In a statement, transportation secretary Elaine Chao—who, along with her entire staff, took an 737 Max from Austin, Texas, to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon to make a point—said her department and F.A.A. regulators “will not hesitate to take immediate and appropriate action,” if necessary. Boeing, meanwhile, maintains its jets are safe, and said in its own statement that, “based on the information currently available, we do not have any basis to issue new guidance to operators.”

Update: *Hours after the New York Times story reporting the call was published, Trump announced that the F.A.A. would order the grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 jets “until further notice.” *

That Trump is easy to flatter is, of course, not the only thing Boeing has going for it as it fights to keep the 737 Max in U.S. airspace. For starters, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is a former Boeing executive. Also, per The New York Times, the company also spent $15 million on lobbying last year. Oh, and it basically acts as its own regulator, effectively signing off on the safety of its planes:

For decades, the F.A.A. has used a network of outside experts, known as F.A.A. designees, to certify that aircraft meet safety standards. In 2005, the regulator shifted its approach for how it delegated authority outside the agency, creating a new program through which aircraft manufacturers like Boeing could choose their own employees to be the designees and help certify their planes. The program is intended to help the F.A.A. stretch its limited resources, while also benefiting plane makers who are eager to avoid delays in the certification process.

The regulator maintains offices inside Boeing’s factories, including those in Renton, Wash., and in Charleston, S.C. . . . The F.A.A.’s top safety official, Ali Bahrami, has worked closely with Boeing during his career, directing the agency’s certification of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8 passenger and freighter models.

“It’s a very cozy relationship,” Jim Hall, the former head of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Times. “The manufacturer essentially becomes both the manufacturer and the regulator, because of the lack of the ability of government to do the job.” Comforting!

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