Nate Holden claims Trump may have confused him with Willie Brown in 'near-death' helicopter ride story

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Former President Donald Trump allegedly mistook one black man for another in a contentious story about a helicopter incident and made an inappropriate joke about dark skin.

Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles city councilmember, believes that the ex-president is referring to him in a story about a “near-death experience” helicopter ride with Trump around 1990, according to DailyMail.

The 2024 Republican presidential nominee recently claimed that he had nearly crashed while flying in a helicopter with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who has denied being in a helicopter with the former POTUS.

Holden, who is 95 years old, had interactions with former president Trump in the 90s while Trump was attempting to develop the site of Los Angeles' historic Ambassador Hotel, which was located in Holden's district.

The former councilman, who features a photo of himself with Donald Trump and his ex-wife Ivana on his website, recalled taking a helicopter ride with Trump. Holden believes Trump may have confused him with another Black politician.

Holden commented with a laugh after watching Trump’s claims during his Thursday press conference, saying, “Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco. I'm a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles. I guess we all look alike.”

What did Nate Holden recall about his helicopter ride with Donald Trump?

Nate Holden informed Politico that he met then-real estate mogul Donald Trump near Atlantic City over 30 years ago to tour his Taj Mahal Casino.

Nate Holden claimed that on the helicopter ride with Donald Trump were Robert, his late brother, lawyer Robert Freedman, and former Trump Organization executive Barbara Res.

Barbara Res has now recalled the near-disastrous helicopter ride and detailed it in her memoir.

She recalled that while she had met Willie Brown, the man on the helicopter was Nate Holden, not Brown. Willie Brown is the former mayor of San Francisco and former speaker of the California State Assembly who had dated Kamala Harris decades ago. Res clarified the mix-up, saying, "That's the story, OK. No Willie Brown."

She recalled that Trump quipped about Holden's skin tone at the time near the crash, saying, "You turned white."

Holden, however, described Trump as "white as snow" and "scared s***less."

Holden corroborated with Willie Brown regarding Trump's account following the Thursday press conference.

“I said, 'Willie, were you almost in a helicopter crash with Trump also?' He said 'No.' I said, 'I was the one, Willie.’”

Although Holden doesn’t seem to attribute any malice to Trump’s story, he wonders about the details of what happened during that moment.

"He either mixed it up or he made it up," Holden said. "This was just too big to overlook. This is a big one. Conflating Willie Brown and me? The press is searching for the real story and they didn't get it."

A spokesperson for Trump pointed to the fact that the 78-year-old MAGA strongman had allegedly written about the incident with Brown, in his 2023 book.

What did Willie Brown say in response to Donald Trump’s outrageous claim?

Former President Donald Trump faced pushback for the inaccurate story when he was questioned by journalists seeking evidence.

During an "angry" phone call with The New York Times, the ex-president reportedly scolded the paper for alleging that he had lied about the close call during a helicopter ride with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

NYT journalist Maggie Haberman, noted for her political reporting, stated that Trump vehemently asserted he could provide evidence of the near-death experience.

The 2024 GOP presidential candidate insisted that his staff "have the flight records of the helicopter," according to the aforementioned outlet, and mentioned that he was “probably going to sue” the newspaper.

When the reporter asked for the records, Haberman noted that Trump "mockingly responded, repeating the request in a sing-song voice."

Haberman also added that Trump has not yet presented any such records, despite his claim that the chopper made an emergency landing "in a field."

Trump recounted the story when asked about Kamala Harris' relationship with Willie Brown at a press conference in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

"I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe this was the end," Trump stated.

He went on to say, "We were in a helicopter, going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing."

Vice President Kamala Harris’ biography suggested that former President Trump arranged for Brown and Harris to fly from Boston to New York on his private plane in 1994 when they were dating.

However, Willie Brown stated that he and Trump never flew in the same helicopter and dismissed Trump's account as "creative fiction."

"I've never done business with Donald Trump, let's start with that," Brown, who dated Kamala Harris in 1994 and 1995, told KRON4.

Brown continued, "And secondly, I don't think I'd want to ride on the same helicopter with him. There's too many people that have an agenda with reference to him, including the people who service helicopters!"

"He was doing what Donald does best, his creative fiction. He's creative, real creative. That's so far-fetched, it's unbelievable," the former San Francisco mayor remarked.

Brown then stated that if the helicopter incident had occurred, the world "would have known about it."

Trump shared his account in response to a question about Harris' relationship with Brown.

Brown and Harris dated in the mid-1990s when Brown was speaker of the California State Assembly and Harris was a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney's office.

During that period, Brown appointed her to two boards. Following the recounting of the helicopter story, Trump alleged that Brown had made negative remarks about the current vice president.

"But he had a big part in what happened with Kamala. But he - I don't know, maybe he's changed his tune. But he was not a fan of hers very much, at that point," Trump said.

Brown, currently 90, also disputed that part of Trump's claim on Thursday, calling it "so far-fetched, it's unbelievable."

"I could not envision thinking of Kamala Harris in any negative way. She’s a good friend a long time ago, absolutely beautiful woman, smart as all hell, very successful, electorally speaking," Brown asserted.

Donald Trump slammed for confusing one Black man for another

People online lambasted Donald Trump for confusing one black man for another during his erroneous retelling of the helicopter near-miss story from the 1990s in the Thursday press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

One person remarked, "How is Trump mentioning it in a book last year proof of anything. If I tell a lie today and repeat it a year later,it doesn't make it true. Trump claims to have the flight logs, something tells me that he won't release them. If I were being charitable, I would say that his cognitive decline scrambled his memory of the flight with Nate." [sic]

Another person asked, "Trump loves telling stories and is good at capturing an audience. But it's getting more and more fictional. Is he lying on purpose to further his cause, is he just mixing up people and unwilling to admit that or is it cognitive decline?" 

A person said, "Meanwhile Trump’s wildly threatening law suits against the NY Times for uncovering facts that prove him Dead Wrong in his assertions about Willie, Kamala, and the helicopter ride. Even worse….not only was there zero connection with Willie and Kamala…but the badly faulty aircraft was Donnie’s own personal helicopter on a run to Atlantic City !!! :)" [sic]

One person claimed, "Senility on display here ..you gotta like the confusion and chaos."

Another person suggested, "This man is unable to formulate a complete sentence, mixes up names, and speaks gibberish that no one understands. It remains just insults and lies. Should this man who only has hatred and revenge to offer become the next president?"

Finally, this individual commented, "Just Donnie Boy displaying the cognitive disconnect of Alzheimer's, just like his daddy Fred had." [sic]

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