Barbara Rezformer executive vice president of construction and development for the Trump Organization, challenged former president on Saturday Donald TrumpHe was said to have been flying with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown in a helicopter that had to make an emergency landing in the 1990s.
“We were working on a very big project in California,” NBC News' Res Ali Vitali told MSNBC, adding, “We were working with local and state politicians. And one of the very important politicians was this guy, [former California state Sen.] “Nate Holden.”
During a press conference on Thursday, Trump recounted the story of the helicopter ride with Brown, telling reporters that “we were flying together in a helicopter to a certain location and there was an emergency landing.”
“It wasn't a very nice landing, and Willie was, he was a little worried. So I know him. I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven't seen him in years, but he told me some horrible things about [Vice President Kamala Harris]” Trump added, referring to the fact that Harris and Brown had only briefly dated.
Asked if Trump often confused the identities of Brown and Holden, Res said Saturday: “I don't remember. It was 30 years ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if Donald didn't confuse them in his head.”
“What I do think,” Res added, “is that Nate was, you know, a councilman, and Willie was a big guy. He was an important, impressive guy… [Trump] wanted to be with Willie because Willie was an important guy.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the story, but on Friday the former president responded to a New York Times report on the helicopter story by saying, “There were 'logs,' maintenance records, and witnesses. There was also the 'Willy and Me' story.”
Shortly after the former president's press conference on Thursday, Brown dismissed Trump's story. On Friday, he told NBC News, “No, I was not” on a helicopter with Donald Trump.
“Are you kidding?” Brown said, before confirming that he never spoke to Trump about Harris.
After hearing Trump's story, Brown added: “I laughed. I just assumed he was on the helicopter with someone black and he just made a mistake and thought it was me.”
Holden spoke for the first time on Friday Politico that he was the man who was flying with Trump on the helicopter, and that the pair, along with several other people, were heading to Atlantic City to check out Trump's new Taj Mahal casino.
His account was supported by Res, who told MSNBC: “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, my God, we’re going to crash.’ We just couldn’t, you know, keep flying, so we found the closest airport and [the pilots] “They dropped us off at Teterboro and everyone was fine.”
“Donald was horrified,” Res said. “And when it was over, he was joking with Nate Holden, who happened to be black, and he said, 'Nate, you've gone white.'”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com