Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown has warned that he may consider legal action against former President Donald Trump. He recently told About his near helicopter crash with Brown.
In an interview with CBS News this week, Brown said he had never been on a helicopter ride with Trump and threatened to sue the former president, saying “someone has to make sure he stops lying.”
“If he carries on like this, one day I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done,” Brown said. “If he sue’s The New York Times for printing something that I said he lied about, I’m going to sue him.”
Last week, after questions were raised about the veracity of his story, President Trump threatened to sue the New York Times.
Trump made the allegation last week while answering a question about Brown’s relationship with Vice President Kamala Harris going back 30 years.
“I knew Willie Brown very well,” Trump said. “In fact, I was in a helicopter crash with him. I thought this might be the end.”
It appears Trump was confusing Brown with another politician.
Former California Governor Jerry Brown and President Trump surveyed wildfire damage in 2018. No issues were reported during the helicopter survey.
Former California senator Nate Holden believes Trump may have been talking about him, as first reported by Politico. Holden said he was on a helicopter with Trump in 1990 that nearly crashed.
“Willie’s a short black guy who lives in San Francisco,” Holden told Politico. “I’m a tall black guy who lives in Los Angeles.”
Brown said he would “absolutely pursue legal action if necessary, because any acquaintanceship with Willie Brown would not be a negative, especially to a close friend like Vice President Harris.”
Trump also alleged that Brown was “not a fan” of Harris and had said “nasty things” about her – claims Brown, who dated Harris in the 1990s, denied.
“Nothing like that happened when I got in the helicopter, nothing like that happened when I got out of the helicopter,” Brown said. “It didn’t happen at all. He’s very creative. I don’t know why he dragged me out on stage for something that would never have interrupted the beauty of her dominance.”
Asked whether this was simply a mix-up by Trump, Brown said it was “deliberately misrepresented in Trump’s favor.”
“He’s trying to discredit her,” Brown said of Trump and Harris. “He could only think of one person he could drag into a fight that would be negative for her.”
CBS News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
—Paul Facey contributed to this report.
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