If evidence emerges that russia was involved, that would obviously be extremely concerning. Are their preliminary idea that it was in fact a surface to air missile . You said are there preliminary ideas . Findings, evidence . Not at this time. This is just beginning. Its hard to tell. There you confident that u. S. Will be able to figure out what happened . I Hope International regimes can get in there to get the black box and really be able to look at what might have happened. It appears, just to somebody who was ant this and that it in air explosion. The debris field is so widely spread. Do you believe there were 23 americans on board . I have heard what you have heard. It is my understanding the manifest is not yet available. There were some americans on board . Do i believe everyone everything i hear from the press . What do you believe the cause of the explosion is . I do not believe at this stage. Im a wait to find out. What would be the appropriate u. S. Response . Lets not speculate on hypothetical. Lets wait until we have the actual information. You expressed concern that u. S. Did not have the proper intelligence assets in that region. Do you think the u. S. Does now . We had a much better briefing today than we did a couple of months ago. That is a positive indication of progress. Denis mcdonough stepped by recently. He was here to talk to the vice chair about something else. Ok . Thank you. The debris is spread over such a Long Distance that it indicates to me, from my experience, that the aircraft came apart before it hit the ground which means that it was either an explosion, a missile, or some object that struck the aircraft. None of that was i briefed on. Senator, would you think the implications and ramifications would be if in fact it was shut down by russian separatists as it relates to the ukrainerussian conflict . And they could have only gotten the capability from russia and therefore, the culpable party here is Vladimir Putin. What gives credence to that theory is in the last couple of weeks the separatists have shut down shot down aircraft including a transport aircraft. They have a record in recent days of shooting down ukrainian aircraft. Will you put pressure on putin to end the war, and the conflict . I dont know, but for us not to act, we must react in a stringent fashion because Vladimir Putin has been working on the situation even recently sending in additional troops and equipment. For the separatists. The president said that the u. S. Will provide assistance in determining the cause of the incident. Im sure we have capabilities that can track the aircraft and hopefully give a better understanding. For example, i think we have the capability to know whether another aircraft was close by, i. E. Fighter aircraft, those types of capabilities. Were you briefed on that . Was it in fact shot down from 3500 feet . I dont know. As i say, the photographs, the footage of the wreckage, not in this briefing, the footage of the wreckage shows, to me, that the aircraft came across apart before it hit the ground which leads one to speculation that it was either hit or excluded at 33,000 feet. Again, i am not and we should not jump to any conclusions before we have more hard information. There are no conclusions regardless . You will have to ask them. The information i am given is the information ive gotten from other sources. Was Denis Mcdonough scheduled to be there . I did have a conversation with him about this. We need to know. Does he . I dont think he has any more or less information than what we are seeing in the media. I did not ask him specifically. When you say stringent action, what do you mean . We need to arm the Ukrainian Military which shamefully we have not done. Vladimir putin and russia should be named as a pariah nation. If they are responsible for this, they deserve. Thank you, senator. Thank you. [laughter] New Hampshire senator kelly ayotte also spoke about the plane crash in ukraine today. Here are her remarks from the u. S. Senate for. Am president , i would like to shift to a different topic. I would like, first of all, we all learned today very shockingly that there was an airlines that was shot down, Malaysia Airlines flight shot down over Eastern Ukraine, and that reportedly 295 people lost their lives in that incident. And its been reported that there were americans, some americans reportedly 23 americans who were listed on the manifest, and i just want to offer my thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims of that plane that went down over Eastern Ukraine. And know that youre in our thoughts and in our prayers. And i want to raise the issue as following theres an investigation going on. We dont know yet whos responsible or if anyones responsible. The facts will come forward as to why this plane went down. But it has been widely reported that the plane was, in fact, shot down. Some of the reports have said that it was done by a medium training surfacetoair missile system. We know that most recently there has been tremendous violence in Eastern Ukraine, and if the investigation of this plane going down reveals that either russia or russian agents are responsible or indirector responsible for shooting down this civilian airliner, there should be serious, serious consequences. Because what we know is that Vladimir Putin and the russians have been responsible in fomenting the situation that has occurred the Eastern Ukraine where there has been violence, there has been recruiting, training, and funding of russians and russian agents, sending them to Eastern Ukraine to fight the ukranian government, interfering with the sovereignty of ukraine, and this was following the illegal invasion and annexation of crimea, the territory of ukraine, by the russian government, and the russians have taken over that portion of ukraine. So we will wait to see what the investigation is for the downing of this plane. Our prayers will be with the families who have lost those whom they love. But i believe there should be serious consequences if we find out that it was either russian agents, russian equipment, or russia directly that was responsible for this airliner. And yesterday the administration announced that it would impose and was imposing greater sanctions on russia for their activities, fomenting violence in Eastern Ukraine, and i want to thank the administration for finally coming forward and putting forth more serious sanctions against Vladimir Putin, against the russian government for what they have done to interfere with the sovereignty of ukraine. Its an important step forward, and i hope that Vladimir Putin understands that there are even greater sanctions that can be imposed, if the sanctions that were announced yesterday by the administration that involves some sectoral sanctions against Major Industries in russia and individuals, if they do not heed the warning that is coming from those sanctions, i hope that Vladimir Putin and the russian government understands there are much tougher sanctions that can also be imposed, if they dont heed the sanctions that were put in place yesterday and stop fueling the violence in Eastern Ukraine. Madam president , what weve seen happen in Eastern Ukraine is that we need to understand the context of it. The separatists, the socalled separatists in Eastern Ukraine are funded, equipped, and supported by the kremlin. Vladimir putin could end the violence in Eastern Ukraine tomorrow, if he chooses to. He essentially has operational control of what these violent separatists are doing to interfere with the sovereignty in ukraine. Hes responsible for the violence, and i would call on him to end that violenceto vip funding these separatists, to stop providing them with equipment that is being used against ukrainian people and the ukrainUkrainian Military and tow the people of ukraine to determine their future. That is what they want. I had the privilege of going to ukraine for their president ial election, and i was inspired by the people who went to the polls, and ill never forget being there at the first polling station that day in the president ial elections, and an older gentleman came to the polls, and he cast his ballot. And what he said for democracy, the people of ukraine want to determine their own future, just like we determine our future in this country. And Vladimir Putin and russia should allow the people of ukraine to decide their future. They should stop interfering with t executives from General Motors testified about gms recall of more than 20 million cars because of ignition switch problems. Here was one exchange from the hearing between missouri senator Claire Mccaskill and gm general counsel. I want everyone to understand what unitive damages are. Punitive damages in our system are designed to punish corporations or people for conduct that is outrageous and egregious. It is a method by which justice can be done by punishing bad behavior. Andttern was emerging General Motors for almost a decade about these cars. There was some confusion because of deceit on part of at least one engineer. But in october 2010, your lawyers this was not a plaintiff lawyer out there making a frivolous lawsuit saidlawyers that you hired you are possibly subject to punitive damages over the way you have handled this problem and this automobile. That was in october 20 10 and i believe you were general counsel then. Correct . That is correct. Again, in july 2011, your lawyers told you that there is the potential for punitive damages because of this actual scenario. You were also general counsel then, correct . That is correct. , she was general counsel for north america, correct . I believe she began that position in march 2011. I could be2012 but wrong. My document says march 2011. I take your word for it. In april 2012, another of your outside lawyers warned your department that you were subject to punitive damages which could theillions of dollars with corporation the size of General Motors. At that point in time, you were general counsel . Correct. And lucy Clark Doherty for north america. Again in 2013, almost the same time you have the bombshell dropped on you in the deposition confronted with a basic Engineering Task that had been done showing the switches had been switched out, the part had been changed, once again, you were warned about punitive damages. That is correct. You have a legal obligation as general counsel to report material events and liabilities to the securities and exchange commission. Did you ever do that about this issue . On the issue of punitive damages . Defect and theem issues around. Have you ever reported to the sec . Let your Legal Department from the time i a new forward, before that, we had not. At the time of the recall, you told the sec. Subsequently may have made a filing about the recall, correct. What about the legal obligation to inform the board of directors. Were they aware your lawyers were telling you that it would cause punitive damages . They were not. What about financial reserves . Were you entering the financial reserves necessary, your obligation as general counsel . We were not entering reserves to cover punitive damages. No, we were not. Ok, so i dont get how you and lucy Clark Doherty still have your jobs. Can you explain that to me . I think youve done a lot of good work since youve taken over, ms. Barra. Annot for the life of me this is either gross negligence or gross incompetence on the part of the lawyers. The notion he can say he did not know . Mccaskill, i respectfully disagree. I have made the promise to fix what happened in the company to make sure that we are dedicated to safety, dedicated to excellence. We are well on our way and we have made significant changes. To do that, i need the right team. He is a man of incredibly High Integrity with tremendous Global Experience as it relates to the legal profession. On this person i need team and he had a system in place. In this instance, it was not wrong to his attention frankly by people who brought another issue forward. There was not a system in place where your lawyer tells you you are subject to punitive damages not getting to your desk . How is that not incompetence . How can you not have a system in place where at least lucy Clark Doherty says the lawyers have told us four times within a few years on something you had not even talk about recalling punitive damages . How do you have a system in place it does not account for that . Senior lawyers have the information and did not bring it forward and they are no longer with the company. She still had the knowledge. As we went through the details of the report very carefully, and i would say, when in doubt, we reached further to take action, there are many lawyers no longer with the company. I think there has been a blind spot here, a really do. The failure of the Legal Department is stunning. You look around government, when Something Like this happens you know what . Secretary shinseki did not know about the problems in scheduling. Nobody told him. Hes gone. We are here at Salisbury House in des moines, iowa. It was a home that was built by carl and edith weeks in the 1920s. He was a man of many and varied interests. One of the most notable legacies of his interests are his amazing collections in terms of art works, sculpture, the Library Collection is an amazing collection of rare limited First Edition works, medieval manuscript. Its incredible. He,ollected the books that did not only because they are important historical works but also because he believed that books themselves were works of a worth beyond the words on the page so he collected almost every addiction edition of leaves of grass. Over time and walt whitman added poems but for him its the art of collecting. Ofalso collected a variety First Editions of Ernest Hemingways work. This is green hills of Africa Published in 1935 and this is a great piece because it illustrates the personal relationship that existed between carl weekes and ernest hemingway. This inscription explore the history and literary life of des moines, iowa, saturday at noon eastern on cspan 2s book tv and on American History tv on cspan 3. 40 years ago, the watergate scandal led to the only resignation of an american president. Throughout this month and early august, American History tv revisits 1974 and the final weeks the nixon administration. This weekend, Opening Statements from the House Judiciary Committee as members consider articles of impeachment against president nixon. Election of the president occupies a very unique system. It is the one act in which the entire country participates. The outcome is accepted and the occupant stands as a symbol of our National Unity and commitment. If the judgment of the people is to be reversed, the majority will to be undone, the symbol to be replaced by the action of the elected representative and it must before substantial and not trivial offenses. Watergate 40 years later, sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. On tomorrows washington journal, a look at the Congressional Budget Office forecast of the fiscal outlook for the next 75 years. Our guest is Miami Guinness Maya macguineas. Theing the anniversary of apollo moon landing talking with Charles Bolden and then a space analyst. Washington journal live on cspan with your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets everyday at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. From this mornings washington journal, a discussion on immigration and the highway trust fund, and other issues facing congress. Guest now is Eddie Bernice johnson. She is a democrat from texas. Science space and Technology Ranking member. Thank you for joining us. Discuss the to current debate on immigration policy. Our representative from iowa seated here, talking about the new proposal from your colleagues. Support for the proposal might be. He supports parts of it, but not all of the. Where do you stand . The same way. At some portions i could support, other parts i could not support. I have not seen anything beyond thatmmigration reform bill i can wholeheartedly support. Perhaps by the time it comes to a vote or by the time it comes to a committee hearing, there might be some areas in which i can support. Some of the things the bill would do is make it easier for government officials to send back children who are crossing the border illegally. Of there portions spending request that deal with the issue of Migrant Children, are there portions that you feel are more likely to make it through congress than others . Would like to see everyone make it. Those departments cannot function without the dollars to do the job. I am