If Donald Trump intended to recapture momentum with his Aug. 8 impromptu press conference at Mar-a-Lago, the plan backfired. Even more than usual, Trump struggled to stay on topic, appeared short-tempered and distracted, and notably told a far-fetched story about a near-fatal helicopter crash with Willie Brown.
Brown, a retired California politician and former San Francisco mayor, now 90, was brought up in the context of his and Kamala Harris’ romantic relationship 30 years earlier, which some have falsely alleged Harris used to advance her career as a California prosecutor. At the presser, Trump said he knew Brown well and then went on to describe a harrowing helicopter ride with Brown at some point in the past. According to Trump, they were on their way to “a certain location together” when there was an emergency landing. “We thought maybe this was the end,” Trump said.
Did Trump mean Jerry Brown?
The day after Donald Trump told that story, though, The New York Times confirmed it wasn’t Willie Brown, a Black man, in that helicopter at all, but former California Governor Jerry Brown, who is white. Current California Governor Gavin Newsom was also on the helicopter flight that day with Trump and Jerry Brown, in 2018, to survey Camp wildfire damage near Paradise in Northern California. When asked about Trump’s story, Newsom said, “I call complete B.S.”
Jerry Brown was also asked about the story. “There was no emergency landing and no discussion of Kamala Harris,” a spokesperson said. At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference, he said that he and Willie Brown discussed Kamala Harris on that helicopter ride and inferred Willie expressed misgivings. Also responding to Trump’s tall tale, Willie added, “You know me well enough to know that if I almost went down in a helicopter with anybody, you would have heard about it!” The New York Times reported.
Willie Brown denies any ill-will toward Kamala Harris
When San Francisco news outlet KRON4 asked Willie Brown about what Donald Trump said, he denied ever doing business with the former president, and added, “I don’t think I’d want to ride on the same helicopter with him. There’s too many people that have an agenda with reference to him, including the people who service helicopters!” Brown did say he once had lunch with Trump in the 1990s and appeared together on the sitcom Suddenly Susan in 1997.
On whether there were any hard feelings toward Kamala Harris, Brown added in part, “I could not envision thinking of Kamala Harris in any negative way. She’s a good friend a long time ago, absolutely beautiful woman, smart as all hell, very successful, electorally speaking … I was a part of every campaign that she’s ever been involved in, supported her religiously and will still do so, and I am just looking forward for the next 89 days,” until the election, he added.
When pressed on Trump’s apparent fabrication and Willie’s denial, Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson, simply said, “Slick Willie!”