Gov. Maura Healey met with top official in Trump administration during Washington trip

Gov. Maura Healey talked with American Airlines’ top executive days after a jet and military helicopter collided in Washington and met with a key Trump administration official while she was in DC last month, according to a copy of her February calendar released to the Herald.

The two meetings were part of a packed month in which Healey also held court with a lieutenant general in the Air Force, talked with offshore wind developers alongside her energy and environmental affairs secretary, and welcomed the king of Jordan to Massachusetts.

The first-term Democrat met with White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political, and Public Affairs James Blair on Feb. 22 at the White House while she was in town for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington DC.

“Healey requested a meeting, just as she requested meetings with the Biden Administration, to connect on areas in which Massachusetts and the federal administration can work together, including on artificial intelligence, energy and transportation,” a spokesperson for Healey said in a statement.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The meeting between Blair and Healey came a day after Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills had a fiery exchange at the White House over a threat to deny federal funding to the state unless officials there banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

In a national media interview released about a week later but taped after Healey returned from Washington, the Massachusetts governor said she was sitting at Mills’ table when Trump singled her out.

“What I saw as so upsetting in that exchange was when he looked at her, and I was sitting at the table, and he leered at her, and he said, ‘we are the federal law. We are the federal law,’” Healey said. “I heard somebody who thinks he’s king.”

Healey pledged at the end of January to work with Trump where it benefited Massachusetts but also to “stand up for the interests of Massachusetts residents, of our businesses, of our economy when the federal administration and President Trump do something that hurts us.”

But in the weeks since the meeting with Blair, Healey has ramped up her criticism of the Trump administration in the wake of widespread efforts to slash federal funding that states rely on and reduce the size of the federal government.

Trump has also increasingly targeted Massachusetts over the state’s immigration policies and alleged antisemitism at institutions of higher education, actions that have prompted Healey to fire back at the Republican president.

“Sometimes I wonder if the Trump administration really understands what they’re doing. And you know, it is important that we educate members of the Trump administration and President Trump about the impact of things like cuts to medical research,” she said earlier this week during a visit to Boston Children’s Hospital.

Healey’s meeting with Blair at the White House was not the only high-profile talk she had last month.

The governor held a less than hour-long call with American Airlines CEO Robert Isom on Feb. 4, according to her calendar. The call came about a week after American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter collided midair in Washington D.C.

All 67 aboard both aircraft were killed.

“The governor reached out to Robert Isom to express her sympathies and support following the crash, which claimed the lives of Massachusetts residents,” a spokesperson for Healey said in response to a question about the call.

Six of the victims on the American Airlines flight were members of the Skating Club of Boston — Spencer Lane, 16, Jinna Han, 13, and their mothers Christine Lane and Jin Han. The Hans were from Mansfield and the Lanes were from Barrington, Rhode Island.

The victims also included coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Norwood.

Investigators probing the cause of the crash have said the helicopter may have had inaccurate altitude readings just before the collision and the crew may not have heard critical instructions from air traffic controllers.

A spokesperson for American Airlines confirmed that Healey offered condolences to the airline’s staff who died in the crash.

Healey also held a less than hour-long call on Feb. 28 with Air Force Lt. Gen. Donna D. Shipton, who is the commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, according to Healey’s February calendar.

Lt. Gen. Shipton is in charge of “total life cycle management” for aircraft, engines, munitions, electronic, computer, network, cyber and agile combat support systems, according to the Air Force. The center she runs employs more than 28,000 people and has a $300 billion-plus budget, the military said.

A spokesperson for Healey said the meeting was about the Massachusetts Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force, which is responsible for the six military installations in the state.

“Gov. Healey is strongly committed to supporting military defense, installations, and infrastructure in Massachusetts, and our strong partnership with the federal government is key to that,” Healey’s spokesperson said in a statement.

A rose rests near the names of figure skating coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov on a commemorative wall Jan. 30 at the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood. The two former world champions who were coaching at the historic Boston club were among the members of the skating community killed when an American Airlines flight collided with an Army helicopter Jan. 29 and crashed into the Potomac River. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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