Donald Trump yelled at a reporter over the latest lying drama affecting his re-election campaign.
In an “angry” phone call to the New York Times, Trump reportedly criticized the newspaper for claiming he had lied about an impending crash during a helicopter ride with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
NYT reporter Maggie Haberman — the paper’s star political reporter, who is said to be trusted by Trump — said Trump angrily insisted he could provide proof of the near-death experience.
Trump took a helicopter ride over wildfire-ravaged California with then-Governor Jerry Brown in 2018, but insists he did not confuse him with Willie Brown.
Jerry also insisted that there was no danger during the flight.
Donald Trump mocked a reporter for his request for records of a helicopter ride he claimed to have taken with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown
Trump insisted that his people “have the flight records of the helicopter,” the Times reported, and said he “will probably sue” the newspaper.
When the reporter asked him to show the records, Haberman said Trump “responded mockingly, repeating the request in a sing-song voice.”
The former president – who hopes to be re-elected in November – is also said to be furious at The Times’ criticism of his “diffuse” press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday.
Trump has highlighted how he has spoken regularly with reporters and answered all questions, while his Democratic rival Kamala Harris has avoided media scrutiny.
Republican presidential candidate Trump told reporters at a news conference at Mar-A-Lago on Thursday night that he and Brown (pictured) were on a helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing and both men thought this “might be the end.”
Haberman added that Trump has yet to provide such records, which he says prove the helicopter landed “in a field.”
Trump told the story in response to a question during his news conference at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Thursday.
‘“I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this was the end,” Trump said.
“We were in a helicopter, heading to a certain location, and there was an emergency landing. It was not a pleasant landing.”
A biography of Harris claims Trump sent his private plane to fly Brown and Harris from Boston to New York in 1994, when the two were dating.
However, according to Brown, he and Trump had never ridden on the same helicopter and instead he was doing his best “creative fiction.”
“I’ve never done business with Donald Trump, let’s start with that,” said Brown, who dated Kamala Harris in 1994 and 1995. Crown 4.
“And secondly, I don’t think I would want to be on the same helicopter as him. There are too many people who have interests related to him, including people who are involved in helicopter maintenance!”
Kamala Harris with Willie Brown, whom she dated in the mid-1990s while he was state assembly speaker and she was a prosecutor in Alameda County.
“I was doing what Donald does best, his creative fiction. He’s creative, very creative. It’s so crazy it’s unbelievable.”
He went on to say that the world “would have heard about it” if it had happened.
Speaking about Kamala Harris, Brown also added: “I was a part of every campaign she was on, I supported her religiously and I still will, and I’m looking forward to the next 89 days.”
According to the New York Times, it was not Willie Brown who was on the helicopter at the time, but Governor Jerry Brown, former governor of California.
The publication also said there was no emergency landing and that passengers were never in danger.
“There was no emergency landing and no discussion about Kamala Harris,” Jerry Brown’s spokesman told the NYT.
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was on the helicopter with Trump and Jerry Brown, said after the news conference: “I think that’s complete nonsense.”
Trump’s account was in response to a reporter who asked about Harris’s relationship with Willie Brown.
Gavin Newsom (left) with then-President Trump and then-Governor Jerry Brown (right) surveying wildfire damage in Paradise, California, in 2018. Newsom said Trump’s story about being in a helicopter that “went down” with Willie Brown was nonsense. It was suggested that the former president confused the former mayor with the former governor, but Newsom said the story was nonsense.
Brown and Harris dated in the mid-1990s, when Brown was speaker of the California State Assembly and Harris was a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. During that time, Brown appointed her to two boards of directors.
Trump told the reporter that he knew Willie Brown “very well” and said, “I actually went down in the helicopter with him,” before telling the story of how they came close to dying in the helicopter. “We thought maybe this was the end,” Trump told reporters.
‘We were in a helicopter, going together to a certain place, and there was an emergency landing. It was not a pleasant landing.
“And Willie was… he was a little concerned,” Trump continued. “So I know him, but I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he said terrible things to me about her. But this is what you’re telling me, anyway, I guess.
“But he had a lot to do with what happened with Kamala. But he… I don’t know, maybe he changed his tune. But at that time he wasn’t a big fan of her.”
Brown, now 90, also disputed that aspect of Trump’s claim on Thursday, calling it “so outlandish as to be unbelievable.”
“I couldn’t imagine thinking of Kamala Harris in a negative way. She’s a good friend from way back, an absolutely beautiful woman, very intelligent and very successful, electorally speaking,” Brown said.
