Former President Donald J. Trump's recent anecdote about a harrowing helicopter ride with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown has been contested by several sources. In a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump recalled an emergency landing during a joint flight with Brown, where he claimed life-or-death concerns were raised, and negative commentary about Vice President Kamala Harris was shared. However, the facts don't appear to align with Trump's narrative, as reported in The New York Times and corroborated by other outlets.
An update to the story further complicates Trump's claim, with the former president asserting he has records of a 'bad helicopter landing' with Brown. This comes after Brown himself firmly denied ever sharing a helicopter with Trump, emphasizing that he never spoke ill of Harris to him. "You would have known if I had gone down on a helicopter with Trump," Brown said in a statement obtained by San Francisco Chronicle. He added that he's never said anything bad about any woman to Trump, "I wouldn’t say anything bad about any woman to him," Brown said. "I would know better. It might encourage him to take a (verbal) shot."
Moreover, both Willie Brown and former California Governor Jerry Brown have refuted aspects of Trump's tale. They confirmed that not only had Willie Brown never been on such a flight with Trump, but also that an emergency landing never occurred during the 2018 helicopter trip with Jerry Brown and then Governor-elect Gavin Newsom. The trip in question was meant for surveying damage from the Camp Fire in Paradise, not for a clandestine conversation about Harris. This version of events has been supported by Jerry Brown through a spokesperson and by Newsom, who recalled, "I was on a helicopter with Jerry Brown and Trump, and it didn’t go down," in an interview highlighted by The New York Times.
Trump's news conference, where he wove this contested narrative, also saw the former president claiming without evidence that Willie Brown had disapproved of Harris at a certain point. Yet Willie Brown himself has conveyed his continued support for Harris and her achievements. NBC News received further confirmation, through a spokesperson for Newsom, that no emergency landing took place on that day and the passengers were never in danger. This information was corroborated by NBC News, adding another layer of contradiction to Trump's account of events.
While the veracity of Trump's claims is under scrutiny, the former president's campaign has not clarified the confusion surrounding the two Browns. Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson, provided a response that did not address the specific questions about the apparent mix-up, simply referring to Willie Brown's alleged stories about Kamala Harris. Trump's penchant for storytelling has once again led to a situation where his recounted experiences are directly contested by facts set forth by individuals who were reportedly involved, leaving public records to untangle the true from the tall tales.
