Witness: Trump mixed up Black politicians in dramatic chopper tale
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Former President Trump's dramatic story of an emergency helicopter seems to have been a case of him mixing up two Black politicians.
Why it matters: Rather than a new way to jab at Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's helicopter tale launched a news cycle about his memory.
- "He either mixed it up, or, he made it up," former California state Sen. Nate Holden told Politico.
- "Less than 90 days until the election, the Republican nominee for President was ... most obsessed with damage control about a story where he confused two black men," Harris adviser David Plouffe posted on X.
Zoom in: Trump said Thursday he was once in a high-stress helicopter ride with Willie Brown, the former speaker of the California State Assembly who dated Harris in the 1990s.
- "I went down in a helicopter with him," Trump said.
- "We thought maybe this is the end. … So I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven't seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about her," Trump said, referencing Harris.
- Willie Brown told the N.Y. Times on Thursday that he's never been in a helicopter with Trump.
Between the lines: Initially, it seemed like Trump had confused Willie Brown with Jerry Brown, the former governor of California who took a helicopter ride with Trump and now-Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2018.
But Holden told Politico on Friday that it was him in the helicopter with Trump, and it was back in the 1990s on the East Coast.
- "I said, 'Willie, you know what? That's me!'" Mr. Holden told the N.Y. Times on Friday when recounting a conversation he had this week with Brown. "And I told him, "You're a short Black guy and I'm a tall Black guy — but we all look alike, right?"
- "Conflating Willie Brown and me? The press is searching for the real story and they didn't get it," Holden told Politico.
Holden's story was backed up by former Trump executive Barbara Res, who wrote about it in her 2013 book, Politico notes.
- Res told Politico on Friday that she knows Brown and that it was Holden in the helicopter, not Brown.
The bottom line: Trump still insists it was Willie Brown with him in the helicopter, telling the N.Y. Times he has flight records and is "probably going to sue" over the article.
- Those records have not been made public as of Saturday morning.
- The Trump campaign has not yet responded to an Axios request for comment.
