Former California legislator suggests Trump mixed up Black men in helicopter story

Former California state senator Nate Holden said that he was the Black man in a helicopter with former President Trump, refuting Trump’s claims that it was Willie Brown, in an interview with Politico. 

“Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,” Holden told Politico. “I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles.”

“I guess we all look alike,” Holden added. 

Holden is part of a growing group of people refuting Trump’s claim that former California state house speaker Willie Brown, who is also Vice President Harris’s ex-boyfriend, took a helicopter ride with him that nearly ended in a crash. 

Trump made the claim during his Thursday press conference at Mar-a-Lago after a reporter asked him about Harris’s career and its ties to Brown. 

“Well, I know Willie Brown very well,” Trump said. “In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him.”

“I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years,” Trump continued. “He told me terrible things about her.”

“He had a big part in what happened with Kamala. But he — he, I don’t know, maybe he’s changed his tune. But he — he was not a fan of hers very much, at that point,” he added. 

Brown has responded to Trump’s claims by calling them “creative fiction.” 

Brown also said that he never told Trump anything about Harris, telling the San Francisco Chronicle that he “wouldn’t say anything bad about any woman to him.” 

Trump has responded to Brown by referencing a 2011 article about Brown talking about his relationship with him. 

“In an article dated April 15, 2011, ‘His Willieness dishes about his good buddy Donald Trump. I remember one time Trump sent his private jet to Boston to pick me up,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social. “He’s just angling for another ride in Trump’s jet (helicopter!). But now Willie doesn’t remember? No, he remembers!”

Trump has also gone after The New York Times over their reporting fact-checking his claims. 

The New York Times and other news outlets quickly ran fact-checks on Trump’s claims, with the New York Times reporting that Trump was on a “scary Helicopter ride” but that Brown was not on the helicopter. 

The Times reported on Friday that Trump had a fiery phone call with one of its reporters, during which he threatened to sue the paper. 

“Two Failing New York Times ‘reporters’ questioned my story about a forced landing of a helicopter, in a field, with former Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, and others. First of all, it was in New Jersey, not California, and it was Willie Brown, not former Governor Jerry Brown,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. 

“So far they are about as accurate as they are with their other stories about me. At least when I became President, the NYT apologized to their readers for their REALLY BAD REPORTING ON THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE,” he continued.