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Donald Trump’s apparent confusion about a Black politician who was with him on a dangerous helicopter ride has highlighted his lack of credibility — and renewed concerns about the former president’s cognitive health.
At a press conference on Thursday, the former president attacked Vice President Kamala Harris and recounted having experienced an emergency landing in a helicopter with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, whom he claimed to know “pretty well.” (Trump has repeatedly questioned whether Harris’ career was boosted by her relationship with Brown, whom she dated.)
“We 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.”
Trump’s account raised eyebrows, given that news of such an incident involving him and Brown, who is 90, had never been previously reported. Brown quickly denied the claim, telling NBC News that he’d never even been in a helicopter with Trump.
At the time, some outlets, including NBC News, speculated that Trump may have confused the former San Francisco mayor, who is Black, with former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who is white. In 2018, Trump had been in a helicopter with the then-governor and his successor, now-Gov. Gavin Newsom, to assess the damage from wildfires to the town of Paradise.
But both Jerry Brown’s and Newsom’s teams denied that that helicopter ride was ever endangered; Jerry Brown’s spokesperson also told NBC News that there had been no discussion of Harris on that trip.
Then on Friday, Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles City Council member and state senator, told Politico that he had in fact been in a helicopter with Trump when it made an emergency landing in the 1990s, and suggested that the GOP presidential nominee had confused Willie Brown with him instead.
“Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco. I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles,” said Holden, 95. “I guess we all look alike.”
Trump’s brother Robert and an executive from his company, Barbara Res, were also aboard the helicopter with Holden. Res wrote about the incident in her memoir, and she told Politico that although Trump liked to joke that Holden “turned white” from fear during the emergency landing, it was in fact Trump who was “scared s---less.”
The controversy raises questions about Trump’s mental fitness. At 78, Trump is facing the same concerns about his age and mental acuity that he has previously attacked 81-year-old President Joe Biden for — concerns that his torturously rambling and misleading Thursday press conference did very little to allay.
Trump has continued to insist that he is not misremembering which politician was with him on the helicopter. On Friday, he claimed to The New York Times that he had flight records (though he did not produce them) and threatened to sue the newspaper. The Trump campaign did not respond to an NBC News request for comment.