Willie Brown denies Trump claim he said ‘terrible things’ about Kamala Harris on a helicopter trip

Former President Trump said that he and Willie Brown almost crashed in a helicopter and that the former San Francisco mayor told him “terrible things” about Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.

False and false, Brown says.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, insulted Harris, reasserted false and misleading claims and described the U.S. in apocalyptic terms Thursday in a meandering 65-minute news conference at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.

He also related the tale of being in a helicopter and facing danger with Brown.

“Well, I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought, maybe this is the end,” Trump said.

“We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing,” he said. “This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie, he was — he was a little concerned. So I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about [Harris].”

Brown says Trump’s claims are untrue.

“I’ve never done business with Donald Trump — let’s start with that,” the Democrat told Bay Area TV station KRON on Thursday. “And secondly, I don’t think I’d want to ride on the same helicopter with him.”

He also denied demeaning Harris to Trump.

“It’s just as accurate as all of the other components of what you’re asking me about,” Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle. “No, not accurate at all.”

The former mayor told KRON he “could not envision thinking of Kamala Harris in any negative way. She’s a good friend a long time ago, absolutely beautiful woman, smart as all hell, very successful, electorally speaking.”

Brown and Harris dated in the 1990s at the beginning of her career in San Francisco. The connection drew backlash against Harris from critics who believed she’d gained politically from the relationship.

Brown has not responded to The Times’ request for comment, made Thursday evening.

Trump did take a helicopter ride in 2018 — but with a different Brown. He accompanied then-Gov. Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom, California’s governor-elect at the time, to survey the devastation from the Camp fire in the town of Paradise. There were no reports at the time of an emergency landing — though alighting amid the devastation probably would not have been, as Trump observed, “pleasant.”

On X.com, Jerry Brown retweeted a post from a “Republicans against Trump” account featuring side-by-side photos of the former governor and Willie Brown. The shared post said, “OMG. Trump’s brain is mush.”

The former governor’s characteristically terse comment: “Wow.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom called Trump’s story “complete B.S.,” telling the New York Times that Harris never came up in conversation during the 2018 chopper ride.

Newsom “remembers the Marine One trip with Gov. Brown and President Trump very well. They did not discuss Kamala Harris, and there was no helicopter emergency,” his senior communications advisor Bob Salladay said. “He does, however, remember Trump repeatedly worrying about the helicopter crashing, mistakenly calling the town ‘Pleasure’ instead of Paradise, and suggesting that California rake its forests.”

Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.