--- title: Former Mayor of San Francisco Threatens to Sue Trump description: "Somebody has got to make sure that he [Trump] stops lying," Willie Brown is quoted as telling CBS News. canonical: https://time.com/7011982/former-mayor-san-francisco-willie-brown-donald-trump-helicopter-story/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-08-17T17:16:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:59.274Z article:section: Politics og:title: Is the Former Mayor of San Francisco Suing Trump? og:description: "Somebody has got to make sure that he [Trump] stops lying," Willie Brown is quoted as telling CBS News. og:url: https://time.com/7011982/former-mayor-san-francisco-willie-brown-donald-trump-helicopter-story/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c30b0e1df0fe3ff/698a5a0109208ff10141d817/GettyImages-2166231356.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds News Conference In Bedminster, New Jersey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is the Former Mayor of San Francisco Suing Trump? twitter:description: "Somebody has got to make sure that he [Trump] stops lying," Willie Brown is quoted as telling CBS News. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c30b0e1df0fe3ff/698a5a0109208ff10141d817/GettyImages-2166231356.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Former Mayor of San Francisco Is Threatening to Sue Donald Trump. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Trump Agrees to 3 Debates Against Harris [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Agrees to 3 Debates Against Harris](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8vOC2C7x.m3u8) (0:46)  _Published 2024-08-08. Speaking at a Mar-a-Lago news conference, Donald Trump suggested he would participate in as many as three debates against Harris saying he has agreed to appear separately on Fox, NBC and ABC, all spread across September._  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Aug 17, 2024 5:16 PM UTC  Donald Trump holds a news conference outside the Trump National Golf Club on Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, New Jersey. Donald Trump holds a news conference outside the Trump National Golf Club on Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, New Jersey. Adam Gray—Getty Images  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Aug 17, 2024 5:16 PM UTC Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said he would consider suing former President Donald Trump in [an interview with CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/willie-brown-donald-trump-helicopter-kamala-harris/) this week. His comments come amid a continued struggle over whether the two endured a treacherous helicopter ride together—something the former President and current Republican presidential nominee says did happen, but Brown says did not. "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](https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/) was asked about [Vice President Kamala Harris](https://time.com/7009317/reintroduction-of-kamala-harris/)—the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in the upcoming election—and her past relationship with Brown. (It’s understood that Harris and Brown [dated for some time](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-29-mn-2787-story.html) in the mid-1990s. In 2020, Brown authored an opinion piece for the San Francisco _Chronicle_ titled: “[Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?](https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/sure-i-dated-kamala-harris-so-what-13562972.php)”) In response, Trump told a story, describing him and Brown as passengers of 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. [We thought maybe this was the end](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXjguIbsKp4). 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.  Willie Brown speaks during the Willie Mays Celebration of Life Ceremony at Oracle Park on July 8, 2024, in San Francisco, California. Tony Avelar—Getty Images “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, [as reported by the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/us/politics/trump-helicopter-willie-brown.html) 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 [to survey wildfire damage](https://apnews.com/general-news-8f7e64dacbe1447a87eb5886a2e279f3), yet no emergency landing was reported. On Aug. 9, Politico also [reported](https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/09/trump-plane-crash-california-00173487) 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, [Trump fought back the next day](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/09/us/politics/trump-helicopter-landing.html#link=%7B%22role%22:%22standard%22,%22href%22:%22https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/09/us/politics/trump-helicopter-landing.html%22,%22affiliate%22:%22%22,%22target%22:%22%5Fblank%22,%22absolute%22:%22%22,%22linkText%22:%22threatened%20to%20sue%22%7D), reportedly [calling Maggie Haberman, a reporter at the paper.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTAHSaB2r6c) 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 [President Joe Biden endorsed her run for presidency,](https://time.com/7000985/biden-endorses-kamala-harris/) 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7011982/former-mayor-san-francisco-willie-brown-donald-trump-helicopter-story/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7011982/former-mayor-san-francisco-willie-brown-donald-trump-helicopter-story/"},"headline":"The Former Mayor of San Francisco Is Threatening to Sue Donald Trump. 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