Since Donald Trump said Thursday that Willie Brown punched Vice President Kamala Harris while scaring her off in a helicopter several years ago, the former president has maintained that it's true. This comes after Brown, a former Speaker of the State of California, said He has never done business with Trump or been on a plane with him.

But it turns out another California official had done just that.

In an interview on Saturday, Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles city councilman and longtime state senator, vividly recalled a day in 1990 when Trump invited him to fly from Manhattan to Atlantic City in his helicopter.

It was midday, Holden said, and drinks had just been served, when suddenly the hydraulic system failed, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in New Jersey.

On Thursday, Trump told reporters that he and Brown “were in a helicopter together, heading to a location, and there was an emergency landing.” Trump said, “It was not a comfortable landing. Willie was a little concerned. So I know him very well. I haven't seen him in years, but he said some nasty things to me.” [Harris].”

Holden, 95, was surprised that Trump had confused the two men: “A short black guy from Northern California and a tall black guy from Southern California, but, as they say, we all look the same,” he said with a laugh.

The Trump campaign has not commented on what appears to be, at best, a case of mistaken identity and, at worst, a fabricated story designed to discredit Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

After Brown denied ever riding a helicopter with Trump, he faced criticism both at home and abroad. media There has been much speculation about this incident, with Trump not only standing by his statements but posting on social media that he has evidence, “logs, maintenance records and witnesses” to back up his claims.

But another person on the helicopter was Barbara Leth, a former top construction and development executive for the Trump Organization, who essentially corroborated Holden's account in her 2013 book, “Alone on the 68th Floor.”

“As we crossed the Hudson River, the helicopter began to shake,” she wrote. “Shortly after, the pilot announced he had lost his instruments and would need to make an emergency landing. By that time, the helicopter was shaking badly. Donald often tells the story of Nate, an African-American man who had turned white, but as I recall, Donald himself was quite white.”

Holden said he called Brown on Saturday immediately after seeing Trump's comments on television about the helicopter crash. “I thought Donald Trump had a problem. He'd had two near-fatal accidents, with Willie Brown and then with me,” Holden said. So he asked Brown: “Willie, were you in the helicopter that nearly crashed with Trump?”

Mr. Holden was riding in a helicopter with Mr. Trump to discuss a Manhattan developer's desire to build on the site of the historic Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles' Mid-Wilshire neighborhood, where Mr. Holden represented the district at the time.

Trump “wanted to meet with Nate because Nate was very influential,” Mr. Leth said in the interview, noting that he brought Holden to New York, “and as we were on the way to meet, Donald said, 'You can't do that. You have to go to Atlantic City. I'll meet you in a helicopter.'” (Trump's project on the Wilshire estate was mired in litigation and never came to fruition.)

Holden said he knew Trump was trying to impress him. “He said, 'Look at the skyline. It's the best in the world,'” he recalled of the flight.

Holden was not impressed, however, and was furious when the plane had mechanical problems: “I couldn't believe they hadn't maintained the helicopter. I made a huge fuss because I was putting my life at risk.” Just a year earlier, in 1989, three executives from Trump's casinos had been arrested, along with two others. The helicopter crashed On the Fork River in New Jersey.

“He was speechless. He was white in the face. He was glued to his seat,” Holden said of Trump.

“There was no indication of any real danger that I felt,” Ress said. “Trump was scared. Very scared,” Ress said. “He had just lost three executives on a flight that he said he was going to be on, and of course he wasn't going to be on that flight, but you can see why he wouldn't take advantage of three of his best employees.”

Similarly, both Les and Holden said Trump gave his own version of what happened with Holden on the helicopter.

“Trump wanted to make this more important because he knew Willie Brown was being talked about in Congress and Nate Holden was a city councilman,” Leth said. “He also wanted to include a comment about Harris, but I don't think you can connect Harris to Holden.”

“It makes the story more interesting,” Holden said.