Former President Donald Trump arrived late to his rally in Montana and began the event by jabbing the "big" and "beautiful" state's hours-long drives. Trump, who was supposed to speak around 8 p.m.
local time on Friday, was forced to make an emergency landing in Billings and didn't begin speaking until closer to 9:30 p.m. He began his speech thanking MAGA supporters for a " big crowd " and then proceeded to tell rally-goers he knows Montana better than they do.
"Hello Montana I've been traveling all over," he began. "I'll tell you, I know Montana better than you know Montana. I was all over your state today.
" Trump added: "Everything was two hours! 'When are we going to be there?' 'Two hours, sir. Two hours.'" Read also: Debate rages as Harris team claims 'many empty seats as Trump is speaking' at latest rally The MAGA leader then turned his attention to Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy , who is trying to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen.
Jon Tester. "I gotta like Tim Sheehy a lot to be here. You better win!" he exclaimed.
Trump then praised the "big" and "beautiful state" — but couldn't help but complain more about the lengthy amount of time it takes to drive from one city to the next. "I said, 'When are we going to be there?' 'Approximately 2 1/2 hours sir.' I said, 'Oh, great,'" Trump joked.
Trump returned to the dig as a rally-goer received medical attention. "Friday evening in Montana. I think my next drive will be three, four hours.
I wish it was a little closer, but that's ok," he said. Watch the clip below or at this link . The Trump helicopter saga continued late Friday after a California politician came forward and said it was he — not former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown — who was actually in a helicopter with former President Donald Trump that nearly went down in 1990.
Trump shared a harrowing tale at his news conference Thursday in Mar-a-Lago that he nearly died in a helicopter crash with Brown, who was also a former boyfriend of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris . “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,” Trump said. “So I know him, but I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years.
But he told me terrible things about her. But this is what you’re telling me, anyway, I guess. But he had a big part in what happened with Kamala.
But he — he, I don’t know, maybe he’s changed his tune. But he — he was not a fan of hers very much, at that point.” Read also: Trump targets 'failing' NYT reporters on his app after debunk of his helicopter story Brown, now 90, told The New York Times he never rode in a helicopter with Trump , and said he'd never nearly died during a helicopter flight.
Trump doubled down Friday, however, and even threatened to sue the Times over its reporting. Late Friday, Nate Holden, a former city councilman and state senator from Los Angeles, came forward and told Politico he was actually in the helicopter that nearly crashed. “Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,” Holden said, now 95.
“I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles. “I guess we all look alike,” Holden said with a laugh, according to the outlet. Holden and Trump met at Trump Tower as the two flew — along with several others, including Barbara Res, Trump’s former executive vice president of construction and development — to Atlantic City to tour the new Taj Mahal casino.
Res said in her book that the helicopter pilots frantically worked the controls as the helicopter struggled over the water. “From the corner of my eye, I can see in the cockpit and what I see is the co-pilot pumping a device with all his might ,” Res wrote in her book, according to the report. “Very shortly thereafter the pilot let us know he had lost some instruments and we would need to make an emergency landing,” she wrote.
“By now, the helicopter was shaking like crazy.” Former President Donald Trump attacked the New York Times and two of its "failing" reporters on his app after the newspaper fact-checked a story he shared at a rally this week that he nearly died in a helicopter crash with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown . After news broke that Trump called the Times and threatened to sue the newspaper over its coverage of his rally, Trump posted on Truth Social moments before he was to take the stage at a rally in Bozeman, Montana.
"Two Failing New York Times 'reporters' questioned my story about a forced landing of a helicopter, in a field, with former Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, and others," the MAGA leader wrote. He then doubled down on the story. "First of all, it was in New Jersey, not California , and it was Willie Brown, not former Governor Jerry Brown," he said.
"So far they are about as accurate as they are with their other stories about me." Trump's tirade then shifted to the newspaper's past coverage of him, including by reporter Maggie Haberman. Read also: Morning Joe panel laughs its way through dismantling Trump's 'weird' helicopter tale "At least when I became President, the NYT apologized to their readers for their REALLY BAD REPORTING ON THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE," he wrote.
"They’ll probably have to do that again, much as Maggot Hagermann should apologize for her Fake & Fraudulent writing on the Russia , Russia, Russia HOAX, along with many other of her poorly written and badly researched stories. In an article dated April 15, 2011, 'His Willieness dishes about his good buddy Donald Trump. I remember one time Trump sent his private jet to Boston to pick me up.
He’s just angling for another ride in Trump’s jet (helicopter!). But now Willie doesn’t remember? No, he remembers!" In a separate post, Trump wrote: "In the FAKE NEWS story done by the Failing New York Times on Willie Brown and his little helicopter ride with me many years ago, there were 'Logs,' Maintenance Records, and Witnesses. There was also a story on 'Willie and Me.
'" He added: "Why can’t the Radical Left Failing New York Times write accurately, and fairly, on me - See following TRUTH! I only have one major goal in life, and that is to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Wouldn’t that be a good thing for the New York Times. Think of it, THEY COULD BE GREAT AGAIN!" The rant was posted within hours of reports that he placed a call while his private Boeing 757, commonly nicknamed "Trump Force One," was grounded during an emergency landing in Billings. Per Haberman, Trump "excoriated The Times for its coverage of his meandering news conference on Thursday at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and home, during which he told of an emergency landing during a helicopter trip that he said both he and Mr.
Brown had made together," saying, “We have the flight records of the helicopter,” that it landed in "a field." There is no publicly available evidence Trump was ever in a helicopter with Brown, who denies this ever happened , let alone that the helicopter nearly crashed. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz "misspoke" when he said he used weapons "in war," a campaign spokesperson told NBC News on Friday.
Walz's military record has faced scrutiny and outright attacks from the right, including his GOP counterpart J.D. Vance , who accused Walz of "stolen valor.
" The Minnesota governor said in a 2018 video distributed by the Harris campaign Tuesday: “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at." The campaign walked back some of its tweet and accompanying video, telling the outlet Friday that the governor "misspoke." “Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country — in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country.
It’s the American way," a Harris campaign spokesperson said in the statement. Read also: GOP's smearing of Tim Walz's military record reminiscent of 'Swiftboat' attacks: Democrat "In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the Governor misspoke. He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children,” the spokesperson added.
Steven Cheung, Trump's often incendiary spokesman, told NBC News in an email: “Why won’t Tim Walz address his lies himself? Why does he need to send out lowly spokespeople to clean up his own mess?” Watch the ad below or at this link ..
