The United Auto Workers headquarters are in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain fired the union's general counsel last week after he learned that information about federal investigations into "union officials" had been "concealed" from him, The Detroit News reported, a development that raises a litany of questions over the ethical responsibilities of a legal chief.

It's not clear which probes Fain was referencing, or which union officials were being investigated. The union has faced federal investigations for years, inquiries that led to charges against at least 16 union officials and prompted the federal government to take control of the union in 2021. Fain stepped into leadership in March, becoming the first president directly elected by UAW membership in the union's 88-year-old history.