Trump's Dramatic Helicopter Story Is Nonsense, Kamala Harris' Ex Willie Brown Says
By: Dan Ladden-Hall (The Daily Beast)
A hair-raising story Donald Trump told about almost dying in a helicopter ride alongside Kamala Harris' ex-boyfriend Willie Brown is completely untrue, Brown said.
The former president told the dramatic tale during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday when asked about how Harris' relationship with Brown, the former San Francisco mayor, may have affected her career. "Well, I know Willie Brown very well," Trump answered. "In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him."
"We thought maybe this is the end," Trump continued. "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—he was a little concerned."
The Republican nominee went on to claim that while he hadn't seen Brown "in years," Brown had previously told him "terrible things" about Harris. "He had a big part in what happened with Kamala," Trump added. "But he—I don't know, maybe he's changed his tune, but he was not a fan of hers very much at that point."
Every aspect of Trump's account is wrong, according to Brown.
The 90-year-old told The New York Times that he'd never ridden a helicopter with Trump, nor had he ever been close to death during any trip in a chopper. "You know me well enough to know that if I almost went down in a helicopter with anybody, you would have heard about it!"
Brown dated Harris between 1994 and 1995 when he was the speaker of the California State Assembly and Harris was a prosecutor in Alameda County. He remains a supporter of hers and denied ever having told Trump "terrible" things about her.
"That's so far-fetched, it's unbelievable," Brown told KRON-TV. "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."
It appears that Trump was referring to a helicopter flight he took with Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, and Brown's successor Gavin Newsom, in 2018. The group were surveying damage from the Camp Fire to the town of Paradise in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
"I call complete B.S.," Newsom told the Times. "I was on a helicopter with Jerry Brown and Trump, and it didn't go down." Trump had mentioned the possibility of crashing repeatedly however, he said. He also claimed they did not discuss Harris on the helicopter.
"There was no emergency landing and no discussion of Kamala Harris," Jerry Brown told the Times through a spokesman.
When questioned about Willie Brown's contradiction of Trump's story, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to CNN only with the words: "Slick Willie!"
Trump lied about
1. who was in the helicopter
2. what happened (nothing happened).
He mentioned Willie Brown because he wanted to portray Harris being slammed by someone who knew her well. Brown has never been in a helicopter with Trump.
If Biden said something like this, a complete fabrication, it would be the headline on every news story in the country.
Surviving a near-death experience can lead to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder like distorted recollections of the event, estrangement from others, and narcissistic collapse.
His imagined near death experience can cause that?
Is that the new blueanaon talking point? he imagined that someone shot at him and a bullet clipped his ear.
try to stay on topic
'Blueanon' has confused you, the yarn is about a helicopter not a bullet. Time to drop the 'neo-word-du-jour', it's not working.
I'm not a psychiatrist, but sometimes I play one here.
If Vance's couch is in your office you may soon make a bundle.
I'm in the Pentagon and go deep diving for loose couch change. The real money is on the E-Ring, best to hunt there after hours.
I'm sorry but I think you are on the wrong article. We're talking about Trump's imagined near helicopter crash.
That's okay because Trump's not a patient. But probably should be.
His ear is clearly not clipped. You must be listening to too much QAnon.
I've also heard a number of experts state that if it had been a bullet hitting the ear, the top of the ear would have been removed. As is, you cannot even see a scar.
So what is the latest blue anon conspiracy theory as to what happened?
Don't know what "blue anon" is. All I can do is repeat what experts have stated without drawing any conclusions.
Are these the same retarded experts making medical diagnosis without every examining him? Or the same unethical medical psychologist who made diagnosis on him without every meeting him.
No.
No.
The manly 'men' here keep claiming that Kamala slept her way to the top.
I'm surprised those 'men' aren't saying that here.
Maybe Trump thought he was back in Vietnam...Oh, Wait.
It's amazing what partisanship will do, conservatives will believe trump and TDS sufferers will believe a 90 year old who probably can't remember what he had for lunch yesterday. News flash, trump lies as does Willie Brown and Gavin Newsome.
Newsome, I was on a plane once and it didn't crash so no planes have ever crashed.
As pathetically irrelevant as your comment is, I suppose it is the best Trump supporters can do under the circumstances.
Typical TDS response, if you don't agree with a comment, accuse the person of being a trump supporter, Newsflash John the people you support are lying pieces of shit just like Trump.
So you think Willie Brown and Gavin Newsome are lying just to make Trump look bad. LOL.
You think they wouldn’t? LOL
Ask that piece of shit Harry Reid how little integrity democrat politicians have when it comes to lying about their opponents.
No, they would never lie. S/
Yes, in a damn heartbeat- they are politicians.
Anything for political gain.
Just like bandage gate and ear gate- which TDS suffering morons are still trying to convince the world of.
Democrats must be desperate to haul a lying sack of corrupt shit like Willie Brown out.
(deleted)
Actually, Brown said he had never been in a helicopter with Trump. Did you read the article?
Gavin Newsome was the one who said Trump was overly concerned that the helicopter might go down.
This is not directed to John.
Comments removed from this thread at the request of the poster.
I admit when I make a mistake
On a helicopter it is called the main rotor or rotor system, not the prop.
Did Trump crash in a helicopter with Willie Brown? No!
Did Trump almost get on a Helicopter with 3 of his young executives who died in a crash? No
Do Kamala supporters look ridiculous with their fixation on all things Trump? Yes! We need to a the burning questions on everyone’s minds.
Did he every tie a dog on the roof of his car?
What magazines does he read?
Did he drink beer in high school?
you are very close to off topic and trolling
"The 90-year-old told..."
Maybe he forgot. And she's 59? - there's a career accelerator.
I went down in a helicopter with him.
Lol. Something about that doesn’t sound right. Sounds more like something maga would say about Kamala.
www.washingtonpost.com /politics/2024/08/09/other-problem-with-donald-trumps-helicopter-ride-story/
The other problem with Donald Trump’s helicopter ride story
Philip Bump 6-7 minutes 8/9/2024
Donald Trump received effusive praise from allies and sympathizers alike for his willingness to hold an off-the-cuff news conference Thursday in a different part of his house. Here’s a guy who can simply invite in reporters and answer questions for an hour without preparation; why can’t Vice President Kamala Harris do the same?
One reason, of course, is that Trump is not now and has not ever been terribly worried about the product of his riffing. Sure, he almost invariably gets himself into trouble by disgorging false claims or toxic disparagements, but it’s easy enough to bury those with more disgorgement. It is the way; it has always been the way.
But this habit now unfolds in an environment where, thanks in part to Trump’s own energetic efforts, Americans are attuned to signs of mental decline or confusion. A story about, say, a near-deadly helicopter ride with a famous California politician — as Trump presented on Thursday — isn’t as easily dismissed as it might have been. Is this Trump making stuff up? Or is this Trump confusing different parts of different stories? Trump has a cover that President Joe Biden never did: that history of bizarre disgorgements.
The helicopter story was certainly bizarre. This is what Trump said, verbatim:
The “her” being referenced is Harris, with whom Brown, the former speaker of California’s state assembly, was once romantically involved. We’ll come back to that.
This story has many of the trademarks of a Trump invention. The “know him well” after a brief encounter, just as he once said that he got to know Russian President Vladimir Putin very well because … they were both featured in segments on the same episode of “60 Minutes.” Then there’s the emotional exaggeration. No burly men crying on Trump’s shoulder here but, instead, a brush with death, the sort of thing that might engender a strong sympathetic response from the listener.
Except that there’s no evidence it’s true. Multiple news outlets have tried to figure out what Trump was talking about, since no one had ever heard this story before. Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle he’d never been on a helicopter with Trump and told a local television station that the story was “fictional.” This tracks — an almost-crash of a helicopter carrying both Brown and Trump would have made the news. When Brown was in a helicopter that had a rough landing in 2004 , sans Trump, it earned media coverage.
Maybe Trump was thinking of former California governor Jerry Brown, the New York Times speculated , though the two Browns share some striking dissimilarities in appearance. Trump did ride in a helicopter with the former governor, though it didn’t almost crash. Or maybe Trump was thinking of a time Willie Brown rode on his plane, as Politico reported ? Or maybe he was simply adding exotic new details to an old story he once told about how he almost boarded a helicopter that did crash, killing several Trump Organization executives. (He didn’t almost board it.)
One element of this story that’s worth noting is how, in broad strokes, it mirrors the story that led to the demotion of former NBC anchor Brian Williams — a demotion that Trump energetically celebrated.
As you may recall, Williams had claimed that while in Iraq during the war he was riding in a helicopter that had been forced to land after being struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. That didn’t happen, though the helicopter may have come under fire from small arms and was forced to land due to a incoming sandstorm. NBC pulled him from its flagship nightly news broadcast in early 2015 and suspended him for six months.
When word of the suspension came down, Trump confidently predicted first that NBC host Chuck Todd would replace Williams and, 15 minutes later , that Rosie O’Donnell would. A few months later, Trump announced his presidential candidacy. NBC, which had partnered with Trump on “The Apprentice,” severed its relationship following the comments he made about immigrants during his campaign launch.
Williams eventually returned to the air, hosting a late-night news show on MSNBC. The program was often critical of Trump during his presidency, prompting the then-president to repeatedly target Williams — and to highlight the story about the Iraq War helicopter.
“Lyin’ Brian Williams of MSDNC, a Concast Scam Company, wouldn’t know the truth if it was nailed to his wooden forehead,” Trump wrote on social media in early 2020. “Remember when he lied about his bravery in a helicopter? Totally made up story. He’s a true dummy who was thrown off Network News like a dog.”
That same day, he posted a video of news coverage of the Williams scandal.
It has long been the case that Trump is immune to hypocrisy. But the similarity here is striking: Williams lied about a brush with death in a helicopter? He made up a story for effect? Heaven forfend.
But now we circle back to the reason Trump told the story: to imply that he was close with Brown and, therefore, that Trump could be trusted when he says that Brown offered disparaging comments about Harris. The two survived a brush with death! No wonder they opened up about their past relationships.
Williams was demoted by NBC News because his story eroded the audience’s confidence in his presentations. His was a position of influence and authority, and his exaggeration put that authority and the network’s authority at risk. Trump understood and amplified this.
So what about his helicopter story?
Lie big or go home, I guess.
Let’s not quibble too much over the specific cast members.
The Governor and Lieutenant Governor of California (or the former Speaker of the Assembly) were forced down in a helicopter with the President of the United States - or even if it was just only the president - and it wasn’t front page news everywhere? I mean he really thinks that is a thing that would remain unknown all this time such that he has to break the story now?
This is a level of delusion and dishonesty that only be described as Trumpian.