boeing. yeah, this is an ethics investigation. so shanahan was a longtime employee of boeing. some 30 years. he was an executive there. and they have received complaints, the inspector general, that he s been favoring boeing for products. he s been disparaging competitors. so, complaints have been filed. the inspector general says they re reviewing those complaints because they want to make sure that shanahan is not doing anything unethical and following procedures in place to protect from this stuff happening. certainly, there are conflicts because he was an executive at boeing. and they want to make sure he s not favoring boeing over other products that the pentagon was looking to purchase. a lot to cover. more on this breaking news when we come back. we ll talk to ethics lawyer, richard painter. subscribe to movies.
we have more on our breaking news right now. cnn s barbara starr is reporting the defense department s inspector general has begun an ethics investigation into whether patrick shanahan violated procedures while promoting boeing products while serving in his current role. now, shanahan is a former boeing executive who worked for the company for more than 30 years before joining government. a spokesman says shanahan says his boss welcomes the review. joining me now is richard painter, who is the ethics lawyer for former president george bush. i should point out he s also an executive with the watchdog group called crew, citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, which filed a complaint with the inspector general against shanahan. so, richard, can you just explain what exactly you believe that the acting defense secretary shanahan did here when it comes to his former employer? well, we re going to have to find out what he did. but he clearly should not be