Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said she is leaving the door open to possible criminal charges stemming from failures at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, which is under investigation after it was revealed that the driver in a crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire in June should have had his license suspended the month before.
“What a serious case of lack of leadership, lack of management, lack of accountability that apparently may have led to … serious and devastating harm,” she told Jim Braude during an interview on Greater Boston Tuesday.
When pressed on who, exactly, showed a lack of leadership, Healey responded, "the administration," adding of Gov. Charlie Baker, "ultimately, he's responsible."
In the days after the June 21 crash, RMV officials admitted that the driver, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, should have had his license revoked in May, after he was arrested in Connecticut on suspicion of operating under the influence. It later came to light that the RMV had failed to process thousands of similar out-of-state notifications about driver violations and arrests, many of which should have resulted in license suspensions.
Read more: MassDOT Secretary Pollack Accused Of Failing To Cooperate In RMV Investigation
Healey revealed that her office’s investigation into the Massachusetts trucking company that hired Zhukovskyy was criminal in nature, but is still ongoing. And she said that while her office will await the results of the internal investigation before making any decisions about possible charges related to RMV officials' roles, "there could be" some at a later date.
“As attorney general, my job is to make sure we’re doing everything we can to make sure that those who have engaged in acts that are criminal, engaged in acts that cause harm to people, are held accountable,” she said.
In light of the two mass shootings this weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left 31 people dead, Healey called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take up gun control legislation in Congress.
“For once, please, Mitch, just do your job,” she said. “In the face of the carnage and the destruction and the devastation, bring forward some of the bills that are already out there. There’s one on background checks, there’s one on waiting periods, there are red flag bills, and others.”
Healey emphasized the need for nation-wide gun control laws, pointing out that "60 percent of the guns that turn up in crimes here in Massachusetts come from other states."
"Until and unless we have a more comprehensive, sensible solution — which, by the way, the majority of Americans, Democrat and Republican, support — we're not going to be where we need to be," she said.
She also blamed President Donald Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, in part, for the shootings, saying they illustrate the growing threat of white nationalism.
“He’s certainly a racist and has certainly enabled, in my view, and fomented much of this activity in the last few years,” she said.
Authorities have said they are investigating the El Paso shooting as a domestic terrorist act after the shooter reportedly posted a racist manifesto online in which he referred to Latino immigrants as part of a “Hispanic invasion” — a term that echoes Trump’s words at his rallies.
As for Trump’s televised speech Monday in which he called on the nation to “condemn racism,” Healey declared it unconvincing.
“I don’t buy it," she said. "No, he read off a teleprompter. He was pained reading it.”