By James Oliphant and Alexandra Ulmer
(Reuters) -Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday insisted he was in a near-fatal helicopter journey with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, though Brown mentioned the incident by no means occurred and one other politician mentioned he had been on the same flight with Trump a long time earlier.
Trump on Thursday associated the story of virtually dying on a helicopter with Brown, who had briefly dated Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris a number of a long time in the past.
“I went down in a helicopter with him,” Trump mentioned in a rambling press convention. “We thought perhaps that is the top. We had been in a helicopter going to a sure location collectively, and there was an emergency touchdown. This was not a pleasing touchdown, and Willie was, he was somewhat involved.”
Trump additionally asserted Willie Brown informed him “horrible issues” about Harris.
Brown, a longtime Democratic energy dealer who additionally served as speaker of the California State Meeting, informed the San Francisco Chronicle after Trump’s press convention that he was by no means in a helicopter with the previous president. He additionally denied that he had ever mentioned something disparaging about Harris to Trump.
One other Black former California politician, Nate Holden, informed Politico late on Friday that he had been in a turbulent helicopter journey with Trump in New Jersey, doubtless in 1990.
Earlier on Friday, Trump had dug in, insisting in posts on his Fact Social platform that his helicopter journey had been with Willie Brown and that it had occurred in New Jersey, not California.
“There have been “Logs,” Upkeep Information, and Witnesses. There was additionally a narrative on “Willie and Me,” Trump mentioned.
He didn’t present any of the proof he referred to within the submit.
Requested to share the proof Trump talked about, Trump marketing campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung referred Reuters to a submit of his on X of an image from a web page within the 2023 “Letters to Trump” e-book. It comprises an image of Trump and Willie Brown, and quotes Trump as saying: “We really had an emergency touchdown in a helicopter collectively.”
Requested about Holden’s account of being in a helicopter with Trump, Cheung mentioned: “Seems like Holden is both mendacity or is having reminiscence points.”
Holden, a former metropolis councilman and state senator from Los Angeles, scoffed at Trump’s account, Politico reported.
“Willie is the quick Black man dwelling in San Francisco,” Holden was quoted as saying. “I am a tall Black man dwelling in Los Angeles. I suppose all of us look alike.”
Holden added that Harris was not introduced up in the course of the helicopter journey. “He both combined it up. Or, he made it up,” Holden mentioned of Trump.
Holden didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail request for remark.
As president in 2018, Trump additionally toured fire-ravaged parts of California by helicopter with then-California Governor Jerry Brown, NBC Information reported. A consultant for former Governor Brown, who’s white, informed the New York Occasions there was no emergency touchdown and Harris was not mentioned throughout that flight.
Trump mentioned he would “most likely” sue the New York Occasions over its protection of his feedback on the helicopter story, based on a Occasions story on Friday. Trump disparaged the newspaper on Fact Social, attacking its reporter Maggie Haberman as “Maggot Hagermann.”
The Occasions didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The Harris marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark in regards to the obvious mix-up.
When 81-year-old President Joe Biden was nonetheless the Democratic candidate within the Nov. 5 election, Trump, 78, steadily mocked his opponent’s psychological acuity and provided to take a cognitive check, arguing Biden was too infirm to be president.
Biden has since been changed atop the ticket by the 59-year-old Harris, forcing Trump to scramble to search out new strains of assault.
Republicans have insinuated that Willie Brown is partially liable for Harris’ rise in politics, though the 2 broke up within the mid-Nineties and Harris didn’t win her first election till 2002. Whereas the 2 had been courting, Brown appointed Harris, then a younger prosecutor, to 2 well-paying jobs on state boards.
