Trump Threatens To Sue NYT Over Helicopter Story

The New York Times reports:

Former President Donald J. Trump on Friday afternoon vehemently maintained that he had once been in a dangerous helicopter landing with Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, and insisted he had records to prove it, despite Mr. Brown’s denial. In an angry phone call to a New York Times reporter, Mr. Trump excoriated The Times for its coverage of his meandering news conference during which he told of an emergency landing.

“We have the flight records of the helicopter,” Mr. Trump insisted Friday, saying the helicopter had landed “in a field,” and indicating that he intended to release the flight records, before shouting that he was “probably going to sue” over the Times article. When asked to produce the flight records, Mr. Trump responded mockingly, repeating the request in a sing-song voice. As of early Friday evening, he had not provided them.

Politico reports:

The man who almost crashed in a helicopter with Donald Trump told POLITICO Trump confused him with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown — despite the former president’s repeated insistence it was Brown. It was Nate Holden, a former city councilman and state senator from Los Angeles, who said in an exclusive interview late Friday that he remembers the near-death experience well. He and others believe it happened sometime in 1990.

Holden recalled being a bit worried about the helicopter ride because it came not long after five people, including three high-level executives of Trump’s casinos, were killed when their chopper crashed in 1989 over Forked River, N.J. After considerable turbulence, they landed safely in New Jersey at an airport where Trump had his commuter helicopters stored. “He was white as snow,” Holden added. “And he was scared shitless.”

To recap, there apparently was a scary helicopter ride, but it was 34 years ago and it wasn’t with Willie Brown, it was with a different black politician. But Trump is going to sue. Allegedly. Also, in 1990 Kamala Harris was 26 years old and obviously would not have been a topic of conversion on that helicopter ride.