Former president Donald Trump insisted again Friday that he took a dangerous helicopter ride with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, telling the New York Times that he would release flight records.<\/p>\n
Trump, who did not release the records, told reporters at a news conference Thursday that he had ridden in a helicopter with Brown, who dated Vice President Kamala Harris 25 years ago, claiming that Brown had criticized her during the flight.<\/p>\n
Brown, who is Black, called Trump\u2019s story \u201cfiction.\u201d Former California governor Jerry Brown, who is White, and the state\u2019s current governor, Gavin Newsom, said they rode in a helicopter with Trump to survey the fire-devastated town of Paradise, Calif., in 2018, but they said Harris was not a topic of conversation and the landing was uneventful.<\/p>\n
And late Friday night, Politico reported that Nate Holden, who is Black \u2014 a former Los Angeles council member who grew close to Trump when he tried to renovate the historic Ambassador Hotel in the 1990s \u2014 said he was the one in a helicopter with Trump when it almost crashed.<\/p>\n
Trump claimed in the Times interview that he had \u201cflight records of the helicopter\u201d showing he was with Willie Brown and that he would release the records. The Times reported Trump said he was \u201cprobably going to sue\u201d the news organization, according to an article written by longtime Trump reporter Maggie Haberman, and he responded mockingly to a request for the flight records by repeating it in a \u201csingsong\u201d voice.<\/p>\n
The Times reported that Trump did not provide the records Friday night. His campaign also did not immediately respond to a request from The Washington Post for the helicopter records.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s dubious account comes less than a month after President Joe Biden, 81, left the presidential race amid concerns over his acuity after a damaging debate performance in June. Trump, 78, told more than 30,000 lies or falsehoods during his presidency and in recent weeks has lashed out as Harris, who is challenging him for the presidency, and who has drawn large crowds and enthusiasm among Democrats.<\/p>\n
Trump made the angry call to the Times on Friday as his plane was diverted because of mechanical issues from landing in Bozeman, Mont., where he had a scheduled rally. Trump took another plane from Billings Logan International Airport to Bozeman, airport staff said.<\/p>\n
Reiterating a statement made Thursday, a spokesman for Newsom on Friday said Newsom, then governor-elect, was on a helicopter flight in 2018 with Jerry Brown; there was no emergency landing and Harris was not discussed. The spokesman also said that Trump repeatedly said he was worried about crashing and wrongly referred to the fire-ravaged town of Paradise as Pleasure on more than one occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lively ride, but an utterly safe landing,\u201d Jerry Brown said in an email through his spokesperson, adding that \u201cthe subject of Harris never came up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m laughing about it,\u201d Willie Brown told KPIX, CBS News\u2019s Bay Area affiliate, on Friday, denying ever being on a helicopter with Trump. Brown enthusiastically praised Harris as highly qualified for the presidency and mocked Trump for making up the story.<\/p>\n
In the Politico report, Holden says he met Trump at Trump Tower, en route to Atlantic City, where they were going to tour the developer\u2019s brand new Taj Mahal casino in what he remembers to be 1990. Barbara Res, Trump\u2019s former executive vice president of construction and development, told Politico that she remembers the flight, which she wrote about in a book, and that Holden, not Brown, was on board. She said the helicopter had to make an emergency landing due to instrument failure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWillie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,\u201d Holden told Politico. \u201cI\u2019m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess we all look alike,\u201d Holden added with a laugh.<\/p>\n
During his Thursday news conference, Trump first brought the story up with his usual dramatic flare and insisted the helicopter trip was a dangerous mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went down in a helicopter with him,\u201d Trump said of Brown at his Florida resort. \u201cWe thought maybe this is the end. \u2026 So I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven\u2019t seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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