Ever since Donald Trump said Thursday that Willie Brown had attacked Vice President Kamala Harris years ago during a terrifying helicopter ride, the former president has insisted the story is true. This despite the fact that Brown, the former California president, said she had never done business with Trump, let alone been on a flight with him.
But it turns out another California official had it.
In an interview Saturday, Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles city councilman and longtime state senator, vividly recalled what happened one day in 1990 when Trump invited him to fly from Manhattan to Atlantic City in his helicopter.
It was midday, Holden said, and he had just been served a drink when suddenly the hydraulic system failed, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in New Jersey.
On Thursday, Trump said in off-the-cuff remarks to reporters that he and Brown “were in a helicopter going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing.” Trump said, “This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie was — he was a little concerned. So I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he said terrible things to me about him.” [Harris].”
Holden, 95, couldn't believe Trump could confuse the two men: “the short black guy from Northern California and the tall black guy from Southern California. But like they say, we all look the same,” he said, laughing.
The Trump campaign has not commented on what appears to be at best a case of mistaken identity and, at worst, a fabricated story intended to discredit Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
After Brown denied that he had ever ridden a helicopter with Trump, national and international media have picked up on the news. And Trump has not only stood firm in his statements, but has posted on social media that he had evidence in “records, maintenance records and witnesses” that supported his version.
But another person on the helicopter was Barbara Res, a former top executive in charge of building and developing the Trump Organization. In her 2013 book, “All Alone on the 68th Floor,” Res basically corroborates Holden’s account of what happened.
“As we left the Hudson, the helicopter began to shake,” he wrote. “Shortly afterward, the pilot informed us that he had lost some instruments and that we would have to make an emergency landing. By then, the helicopter was shaking like crazy. Donald loves to tell the story about Nate, an African American, turning white, but as I recall, Donald was pretty white himself.”
Holden said Saturday that he called Brown shortly after seeing Trump’s comments about the helicopter incident on television. “I just thought Donald Trump had a problem. He had two near-fatal accidents, one with Willie Brown and one with me,” Holden said. So he asked Brown: “Willie, were you on a helicopter with Trump that almost crashed?”
Holden was on the helicopter with Trump to discuss the Manhattan developer's desire to build on the site of the historic Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles' Mid-Wilshire district. Holden was representing the district at the time.
Trump “wanted to meet with Nate because Nate was very, very influential,” Res said in an interview, noting that she had brought Holden to New York. “And when we were going to the meeting, Donald said, ‘I can’t, I have to go to Atlantic City. Let’s have our meeting on the helicopter.’” (Trump’s project at that Wilshire site became mired in litigation and never came to fruition.)
Holden said he knew Trump was trying to impress him. On board, Holden recalled, “Trump said, ‘Look at the skyline. It’s the best in the world.’”
But Holden was unimpressed, saying he was furious when the helicopter had mechanical problems. “I couldn’t believe they didn’t do any maintenance on their helicopter. I was so angry that they put my life in danger.” Just a year earlier, in 1989, three executives from Trump’s casinos were killed, along with two others, when a helicopter crashed over the Fork River in New Jersey.
As for Trump, Holden said: “He was speechless. He turned white as snow, glued to his seat.”
“I didn’t sense any real danger,” Res said. “Trump was terrified. He was very scared,” Res said. “He just lost three executives on the flight that he said he was scheduled to go on, even though of course he was never scheduled to go on that flight. But, you know, why not capitalize on the deaths of three good employees?”
Similarly, both Res and Holden said Trump told his own version of what happened on the helicopter to Holden.
“Trump knew that Willie Brown was the talk of the floor and that Nate Holden was a council member, so he wanted to make it more prominent,” Res said. “Plus, he wanted to include a comment about Harris, and I don’t think you could make a connection between Harris and Holden.”
Holden said: “It makes the story juicier.”
