The person who nearly crashed in a helicopter with Donald Trump informed POLITICO Trump confused him with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown — regardless of the previous president’s repeated insistence it was Brown.
It was Nate Holden, a former metropolis councilmember and state senator from Los Angeles, who mentioned in an unique interview late Friday that he remembers the near-death expertise properly. He and others imagine it occurred someday in 1990.
“Willie is the brief Black man dwelling in San Francisco,” Holden mentioned. “I’m a tall Black man dwelling in Los Angeles.”
“I suppose all of us look alike,” Holden informed POLITICO, letting out a loud snicker.
Holden, who’s 95 years outdated, was in contact with Trump and his group in the course of the Nineteen Nineties when the flamboyant Manhattan developer was attempting to construct on the location of the historic Ambassador Resort in Los Angeles. Holden represented the district on the time and supported the challenge.
Within the interview, Holden mentioned he was watching Trump’s press conference on Thursday when the previous president claimed that Brown was aboard in the course of the white-knuckle helicopter experience.
Actually, Holden says he met Trump at Trump Tower, en path to Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, the place they have been going to tour the developer’s model new Taj Mahal on line casino. Within the foyer at Trump Tower, Holden says he was greeted by a number of individuals as “senator,” salutations that miffed the host.
“He mentioned, ‘You recognize I personal this constructing however no one appears to know who I’m,’” Holden remembered the mogul saying.
Holden recalled being a bit frightened in regards to the helicopter experience as a result of it got here not lengthy after 5 individuals, together with three high-level executives of Trump’s casinos, have been killed when their chopper crashed in 1989 over Forked River, New Jersey.
However Holden says Trump informed him they have been in good fingers, noting that he had two succesful pilots. “He tells me to ‘have a look at the sky,’” Holden mentioned. “‘Oh my God, it’s so stunning.’”
Additionally aboard was Trump’s late brother, Robert, the lawyer Harvey Freedman and Barbara Res, Trump’s former government vp of development and improvement. Res informed POLITICO on Friday that she additionally remembers the experience properly. Actually, she mentioned she wrote about it in her guide, “All Alone on the 68th Ground.”
Res remembers Brown, too. He took a liking to her, and she or he introduced him a hat from the superyacht the Trump Princess, which she says he beloved. However the man on the helicopter was undoubtedly Nate Holden, she mentioned.
On that experience, she mentioned the pilots began feverishly maneuvering the gear because the chopper lurched over the water. “From the nook of my eye, I can see within the cockpit and what I see is the co-pilot pumping a tool with all his would possibly,” Res wrote in her guide. Donald Trump and Robert Trump have been reassuring Holden.
“Very shortly thereafter the pilot tell us he had misplaced some devices and we’d have to make an emergency touchdown,” she wrote. “By now, the helicopter was shaking like loopy.”
After appreciable turbulence, they landed safely in New Jersey at an airport the place Trump had his commuter helicopters saved.
Inside an hour, they have been in Atlantic Metropolis. Holden and Res had a pleasant lunch on the on line casino courtesy of Trump and went again to New York. “We might not have gotten a lot enterprise executed, but it surely certain as hell was memorable,” she wrote.
Over the telephone Friday, Res mentioned Trump favored to inform a joke about Holden on the helicopter — “you turned white,” he mentioned. However she mentioned it was Trump’s face that was white.
“He was white as snow,” Holden added. “And he was scared shitless.”
When requested for remark, a Trump marketing campaign spokesperson simply referred to a paragraph in a New York Occasions article in regards to the incident.
“[Trump] has additionally informed the helicopter story earlier than, in his 2023 guide, ‘Letters to Trump,’ during which he revealed letters to him from quite a few individuals, together with Mr. Brown. Within the guide, Mr. Trump wrote, ‘We truly had an emergency touchdown in a helicopter collectively. It was a bit of scary for each of us, however fortunately we made it.'”
Res and Holden spoke on the telephone Friday night time. They often reminisce in regards to the Ambassador challenge that might have been.
“That’s the story, OK,” Res mentioned. “No Willie Brown.”
Holden additionally linked with Brown on Thursday. “I mentioned, ‘Willie, have been you nearly in a helicopter crash with Trump additionally?’ He mentioned ‘No.’ I mentioned, ‘I used to be the one, Willie.’”
Earlier than he hung up with POLITICO, Holden assured a reporter that no one mentioned — not to mention criticized — Kamala Harris as Trump claimed Brown did.
“He both combined it up,” Holden mentioned. “Or, he made it up. This was simply too large to miss. This can be a large one. Conflating Willie Brown and me? The press is looking for the actual story and so they didn’t get it. You probably did.”