Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reiterated Friday night that he had to make an emergency helicopter landing with Willie Browneven though the former mayor of San Francisco denied that such an incident ever occurred.
Trump told the New York Times that he had documents to support his claims but had not produced them.
On Thursday, it emerged that Trump had confused Brown with former California Gov. Jerry Brown during a news conference, including telling a bizarre and false story about a near-death experience in a helicopter.
From Mar-a-Lago, the former president emotionally recounted the story of a flight he nearly crashed while traveling with Willie Brown, who briefly dated Vice President Kamala Harris decades ago.
“I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought that was the end of it,” Trump said. “We were in a helicopter going somewhere together, and there was an emergency landing. It was not a pleasant landing.”
Trump claimed Brown made critical comments about Harris, but the former mayor denied the remarks, saying he had always been on good terms with his former protégé, even after their breakup.
“Willie was a little concerned,” Trump explained. “I know him, but I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he said some terrible things to me about her. But that’s what you’re telling me, anyway, I guess. But he played a big part in what happened with Kamala. But he — he, I don’t know, maybe he changed his mind. But he — he wasn’t really a fan of her at that point.”
However, new details show that Trump may have confused the two California politicians.
Brown, a longtime Democratic powerbroker who also served as speaker of the California State Assembly, told the San Francisco Chronicle after Trump’s press conference that he had never been in a helicopter with the former president.
“You would have known if I had been in a helicopter with Trump,” he told the newspaper. He also denied ever saying anything disparaging about Harris to Trump.
The New York Times reported that Willie Brown was not on board the helicopter at all, but that it was Governor Jerry Brown, the former governor of California. Current California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was also on board, said there was no emergency landing and that the helicopter’s passengers were never in danger.
“I say that is completely false,” Newsom said.
So what happened in the helicopter?
In 2018, President Trump toured fire-ravaged areas of California by helicopter alongside then-California Governor Jerry Brown.
Brown, who left office in January 2019, confirmed to CNN through a spokesperson that there was no emergency landing and no discussion about Kamala Harris.
The Trump and Harris campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday on the apparent mix-up.
When President Joe Biden, 81, was still running for reelection, Trump, 78, frequently challenged him to take a cognitive test, saying he was unfit for office.
Biden has since been replaced as leader of the ticket by Harris, 59, forcing Trump to scramble for new lines of attack.
Reuters contributed to this article
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: Trump claims he has recordings of emergency helicopter landings
