As Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg faced Congress yesterday, The New Republic has published a follow up to their October issue cover story about how Boeing’s managerial revolution created the 737 MAX disaster. Author Maureen Tkacik offers an in depth analysis into the real scandal of late: the company’s penchant for lies and callousness.

Copyright Photo: Joe G. Walker.

“At the end of the day, we don’t need a smoking gun to determine exactly what Boeing knew before the first crash, for the simple reason that we saw in real time how company officials responded after the first crash—i.e., with a veritable arsenal of smoking guns in the form of obvious lies and easily contradicted misinformation,” writes Tkacik. “This is also the most crucial lesson to fix in mind as Congress renews a round of hearings on the MAX fiasco on Tuesday.”