O’Connor set a deadline of Friday for the administration to explain its use of so-called DEI policies in that program.
The diversity language used in the Boeing criminal plea deal has been around since at least 2018 – during the Trump administration, according to a person familiar with the policy.
Still, it has become a key holdup as O’Connor mulls whether to approve the plea deal.
Now, the court battle playing out in Texas will decide whether to allow Boeing to plead guilty as part of a deal with the Justice Department to resolve a criminal investigation stemming from plane crashes that killed 346 people.
The issue first arose at an October 11 hearing in Fort Worth, where O’Connor worked through the routine details of the plea deal before taking a sharp detour to ask why the Justice Department included DEI considerations in choosing a monitor.
Persons:
Reed O’Connor, Trump, Biden, O’Connor, Sean Tonolli, interjecting, Tonolli, ” O’Connor, George W, Bush
Organizations:
CNN, The Justice, Boeing Co, Justice Department, Boeing, Department, DOJ, Democratic, Supreme
Locations:
Texas, Whites, Fort Worth