Willie Brown threatens to sue Trump over helicopter ride story

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown warned he may consider legal action against former President Donald Trump over a story he recently told about almost crashing in a helicopter with Brown. 

In an interview this week with CBS News, Brown said that he has never been in a helicopter with Trump and threatened to sue the former President because “somebody has got to make sure that he stops lying.” 

“If he keeps it up, at some point, I’m going to give him a taste of his own conduct,” Brown said. “If he sues The New York Times for printing that I said he lied, I’m going to sue him.” 

Facing questions about the validity of his story last week, Trump threatened to sue the New York Times. 

Trump made the claim last week while he was responding to a question about a relationship between Brown and Vice President Kamala Harris three decades ago. 

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

It appeared that Trump may have confused Brown with another politician. 

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown and Trump surveyed wildfire damage in 2018. No issues with their helicopter ride were reported. 

A former California state senator, Nate Holden, believes Trump may have been talking about him, Politico first reported. He says he was in a helicopter with Trump in 1990, and it nearly crashed. 

“Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,” Holden told Politico. “I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles.”

Brown said he would “absolutely” sue if necessary “because I do not want any acquaintanceship with Willie Brown to be a negative for anybody, particularly someone as much of a dear friend as Vice President Harris is.” 

Trump also claimed Brown “was not a fan” of Harris and told him “terrible things” about her which Brown, who dated Harris in the 1990’s, also denied.

“Not on a helicopter and not off a helicopter. Didn’t happen,” said Brown. “Nonexistent. He is so creative. I don’t know how he dragged me onto the stage on something that shouldn’t be, in any fashion, a distraction from the magnificence of her ascendancy.” 

When asked whether it was a simple mixup by Trump, Brown said it was “a deliberate misrepresentation for his benefit.” 

“He’s trying to discredit her,” Brown said of Trump and Harris. “He could only think of one person that maybe he could drag into the fray as a negative for her.” 

CBS News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment. 

— Paul Facey contributed to this report.

Nikole Killion

Nikole Killion is a CBS News congressional correspondent based in Washington D.C. As a correspondent, Killion played a key role in the Network’s 2020 political and election coverage, reporting from around the country during the final stretch of the campaign and throughout the Biden transition.