Former President Donald Trump confused two prominent California politicians when he told the harrowing story of a near-crash involving a helicopter.
During a rambling press conference on Thursday (local time) that was filled with false and misleading statements, Trump recalled being a passenger in former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s helicopter when it was forced to make an emergency landing. The comments were in response to a question about a relationship between Brown and Vice President Kamala Harris three decades ago.
However, Brown never shared a helicopter with Trump, the former mayor said. Instead, it was former California Governor Jerry Brown who flew with Trump in a helicopter in 2018 to assess wildfire damage, and no emergency landing was reported.
On Friday night, Politico reported that Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator, once flew with Trump in a helicopter to New Jersey that nearly crashed.
“Willie is the little black guy who lives in San Francisco,” Holden told Politico. “I’m a big black guy who lives in Los Angeles.”
This was apparently the latest case of Trump misrepresenting names or telling anecdotes that did not stand up to scrutiny – in this case, to disparage Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.
“I know Willie Brown very well,” Trump said of the alleged incident. “In fact, I flew with him in a helicopter. We thought that might be the end.”
He continued: “We were in a helicopter together on our way to a certain location and there was an emergency landing. It was not a pleasant landing.”
Trump said Brown also told him “horrible things” about Harris. “He wasn’t a big fan of her at that point.”
But Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle that he had never been in a helicopter with Trump.
“They would have known if I had crashed in a helicopter with Trump,” Brown told the newspaper.
The longtime Democratic politician said he, too, had never treated Harris in a derogatory manner towards Trump.
“Absolutely not,” Brown said. “I wouldn’t say anything bad about a woman to him.”
Former California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and Trump actually flew in a helicopter to survey wildfire damage in 2018, but no problems with the flight were reported.
Current Governor Gavin Newsom was also on board the plane. A spokeswoman for the Democrat, Izzy Gardon, said on Friday that there were no problems with the flight, no emergency landing and no discussion about Harris.
Willie Brown’s long-standing relationship with Harris has resurfaced since she became the Democratic nominee for the White House. Now, as Trump faces off against her in his bid to win a second term, he and other Republicans have used the relationship to launch attacks that Harris does not rightfully deserve her political offices.
Brown was speaker of the California State Assembly in the 1990s when he and Harris were in a relationship. Brown separated from his wife in 1982.
Harris, 59, worked for years as a prosecutor in the Bay Area before being appointed the state’s attorney general in 2010 and elected as a U.S. senator in 2016. She has been married to Doug Emhoff since 2014.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign, declined to explain the inconsistencies in Trump’s story when asked about them on Newsmax on Friday.
“I just want to refer you to President Trump’s statement and what he said yesterday,” Leavitt said. “The president has a lot of amazing stories to tell from his life.”
