The Trump helicopter saga continued late Friday after a California politician came forward and said it was he — not former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown — who was actually in a helicopter with former President Donald Trump that nearly went down in 1990.
Trump shared a harrowing tale at his news conference Thursday in Mar-a-Lago that he nearly died in a helicopter crash with Brown, who was also a former boyfriend of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“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,” Trump said. “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.”
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Brown, now 90, told The New York Times he never rode in a helicopter with Trump, and said he'd never nearly died during a helicopter flight.
Trump doubled down Friday, however, and even threatened to sue the Times over its reporting.
Late Friday, Nate Holden, a former city councilman and state senator from Los Angeles, came forward and told Politico he was actually in the helicopter that nearly crashed.
“Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,” Holden said, now 95. “I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles.
“I guess we all look alike,” Holden said with a laugh, according to the outlet.
Holden and Trump met at Trump Tower as the two flew — along with several others, including Barbara Res, Trump’s former executive vice president of construction and development — to Atlantic City to tour the new Taj Mahal casino.
Res said in her book that the helicopter pilots frantically worked the controls as the helicopter struggled over the water.
“From the corner of my eye, I can see in the cockpit and what I see is the co-pilot pumping a device with all his might,” Res wrote in her book, according to the report.
“Very shortly thereafter the pilot let us know he had lost some instruments and we would need to make an emergency landing,” she wrote. “By now, the helicopter was shaking like crazy.”
