President Donald Trump held his first press conference since Vice President Kamala Harris became the official nominee, and to the surprise of no one, some of the things he said were shockingly off base.
Trump lobbied off a few new chestnuts including questions about Harris’ heritage, as well as the phrase “Transgender World,” but onlookers can’t help but focus on a story including a helicopter, Trump, and Willie Brown.
According to Trump, he and Willie Brown shared a helicopter once, and had to make an emergency landing due to shaky conditions.
“In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him,” Trump said. “We thought maybe this is the end. 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 was, he was a little concerned.”
During this harrowing ordeal, Trump claims that Willie Brown also took the opportunity to talk candidly about Harris.
“But he told me terrible things about her,” Trump said. “But this is what you’re telling me, anyway, I guess. But he had a big part in what happened with Kamala. 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.”
Of course, this story didn’t happen. Parts of it are true. Trump did share a helicopter in 2018 with a guy whose last name is Brown, on a visit to California surveying wildfire damage. It was, however, then Governor Jerry Brown (white) not Willie Brown (Black). It’s an easy mistake! Also, Gavin Newsom was there too, but I guess his Q Score wasn’t high enough to include him in the story.
Mayor Willie Brown, who dated Harris when she was an Alameda County prosecutor in the mid ’90s, was asked about Trump’s account of the helicopter story.
“He was doing what Donald does best, his creative fiction,” Brown told KRON4 News. “He’s creative, real creative. That’s so far-fetched, it’s unbelievable…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.”