Former President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday about his involvement in an emergency helicopter landing carrying the former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.
When asked by a reporter about Vice President Kamala Harris' previous relationship with Brown and whether it helped her career, Trump said he knew Brown “very well” and recounted a story about the alleged helicopter incident.
“I know Willie Brown very well. I even went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this was the end. We were in a helicopter together going to a certain location and there was an emergency landing,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for his first news conference since announcing the Democratic ticket.
“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.
However, Brown dismissed Trump's story as “patently false” during a phone call with CNN later on Thursday, saying, “I've never been in a helicopter with him in my life.”
“He’s doing his best to denigrate Kamala in some way,” the former mayor also said of Trump and his Democratic presidential rival. “There’s no reason why her name should be anywhere near his lies, period.”
Asked about Brown's rebuttal of the former president's story, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said only, “Slick Willie!”
The New York Times reported Thursday that the former president apparently confused Willie Brown with the former California governor. Jerry Brownwith whom he visited the damage caused by the forest fires by helicopter in November 2018.
A spokesman for Jerry Brown told the Times that “there was no emergency landing and there was no discussion about Kamala Harris.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who also visited the wildfires as governor-elect in 2018, said of Trump's story: “I call it complete nonsense,” the Times reported.
“I was in a helicopter with Jerry Brown and Trump, and it did not crash,” Newsom told the Times, saying Trump had repeatedly raised the possibility of a crash.
Right-wing media figures have previously smeared Harris, calling her a “mistress” because of her previous relationship with Brown — despite it occurring after Brown divorced his wife and not being secret — among other attacks.
Trump claimed during Thursday's press conference that Willie Brown was “not a fan” of Harris and that he had told him “horrible things” about her.
Asked about those claims, Brown told CNN: “No. Why would I? Please give me a break.”
CNN's Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com
