SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – During a Thursday press conference, former President Donald Trump claimed that former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown insulted Vice President Kamala Harris while the two men experienced a helicopter emergency landing. Brown himself joined KCBS Radio Friday to fact check the tale.
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“It did not happen with me, period,” said Brown. “I just think that he’s a little bit confused… it must have been another Black guy,” he added.
According to Trump – the GOP presidential candidate – he knows Brown “very well,” and they flew on a helicopter together during an emergency landing. He said that Brown told him “terrible things” about Harris – now the presumptive Democratic candidate.
“He was not a fan of hers very much at that point,” said Trump.
Brown dated Harris in 1994 and 1995, per Reuters, and he served as a political mentor for her, POLITICO reported in July. POLITICO even said Brown wanted to see President Joe Biden step down from office so we could see Harris as president before the 2024 election.
Biden, 81, stepped down as the Democratic candidate this summer following a shaky debate performance and questions about his age. At 78 years old, Trump is just a bit younger than Biden. Meanwhile, Harris is 59 and Brown is 90.
“I did some checking to see if I was okay,” after hearing about the helicopter story, Brown joked.
NBC News reported that Trump may have confused Willie Brown with another California politician – former Gov. Jerry Brown. It said that Trump was in a helicopter with Jerry Brown and his successor, then Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom in 2018 to tour Paradise, Calif., a town that had been ravaged by wildfires.
As for Willie Brown, he told KCBS Radio that he was once on a private jet with Trump, and indicated Harris was there too. He explained that the real estate mogul was interested in developing a property that was going to be a high school as a high rise instead and wanted advice.
“I told him: ‘Under no circumstances – forget it, don’t waste any money.’ Several months later, I saw him at a birthday party in Vegas for somebody, and he came over to me… He says: ‘You’re right. I never should have bought lunch for those people.’”
Brown said he thinks Trump was just trying to insult his new main political opponent with the helicopter story.
It’s far from the first time that the former president has been fact checked. For example, CNN published an article in December fact checking 102 claims from last fall alone.