The time Trump almost died in a helicopter crash - that didn't happen.
Former President Donald Trump told a jaw-dropping story Thursday about nearly dying in a helicopter ride with
Willie Brown, the former California politician and ex-boyfriend of his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
There was only one problem with the story. Or maybe two. Or maybe three.
It wasn’t the famous former San Francisco mayor on the helicopter flight at all. It was Gov.
Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, who bears little resemblance to Willie Brown.
There was also no emergency landing, and the helicopter’s passengers were never in any danger at all, according to Gov.
Gavin Newsom, who was also on the flight.
Jerry Brown, who left office in January 2019, said through a spokesperson, “There was no emergency landing and no discussion of Kamala Harris.”
“I call complete BS,” Newsom said, laughing out loud.
Trump’s errant account, delivered during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, came in response to a reporter who asked a leading question about Harris’ past relationship with Willie Brown, and whether Trump thought it might have had something to do with her career trajectory.
Harris and Brown dated in 1994 and 1995, while she was a prosecutor in Alameda County, which includes Oakland, and he was the speaker of the California State Assembly, and he appointed her to two state boards. He was — and still is — married to Blanche Brown, but they have long lived separate lives.
“Well, I know Willie Brown very well,” Trump responded. “In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him.”
He went on to tell a cinematic tale of a close call with death — and of politically advantageous gossip on death’s door.
“We thought maybe this was the end,” Trump said. “We were in a helicopter, going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing.
“And Willie was — he was a little concerned. So I know him, but I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about her. But this is what you’re telling me, anyway, I guess. But he had a big part in what happened with Kamala. But he — he, I don’t know, maybe he’s changed his tune. But he — he was not a fan of hers very much, at that point.”
Reached on his cellphone just after Trump’s news conference — at his regular lunch spot at Sam’s Grill in downtown San Francisco — Willie Brown, 90, said the whole story was false. He had never ridden in a helicopter with Trump, he said. He had never nearly perished in any helicopter ride. And he remained an avid supporter of Harris’.
Brown, who loves regaling anybody who will listen with stories and who penned a weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle until 2021, added, laughing: “You know me well enough to know that if I almost went down in a helicopter with anybody, you would have heard about it!”
