“We urge the Department of Justice’s criminal investigations to be thorough but expeditious. Additionally, we encourage the Department of Justice, in coordination with other agencies, to take strong civil and criminal actions against Volkswagen and any individual for any violations,” Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) wrote in a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday.
{mosads}The letter comes after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused the auto company earlier this month of selling roughly 482,000 vehicles since 2008 that violated the Clean Air Act with software that turns off air pollution protections.
The finding has sparked outrage amongst lawmakers and outside groups, with Martin Winterkorn, the company’s CEO, stepping down. Democrats, in the wake of the scandal, have also criticized the Obama administration suggesting it hasn’t taken a firm enough hand in its oversight of the auto industry.
In their letter to Lynch, the senators added that a “blatant violation” of federal law “must be met with an appropriately strong response.”
“Officials at Volkswagen should be granted no get out of jail free card, and the Department should accept no plea agreement with Volkswagen that does not ensure any and all information regarding criminal acts by high level officials is provided to the Department,” they wrote. “The U.S. government needs to make it clear that these actions… will not be tolerated by the American public.”
The EPA said in the wake of the scandal that it will step up its emissions testing.