Asked by a reporter about Vice President Kamala Harris’ previous relationship with Brown and whether it helped her career trajectory, Trump said he knew Brown “very well” and told a story about the alleged helicopter incident.
“I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for his first news conference since the Democratic ticket was announced.
“This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie was, he was a little concerned. So I know him, I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years,” Trump continued.
Brown, however, rejected Trump’s account as “obviously wrong” during a phone call later Thursday with CNN, saying: “I’ve never been in a helicopter with him in my life.”
“He is trying his best to get some way to degrade Kamala,” the former mayor also said of Trump and his Democratic rival for the presidency. “There is no reason why her name ought to be mentioned anywhere near his lies, period.”
Asked about Brown’s rebuttal of the former president’s narrative, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung only responded, “Slick Willie!”
The New York Times reported Thursday that the former president apparently confused Willie Brown with former California Gov. Jerry Brown, with whom he toured wildfire damage by helicopter in November 2018.
A spokesperson for Jerry Brown told the Times that “there was no emergency landing and no discussion of Kamala Harris.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who also toured the wildfires in 2018 as governor-elect, said of Trump’s account, “I call complete B.S.,” according to the Times.
“I was on a helicopter with Jerry Brown and Trump, and it didn’t go down,” Newsom told the Times, saying that Trump repeatedly brought up the possibility of crashing.
Right-wing media figures have before denigrated Harris as a “mistress” for her previous relationship with Brown – despite it having occurred after Brown was separated from his wife and was not a secret – among other attacks.
Trump during Thursday’s news conference claimed Willie Brown was “not a fan” of Harris and that he had told him “terrible things” about her.
Asked about those claims, Brown told CNN: “No. Why would I? Give me a break, please.”
CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
