Another Black California politician is convinced he's the person Donald Trump was referring to when he told a tale of a near helicopter crash with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, who is also Black.
"I guess we all look alike," former California state Sen. Nate Holden of Los Angeles scoffed to Politico.
Willie Brown has said he was never on any flight with Trump after the former president told his tale at his Thursday press conference. He said that Brown was bad-mouthing Vice President Kamala Harris on the hair-raising (also absolutely not true, according to Brown). Brown and Harris dated in the 1990s.
Holden, 95, told Politico Friday that he clearly remembers the death-defying flight with Trump that occurred sometime in 1990.
"Willie Brown is the short Black guy living in San Francisco. I'm the tall Black guy living in Los Angeles," said Holden, 95. "I guess we all look alike."
He said he flew with Trump on a helicopter to his since-bankrupted casino the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City as the developer was wooing Holden in a bid for a building project in Los Angeles.
As they neared the destination, the chopper began "shaking like crazy" and the pilot made an emergency landing, according to a book by Trump Organization executive Barbara Res, who was also on the flight. She confirmed that it was Holden, not Brown, on the aircraft.
The New York Times reported Friday that Trump must have been referring to a 2018 flight with another Brown — former California Governor Jerry Brown — and governor-elect at the time, Gavin Newsom. The men were surveying the damage of a California wildfire from the air.
Newsom said there was no aircraft emergency, as Trump claimed, but that Trump was nevertheless afraid the helicopter would crash.
Trump insisted on Truth Social after the Times story that his flight story was accurate, but reffering to it as his "little helicopter ride" with Brown.
He told the Times he has the flight records to prove it, though hadn't provided them as of late Friday. He also threatened to sue the newspaper.
Holden has since confirmed his flight experience with Trump with the Times.
He said he was stunned as he watched Trump's press conference.
'What the hell is this?'" Holden said he wondered. "'Was he in two near-fatal helicopter crashes??'"
Trump "either mixed it up, or he made it up" when he told his story, Holden told Politico.
"This was just too big to overlook, this is a big one: conflating Willie Brown and me," he added.
