Writer: James Olyphant and Alexandra Ulmer
(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump insisted on Friday that he and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown practically died in a helicopter experience, though Brown stated the incident by no means occurred and one other man stated he Trump has been on related flights for many years.
Trump on Thursday instructed the story of practically dying in a helicopter with Brown, who briefly dated Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris a long time in the past.
“I went down in a helicopter with him,” Trump stated throughout a rambling press convention. “We thought perhaps this was the tip. All of us went on a helicopter experience to a location and made an emergency touchdown. It wasn’t a pleasing touchdown, Willie was, and he was somewhat nervous.”
Trump additionally claimed Willie Brown instructed him “horrible issues” about Harris.
Whereas Brown denied the declare, one other Black former California politician, Nate Holden, instructed Politico that he had been on a helicopter experience with Trump in New Jersey, probably in 1990.
In accordance with NBC Information, after taking workplace in 2018, Trump took a helicopter tour with then-California Governor Jerry Brown to go to elements of California that had been hit by fires. A white consultant for former Gov. Brown instructed the New York Occasions that the aircraft didn’t make an emergency touchdown and Harris was not mentioned throughout the flight.
Willie Brown, a longtime Democratic energy dealer and speaker of the California Meeting, instructed the San Francisco Chronicle after Trump’s press convention that he had by no means been on a helicopter experience with the previous president.
“If I have been in a helicopter crash with Trump, you’d know,” he instructed the newspaper. He additionally denied that he had stated something disparaging about Harris to Trump.
Republicans have advised Brown is partly answerable for Harris’ rise in politics, though the 2 cut up within the mid-Nineties and Harris did not win her first election till 2002. Sri Lanka prosecutor, holding two high-paying jobs on the state board.
In a put up on his “Fact Social” platform on Friday, Trump insisted that the helicopter he was on was with Willie Brown and that it occurred in New Jersey, not California.
“There are ‘logs,’ upkeep information, witnesses. There’s additionally a ‘Willie and Me’ story,” Trump stated.
He didn’t present any proof talked about within the put up.
When requested to share the proof Trump cited, Trump marketing campaign spokesman Steven Chang referred Reuters to a put up he made on A web page from the guide “Letter”. It included a photograph of Trump and Willie Brown and quoted Trump saying: “We really made an emergency touchdown in a helicopter collectively.”
Holden, a former Los Angeles metropolis councilman and state senator, scoffed at Trump’s remarks, Politico reported on Friday.
“Willie is a brief black man who lives in San Francisco,” Holden stated. “I am a tall black man residing in Los Angeles. I feel all of us look alike.”
Holden added that Harris was not talked about throughout the helicopter flight. “He both bought it combined up or he made it up,” Holden stated of Trump.
Reuters couldn’t instantly contact Horton. The Trump marketing campaign didn’t reply to inquiries about whether or not the near-crash occurred to Holden.
Trump stated he “might” sue the New York Occasions for reporting on his feedback in regards to the helicopter incident, the New York Occasions reported on Friday. Trump disparaged the newspaper in The Fact Society, attacking its reporter Maggie Haberman as “Margot Hagman.”
The New York Occasions didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The Harris marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Friday in regards to the obvious confusion.
When 81-year-old President Joe Biden was the Democratic nominee within the Nov. 5 election, 78-year-old Trump usually mocked his opponent’s psychological acuity and supplied to take cognitive checks, arguing that Biden was too weak for the job. president.
Since then, 59-year-old Harris has changed Biden, forcing Trump to discover a new line of assault.
