Donald Trump’s horror helicopter ride story is a myth, says Willie Brown

Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown has dismissed as “fiction” Donald Trump’s story that they once endured a terrifying helicopter ride together.

The former president said on Thursday he and Mr Brown went “down” in a helicopter together and Mr Brown was “a bit concerned”.

“We thought maybe this was the end,” Trump said. “We were in a helicopter… and then there was an emergency. It was not a pleasant place to be.”

Trump later insisted that the story was true in a call to New York Timessaying “you’ll probably sue” without explaining.

Mr Brown, 90, told US media that he had never shared a helicopter with Trump, adding: “I don’t think I would want to get in a helicopter with him.”

Trump, 78, appeared to confuse Mr. Gavin Newsom, the current governor of the state, was also on the plane.

Both men told American media that there was no emergency landing or accident. “I call complete BS,” Mr. Newsom told the New York Times.

Trump told his story in response to a question about Willie Brown’s relationship with Kamala Harris, 59, in the mid-1990s when he was a California prosecutor.

Trump was asked if he thought the relationship had played a role in Ms Harris’s career.

“Well, I know Willie Brown very well,” Trump said, before talking about the plane and saying the former mayor had told him “bad things” about Ms Harris.

“He was instrumental in what happened with Kamala,” Trump said.

The former mayor also denied this.

“That’s too far, it’s unbelievable,” he said he told local TV station KRON. “I couldn’t think of Kamala Harris in any negative way.

“She’s a good friend from a long time ago, a very beautiful woman, as smart as anyone, very successful, talking about elections.

“He was doing what Donald did best, his creative fiction.”

Jerry Brown’s spokesman also told US media that the former governor did not speak to Ms Harris on the helicopter in 2018.

Trump’s comments at an hour-long news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate come as the latest national poll shows Ms. Harris is beating him among likely voters.

The two have visited several battleground states this week along with the vice presidential candidates to address voters.