Trump doubles down on alarming helicopter ride story
Donald Trump continues to assert that he once experienced a frightening helicopter trip with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, despite Mr. Brown dismissing the story as “fiction.”
However, US media reports reveal that another California politician, Nate Holden, actually accompanied Trump decades ago on a turbulent helicopter ride.
Both Mr. Brown and Mr. Holden are Black.
During a news conference, Trump claimed that he and Mr. Brown had experienced an emergency landing in a helicopter, with Mr. Brown appearing “a little concerned.”
The story gained attention after Trump recounted it in response to a question about Mr. Brown’s relationship with Kamala Harris, who dated in the 1990s when she was a prosecutor. Trump was asked whether he believed their relationship influenced Harris’s career. Trump then recalled the helicopter incident, claiming they thought it might be “the end” and that Mr. Brown had shared “terrible things” about Harris during the flight.
Mr. Brown, 90, firmly denied ever sharing a helicopter with Trump and refuted any negative comments about Harris, calling the story “unbelievable” and describing Trump’s version as “creative fiction.”
Despite Mr. Brown’s denial, Trump insisted the story was true in a call to the New York Times, even suggesting he might sue without further explanation. A photo posted by campaign spokesman Steven Cheung showed Trump with Mr. Brown and a caption referencing the helicopter incident.
Meanwhile, Nate Holden, 95, a former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator, confirmed that he had indeed taken a turbulent helicopter ride with Trump around 1990. The helicopter, experiencing mechanical trouble, was forced to make an emergency landing in New Jersey during a visit to Trump’s Atlantic City casino.
Some speculated that Trump may have confused Willie Brown with Jerry Brown, California’s former governor, with whom he shared a helicopter in 2018 during a visit to the Paradise wildfire aftermath. However, both men stated there was no emergency landing or danger on that flight.
Trump’s comments at the Mar-a-Lago news conference come as recent polls show him trailing Ms. Harris in key battleground states, with the New York Times/Siena College survey showing Harris leading Trump 50% to 46% in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The RealClearPolitics polling average also gives Harris a slight edge in the popular vote, though Trump remains ahead in several crucial swing states.
