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Donald Trump has claimed that Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco and ex-partner of Kamala Harris, told him some “horrible things” about her during a near-death experience while on a helicopter ride.
Now the former has spoken out and explained that every part of the story is “fiction.”
According to Brown, there were no critical comments about Harris, no near-fatal accident – and, in fact, no helicopter flight at all.
During his lie-filled press conference Thursday afternoon at Mar-a-Lago – his first public appearance since Harris nominated Tim Walz as her Democratic nominee – the former president told a story that has since turned out to be a fabrication: He allegedly once recounted a helicopter ride with Brown.
In the sprawling story, Trump claimed that he and 90-year-old Brown – who briefly dated Harris in the mid-1990s – believed the helicopter was going to crash and were forced to make an emergency landing.
“Well, I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I flew with him in a helicopter. We thought maybe this is the end,” Trump said.
“We were together in a helicopter on our way to a certain location and there was an emergency landing.”
Although he feared they were close to death, the Republican presidential candidate claimed that Brown used this moment to slander his former lover.
“It wasn’t a pleasant landing, and Willie was – he was a little worried. So I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he told me horrible things about (Kamala Harris),” Trump continued.
Shortly after Trump finished his speech, Brown refuted every aspect of his story, from the helicopter ride together to his criticism of Harris.
“I’ve never done business with Donald Trump, let’s start with that,” Brown told KRON4.
“And secondly, I don’t think I want to fly in the same helicopter with him,” he added.
“I couldn’t imagine thinking of Kamala Harris in any negative way. She’s a good friend from the past, an absolutely wonderful woman, smart as hell and very successful when it comes to elections,” he continued.
The former speaker of the California State Assembly called Trump’s narrative a work of “creative fiction,” adding, “It’s so far-fetched, it’s unbelievable.”
When asked if he had said anything negative about Harris to Trump, Brown vehemently denied it.
“It is as true as any other component of what you are asking me about,” Brown said The Chronicle“No, that’s not true at all.”
He added: “Absolutely not. I wouldn’t say anything bad about a woman to him. I would know better. It might encourage him to try (verbally).”
In 2004, Brown once almost encountered a helicopter – but Trump was not on that flight.
It appears that Trump confused Brown with another Democrat with a similar name: former California Governor Jerry Brown.
In 2018, Jerry Brown, his successor Gavin Newsom and Trump flew together in a helicopter over the smoldering remains of the town of Paradise to assess the damage caused by the Camp Fire.
Both Jerry Brown and Newsom confirmed this meeting The New York Times on Thursday evening – but stressed that it was not an emergency landing.
The Independent has asked Trump, Willie Brown and Jerry Brown for further comment.
Willie Brown and Harris first met when she was 29 and he was 60 and had a brief relationship.
The speaker of the California Assembly presided over Harris, an assistant district attorney in Alameda County, and presented Harris with an estimated $400,000 grant toward her salary over five years, according to Politico.
Brown said in a commentary for The Chronicle in 2019 that he had “influenced her career”.
