Donald Trump called the New York Times Friday from Billings, Montana, when his plane made an early landing with mechanical issues on his way to a bigly rally in Bozeman.
Trump excoriated the Times reporter who fact-checked Donald’s story of a helicopter crash with Willie Brown, once Mayor of San Francisco and boyfriend of Kamala Harris.
“We have the flight records of the helicopter,” Trump insisted Friday, saying the helicopter had landed “in a field,” and indicating that he intended to release the flight records, before shouting that he was “probably going to sue” over the Times article. When asked to produce the flight records, Trump responded mockingly, repeating the request in a sing-song voice. As of early Friday evening, he had not provided them.
DementiaDon confused Willie Brown with Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, with whom Mr. Trump traveled by helicopter in 2018 while surveying wildfire damage in the state. Willie Brown denied traveling with Donald in a helicopter.
And then, from Politico:
Another Black politician came forward to say he was in a helicopter crash with Trump.
Nate Holden, 95, a former city councilmember and state senator from Los Angeles, reported that he remembers the near-death experience well. He and others believe it happened sometime in 1990.
“Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,” Holden said. “I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles.”
“I guess we all look alike,” Holden told POLITICO, letting out a loud laugh.
Holden says he met Trump at Trump Tower, en route to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where they were going to tour the developer’s brand new Taj Mahal casino. Holden recalled being a bit worried about the helicopter ride because it came not long after five people, including three high-level executives of Trump’s casinos, were killed when their chopper crashed in 1989 over Forked River, New Jersey.
Barbara Res, a former Trump executive, remembers the trip and remembers Holden being on the trip.
She recalled on that ride that the co-pilot was desperately maneuvering equipment as the helicopter lurched over the water, then telling the passengers that they had lost some instruments and would be making an emergency landing. The helicopter was shaking wildly but made a safe landing at a New Jersey airport.
Res said Trump liked to tell a joke about Holden on the helicopter — “you turned white,” he said. But she said it was Trump’s face that was white.
“He was white as snow,” Holden added. “And he was scared shitless.”
Holden assured the reporter that nobody discussed — let alone criticized — Kamala Harris as Trump claimed Brown did.
