Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, had a message for former President Donald Trump on Saturday afternoon: Keep my name out of your mouth or get sued.
He stood with his longtime lawyer, Joe Cotchett, on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco, outside John’s Grill, the Saturday spot on Brown’s lunchtime rotation, and told reporters that he would sue Trump for slander and defamation if he repeated his concocted helicopter story one more time.
“He’s never brought a lawsuit in his life,” Cotchett said of Brown. “But you know who’s pushing him to it? A guy by the name of Trump.”
Trump and Brown have been verbally sparring since Trump falsely claimed at a news conference August 8 at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida that he had once nearly died in a helicopter ride with Brown.
Trump also said that Brown, who dated Vice President Kamala Harris in 1994 and 1995, said “terrible things” about Harris just before they almost plummeted to their deaths.
“He was not a fan of hers very much, at that point,” Trump said.
Brown promptly called the tale a lie — saying he had never ridden in a helicopter with Trump and had never told him disparaging things about Harris. In fact, he repeatedly told reporters that he respected her and desperately hoped that she would beat the man with whom he had never ridden in a helicopter.
Trump repeated his claims on his social media site, Truth Social, and threatened to sue The New York Times for reporting that the helicopter story was made up. “Now Willie Brown doesn’t remember?” Trump wrote.
That’s when Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles City Council member and state senator, said he had taken a rocky helicopter ride with Trump in 1990 and speculated that the former president might have confused him with Brown. Both California politicians are Black.
Trump has not spoken about the helicopter incident since Holden came forward. But Brown and Cotchett said they wanted to make sure that he stayed quiet.
Asked whether he wanted an apology from Trump, Brown said he would rather not hear from him at all.
“No, I don’t want his apology,” Brown said. “I don’t want him to mention my name.”
Asked to comment, a spokesperson for Trump pointed to the former president’s threat to sue the Times but did not address what Brown said.
Holden on Saturday applauded Brown’s legal threat.
“If he’s propagating a lie, he should be held accountable,” Holden said of Trump in a telephone interview Saturday from his home in Los Angeles. “I’m 95 years old, and Willie is 90, and he made the assumption we wouldn’t be here anymore, and nobody would challenge it. Well, we’re alive and well.”
He stood with his longtime lawyer, Joe Cotchett, on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco, outside John’s Grill, the Saturday spot on Brown’s lunchtime rotation, and told reporters that he would sue Trump for slander and defamation if he repeated his concocted helicopter story one more time.
“He’s never brought a lawsuit in his life,” Cotchett said of Brown. “But you know who’s pushing him to it? A guy by the name of Trump.”
Trump and Brown have been verbally sparring since Trump falsely claimed at a news conference August 8 at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida that he had once nearly died in a helicopter ride with Brown.
Trump also said that Brown, who dated Vice President Kamala Harris in 1994 and 1995, said “terrible things” about Harris just before they almost plummeted to their deaths.
“He was not a fan of hers very much, at that point,” Trump said.
Brown promptly called the tale a lie — saying he had never ridden in a helicopter with Trump and had never told him disparaging things about Harris. In fact, he repeatedly told reporters that he respected her and desperately hoped that she would beat the man with whom he had never ridden in a helicopter.
Trump repeated his claims on his social media site, Truth Social, and threatened to sue The New York Times for reporting that the helicopter story was made up. “Now Willie Brown doesn’t remember?” Trump wrote.
That’s when Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles City Council member and state senator, said he had taken a rocky helicopter ride with Trump in 1990 and speculated that the former president might have confused him with Brown. Both California politicians are Black.
Trump has not spoken about the helicopter incident since Holden came forward. But Brown and Cotchett said they wanted to make sure that he stayed quiet.
Asked whether he wanted an apology from Trump, Brown said he would rather not hear from him at all.
“No, I don’t want his apology,” Brown said. “I don’t want him to mention my name.”
Asked to comment, a spokesperson for Trump pointed to the former president’s threat to sue the Times but did not address what Brown said.
Holden on Saturday applauded Brown’s legal threat.
“If he’s propagating a lie, he should be held accountable,” Holden said of Trump in a telephone interview Saturday from his home in Los Angeles. “I’m 95 years old, and Willie is 90, and he made the assumption we wouldn’t be here anymore, and nobody would challenge it. Well, we’re alive and well.”