By James Oliphant and Alexandra Ulmer
(Reuters) -Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday insisted he was in a near-fatal helicopter trip with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, though Brown stated the incident by no means occurred and one other man stated 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 stated in a rambling press convention. “We thought possibly that is the top. We have 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 a bit of involved.”
Trump additionally asserted Willie Brown informed him “horrible issues” about Harris.
Whereas Brown denied the account, one other Black former California politician, Nate Holden, informed Politico he had been in a turbulent helicopter trip with Trump in New Jersey, doubtless in 1990.
As president in 2018, Trump 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 Instances there was no emergency touchdown and Harris was not mentioned throughout that flight.
Willie 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.
“You’ll have identified if I had gone down on a helicopter with Trump,” he informed the newspaper. He additionally denied that he had ever stated something disparaging about Harris to Trump.
Republicans have insinuated that Brown is partly 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 have been courting, Brown appointed Harris, then a younger prosecutor, to 2 well-paying jobs on state boards.
On Friday, Trump dug in, insisting in posts on his Fact Social platform that his helicopter trip 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 stated.
He didn’t present any of the proof he referred to within the submit. The Trump marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request to share the proof Trump talked about.
Holden, a former metropolis councilman and state senator from Los Angeles, scoffed at Trump’s account, Politico reported on Friday.
“Willie is the brief 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 trip. “He both combined it up. Or, he made it up,” Holden stated of Trump.
Reuters couldn’t instantly contact Holden. The Trump marketing campaign didn’t reply to a question about whether or not the near-crash occurred with Holden.
Trump stated he would “most likely” sue the New York Instances over its protection of his feedback on the helicopter story, in response to a Instances story on Friday. Trump disparaged the newspaper on Fact Social, attacking its reporter Maggie Haberman as “Maggot Hagermann.”
The Instances didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The Harris marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Friday concerning the obvious mix-up.
When 81-year-old President Joe Biden was nonetheless the Democratic candidate within the Nov. 5 election, Trump, 78, incessantly mocked his opponent’s psychological acuity and supplied to take a cognitive take a look at, 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 traces of assault.
