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 So, the Robert Benmosche timeline is looking something like this: get hired as CEO of American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG); tell a room full of Houston life insurance workers that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was "so unbelievably wrong" for more or less outing AIG employees who received massive retention bonuses shortly after the ailing company was bailed out by the government; go to Croatia for vacation.AIG spokespeople said Monday, the day Bloomberg got its hands on the Aug. 11 meeting records and published the comments, that Benmosche regretting saying what he did. In an interview with Reuters, Benmosche added: "You can characterize me as a goon or you can characterize me as somebody who is attempting to deal with a complex issue of a very demoralized employee force and said those things to them in confidence to reassure them that they no longer have to be afraid that. "They were afraid that the bonus issue may come back again, and it was dealing with their fear, and I think I overstated myself. I was a little too aggressive in my comments, but I was responding to enormous fear on the part of many, many associates." "One should not misconstrue my aggressive comments -- which were aggressive. But, on the other hand, I think the government understands that I said what I said." Benmosche, the former MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MET) executive who came out of retirement to turn AIG around, has drawn considerable attention since taking over the top spot, and this recent snafu is sure to elicit even more scrutiny from an already wary public. That said, there is something rather amusing about Benmosche's forthrightness. In a way, he is kind of like a ham-handed politician whose remarks can be rebutted with little but a shake of the head and a "that Benmosche, he just says the darnedest things, sometimes." - Sara Behunek follow me on Twitter @sarabehunek Read the Bloomberg article here Read Reuters' interview here See Also: Benmosche's PR blitz AIG soaring on ex and new CEO news AIG's Benmosche reorganizes grapes in Croatia AIG CEO Robert Benmosche, aka 'Bob The Builder' AIG's new CEO Benmosche goes on vacation
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