Trump’s unproven story about Willie Brown and a harrowing emergency helicopter landing

Former President Donald Trump’s tale of an emergency helicopter landing unraveled after one of its main characters, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, told news outlets it never happened.

"I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him," Trump told reporters at an Aug. 8 press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. "We thought maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together and there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing. And Willie was, he was a little concerned. So, I know him. I know him pretty well."

Trump also said that Brown, who is a Democrat, "told me terrible things" about Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival for the White House. Brown and Harris dated decades ago. 

But Brown told multiple outlets that he never flew with Trump on a helicopter. We searched news databases for archival content and found no articles describing a helicopter ride involving Trump and Brown. Trump did fly on a helicopter with a different Democrat named Brown — former California Gov. Jerry Brown. There were no reports of a crash or emergency landing for that ride.

The Trump campaign offered no evidence for his claim. Here’s what we know.

Brown, who was San Francisco mayor from 1994 to 2006, told multiple news outlets that he had never flown  in a helicopter with Trump, and that he hadn’t criticized Harris to Trump.

"You would have known if I had gone down on a helicopter with Trump," Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle. "I’ve never been on a helicopter with Trump."

In its own report scrutinizing Trump’s tale, The New York Times described Brown as someone who "loves regaling anybody who will listen with stories."

"He was doing what Donald does best, his creative fiction," Brown told local San Francisco’s  KRON-TV. 

We contacted the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Institute on Politics & Public Service in San Francisco, where Brown is chairman and CEO, and received no response. 

It seems Aug. 8 is not the first time Trump has told this story. He included the anecdote in his 2023 picturebook, "Letters to Trump."

"I knew Willie Brown a long time ago," Trump wrote. "He was a hot politician and had a great ‘way.’ We actually had an emergency landing in a helicopter together. It was a little scary for both of us, but thankfully we made it. His time with Kamala in retrospect turned out to be very interesting — but only he can tell that story."

The facing page of the book shows a photograph of a short letter Brown wrote to Trump in 2000, but it includes no mention of a helicopter trip.

Although we found no news articles about a helicopter crash or emergency landing involving Trump and Brown, we discovered a report about one treacherous helicopter trip involving the former mayor. 

In September 2004, The Associated Press reported that "a helicopter carrying former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown made an emergency landing at an elementary school playground" in Malibu, California, following a warning light signaling a possible technical problem. 

Willie Brown also flew on a helicopter with former Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1989 after an earthquake hit California, killing 63 people. In the aftermath, Bush traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area. Brown was then speaker of the California Assembly.

"All I can remember is Willie Brown, who also wanted to be there, saying, ‘Sig, which helicopter is the President riding in?’" Sigmund Rogich, who worked for Bush, told the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. "I said, ‘That one.’ He said, ‘That’s the one I’m going in’ And that’s the one he went in."

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It’s unclear whether Trump confused Willie Brown with former California Gov. Jerry Brown, with whom, reports show, he did fly in a helicopter. 

In November 2018, Trump visited California following the deadly Camp Fire. Trump toured the fire area on a helicopter with the then-Gov. Brown and then-Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

News reports about the flight mentioned neither a crash nor an emergency landing.

Newsom’s office did not respond to PolitiFact’s inquiries. Newsom told The New York Times Aug. 8 that the helicopter did not make an emergency landing. A spokesperson for Jerry Brown told the Times "there was no emergency landing and no discussion of Kamala Harris."

"Wow," Jerry Brown wrote on X in response to a post that showed side-by-side photos of him and Willie Brown. The former mayor is Black; the former governor is white.

Then-President Donald Trump talks Nov. 17, 2018, with then Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, left, as California Gov. Jerry Brown listens in Paradise, Calif. (AP)

Trump said he "went down in a helicopter" with Willie Brown. … We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together and there was an emergency landing."

Trump also included the anecdote in his 2023 book. But advanced news archive site searches show no evidence Trump was on a helicopter that crashed or made an emergency landing with Brown, San Francisco’s former mayor. Brown told multiple news outlets the story never happened.

News reports described a 2018 helicopter flight involving Trump and California’s then-governor, Jerry Brown. However, news reports of that flight mention neither a crash nor an emergency landing. 

At PolitiFact, the burden of proof is on the speaker. Having seen no evidence from Trump, we rate his claim Pants on Fire!

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird and Deputy Editor Rebecca Catalanello contributed to this report.