WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump confounded two prominent California politicians when he told a harrowing story about nearly crashing a helicopter.

During a meandering press conference Thursday filled with false and misleading statements, Trump recalled being a passenger in the helicopter with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown when it was forced to make an emergency landing. The comments were in response to a question about a relationship between Brown and Vice President Kamala Harris three decades ago.

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But Brown never shared a helicopter with Trump, the former mayor said. Instead, it was former California Gov. Jerry Brown who rode with Trump in a helicopter in 2018 to survey wildfire damage, and no emergency landing was reported.

“I know Willie Brown very well,” Trump said of the alleged incident. “Actually, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought maybe that was the end.”

He continued: “We were in a helicopter going to a certain place together, and there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing.”

Trump said Brown also told him “terrible things” about Harris. “He wasn’t much of a fan of hers at that point.”

But Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle that he has never been in a helicopter with Trump.

“You would have known if I had gone down on a helicopter with Trump,” Brown told the paper.

The longtime Democratic politician said he has never disparaged Harris to Trump either.

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“Hell, no,” Brown said. “I wouldn’t say anything bad about any woman to him.”

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and Trump rode in a helicopter to survey wildfire damage in 2018. But no problems with the flight were reported.

Current Governor Gavin Newsom was also on the plane. A spokeswoman for the Democrat, Izzy Gardon, said Friday there were no problems with the flight, no emergency landing and no conversation about Harris.

The two Browns each have public careers spanning decades in California. Willie Brown, 90, is black. Jerry Brown, 86, is white.

Willie Brown’s long relationship with Harris has been rekindled since she became the Democratic nominee for the White House. Now that Trump faces her in his bid for a second term, he and other Republicans have used the relationship to lob attacks suggesting that Harris has not legitimately earned her political positions.

Brown served as speaker of the California State Assembly in the 1990s while he and Harris were in a relationship. Brown had separated from his wife in 1982.

Harris, 59, spent several years as a Bay Area prosecutor before being named the state’s attorney general in 2010 and then elected a U.S. senator in 2016. She has been married to Doug Emhoff since 2014.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt declined to explain the discrepancies in Trump’s story when asked about it Friday on Newsmax.

“I would just refer you to President Trump’s statement and what he said yesterday,” Leavitt said. “The president has a lot of great stories from his life.”