistleblower who was found dead in his vehicle from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In his opening remarks, Blumenthal said that Barnett had “committed suicide under the immense pressure the company put on him for raising safety claims.”
Barnett, who brought up concerns about missing parts, was apparently called by one of his supervisors 19 times in one day, and was told, “I’m going to push you until you break.”
Blumenthal recounted Barnett’s testimony in which he said one of his coworkers was physically assaulted for raising concerns about safety. The senator asked whether Calhoun had followed up on this report, and the CEO said he didn’t know.
Calhoun was also absolutely decimated by a surprisingly strong line of questioning from the blatantly opportunist Senator Josh Hawley, who demanded that he should resign. But after the hearing ended, Calhoun’s humiliation was still far from over.
Nadia Milleron, whose daughter was killed in a 2019 Boeing crash, tore into Calhoun Tuesday night during an interview on CNN for his opening apology to the family members of people who died in two 737 Max crashes. “I apologize to the grief we have caused,” he’d said, turning to face the family members present in the Senate chamber. “I want you to know we are totally committed to work focused on safety.”
Milleron wasn’t so convinced. “It wasn’t a real apology. What he was doing is he doesn’t want us to know the details of how it happened,” she told CNN’s Abby Phillip.
Milleron recounted making eye contact with Calhoun as he gave his apology. “He looked at me in the eye and he said, ‘I am sorry,’ and I said, ‘You are sorry? Are you sorry for the bombs Boeing produced that kill innocent kids in Rafah? Are you sorry for that, too?’”
Boeing helped to develop Israel’s missile defense system, and has continued to arm the Israeli Defense Forces as it wages its brutal military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 people, including thousands of young children.
“Like how can he sleep?” MIlleron asked rhetorically. “This person is a psychopath. We can not have people running these companies that do not care about human life. We have to have responsible people running these companies.”
