Happy Hour Vid: Tony Hayward's Communication Breakdown

Jared Keller 14 Views Jun 17, 2010

During Thursday's hearings with BP, Iowa Democrat Bruce Baley asked CEO Tony Hayward about the $20 billion escrow fund recently established to compensate residents and businesses in the Gulf of Mexico. "Do you think BP was shaken down by the Obama administration to come up with this $20 billion compensation fund?" inquired Baley, referring to Texas Rep. Joe Barton's earlier "apology" to Hayward. Instead of providing a straight answer, Hayward managed this response:

We attended the White House at the invitation of the government to form a way forward and try to work together to deal with the leak, the response to the leak, and to return the Gulf Coast to its past, and that’s what we’re going to do.

What followed was a discussion of semantics that rivaled the Clinton impeachment hearings. Awkwardness begins at 0:19.

h/t Mediaite

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Topics: Congress, Oil Spill

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