WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawmakers on Thursday demanded General Motors fire its chief lawyer and open its compensation plan to more potential victims as a Senate subcommittee delved deeper into deadly recalls.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who chairs the subcommittee, praised GM CEO Mary Barra, saying she “has stepped up and with courage and conviction has confronted the problem head on and the corporate culture that caused it.”
But McCaskill said GM’s corporate counsel, Michael Milliken, should be fired based on the conclusions of an internal report by outside attorney Anton Valukas. The report found that GM’s legal staff acted too slowly to share details of settlements it was making and didn’t tell engineers or top executives about mounting problems with ignition switches.
“How in the world, in the aftermath of this report, did Michael Milliken keep his job?” McCaskill asked.
Milliken was seated next to Barra as McCaskill spoke. Barra defended him as a man of “tremendously high integrity.”