Donald Trump is blasting reporters over the latest lying drama for his re-election campaign, he says.
In an ‘angry’ phone call to The New York Times, Trump is said to have released the paper for claims that he lied about being close to a helicopter ride with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
NYT reporter Maggie Haberman — the paper’s star political reporter, who is said to have Trump’s ear — said Trump was furious at insisting he could provide evidence of a near-death experience.
Trump, 78, rode a helicopter over fire-ravaged California with Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018, but insisted he didn’t mix with Willie Brown.
Jerry also confirmed that there was no danger during the flight.
Donald Trump mocked reporters over his request for footage of a helicopter trip he claimed to have taken with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
Trump insisted that his people ‘have a record of the helicopter flight’, the Times reported, and said he would ‘probably sue’ the newspaper.
When reporters asked for the recording, Haberman said Trump ‘responded mockingly, repeating the request in a sing-song voice.
The former president – who hopes to be re-elected in November – also said the Times’ criticism of his press conference at Mar-a-Lago Thursday was ‘meandering’.
Trump has repeatedly highlighted how he regularly talks to reporters and answers all questions, while Democratic rival Kamala Harris consciously avoids interviews.
Republican presidential nominee Trump told reporters at a Mar-A-Lago press conference on Thursday night that he and Brown (pictured) were in a helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing and both thought it ‘could be the end’
Haberman added that Trump had not provided the records, which Trump claimed proved that the helicopter landed ‘in the field’.
Trump told the story in response to questions during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Thursday.
‘I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in the helicopter with him. We think that’s the end of it,” Trump said.
“We were in a helicopter, going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing. It was not a pleasant landing.’
Harris’ biography states that Trump sent Brown and Harris a private plane to fly from Boston to New York in 1994, when they were dating.
However, according to Brown, he and Trump have never been in the same helicopter and instead they do their best ‘creative fiction’.
‘I’ve never done business with Donald Trump, let’s start,’ Brown – who dated Kamala Harris in 1994 and 1995 – told KRON4.
‘And secondly, I don’t want to ride in the same helicopter as him. Too many people have an agenda with references to him, including the people who service the helicopter!’
Kamala Harris with Willie Brown whom she dated in the mid-1990s when he was the chairman of the state assembly and he was the prosecutor in Alameda County.
‘He does what Donald does best, creative fiction. He is creative, really creative. That’s so far, it’s unbelievable.’
He went on to say that the world ‘will know’ if that happens.
Discussing Kamala Harris, Brown also added: ‘I’ve been a part of every campaign she’s ever been on, supported her religiously and still will, and I’m just looking forward to the next 89 days.’
According to the New York Times, it was not Willie Brown who was in the helicopter at the time, but Governor Jerry Brown, the former governor of California.
The publication also said that there was no emergency landing, and that the passengers were not in danger.
“There was no emergency landing and no discussion about Kamala Harris,” spokesman Jerry Brown told the NYT.
Meanwhile, the governor of California – Gavin Newsom, who was in the helicopter with Trump and Jerry Brown, said after the press conference: ‘I call complete BS’
Trump’s account was provided in response to reporters asking about Harris’ relationship with Willie Brown.
Gavin Newsom (left) with President Trump and Governor Jerry Brown (right) survey the fire damage in Paradise, CA in 2018. Newsom called ‘BS’ in Trump’s story about being in a helicopter that ‘went down’ with Willie Brown. It was suggested the former president was mixing up the former mayor with the former governor, but Newsom called it ‘BS’ on the tale.
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 him to two places.
Trump told reporters he knew Willie Brown ‘very well’ and said: ‘In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him’ before telling how they came close to death in the chopper. “We thought this was the end,” Trump told reporters.
“We were in a helicopter, going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing. It was not a pleasant landing.
‘And Willie – he’s a bit concerned,’ Mr Trump continued. ‘So I know him, but I know him. I mean, I haven’t seen you in years. But he told me about him. But that’s what you tell me, that’s how it is.
‘But he played a big part in what happened with Kamala. But he – I don’t know, maybe he’s changed his tune. But he wasn’t a fan of hers, at the time.’
Brown, now 90, also disputed aspects of Trump’s statement on Thursday that he called ‘so far-fetched, unbelievable.’
“I can’t think of Kamala Harris in a negative way. She’s a very good friend, a very good woman, very smart, very successful, in the way of the election,” Brown said.
