Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown has stated that he would consider legal action against former President Donald Trump this week. His remarks follow ongoing disputes regarding whether the two experienced a perilous helicopter ride together – an event Trump, the current Republican presidential candidate, insists occurred, while Brown denies.
“Somebody has got to make sure that he stops lying,” Brown is quoted as saying. “If he keeps it up, at some point, I’m going to give him a taste of his own conduct. If he sues the New York Times for printing that I said he lied, I’m going to sue him.”
During a press conference on Aug. 8 at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump was questioned about Kamala Harris – the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in the upcoming election – and her past relationship with Brown. (It’s understood that Harris and Brown were romantically involved in the mid-1990s. In 2020, Brown authored an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle titled: “?”)
In response, Trump recounted a story, claiming he and Brown were passengers in a helicopter that had an emergency landing.
“Well, I know Willie Brown very well,” Trump said. “In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. . There was an emergency landing.”
Trump went on to say that Brown told him “terrible things” about Harris.
In his 2023 book Letters to Trump, in which he published his letters to a number of influential people—the former President discussed the alleged helicopter incident in the caption of a photo of him with Brown.
“We actually had an emergency landing in a helicopter together. It was a little scary for both of us, but thankfully we made it,” the caption read.
However, soon after Trump’s press conference, Brown has denied this ever took place.
“You know me well enough to know that if I almost went down in a helicopter with anybody, you would have heard about it,” Brown, who also denied any ill-will between himself and Harris, told the publication. Current theories suggest that Trump may have mixed up Brown with other politicians. For example, former California Gov. Jerry Brown once rode with Trump in a helicopter in 2018 , yet no emergency landing was reported. On Aug. 9, Politico also that former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator Nate Holden claimed he once rode with Trump in a helicopter heading to New Jersey, which a fellow passenger said ended in an emergency landing
After the New York Times posted the story on Aug. 8, , reportedly According to Haberman, Trump shouted that he had proof of the alleged helicopter ride, and that he was “probably going to sue” over the article.
Now, Brown has responded to Trump’s threat to sue.
In his interview with CBS News, Brown is also quoted as saying that Trump’s story is “a deliberate misrepresentation” and is just “a distraction from the magnificence” of Harris’ “ascendancy” in the past weeks since with most of the Democratic Party following suit.
TIME has reached out to the Trump campaign and the Willie Brown Institute for comment and further information.
