In a deposition taken under oath in 1993, one of Donald Trump's lawyers stated outright that a story Trump told about nearly dying in a helicopter crash was "absolutely not true."
BuzzFeed News reported in 2015 on a story advanced in the press by Trump that he was supposed to be on a helicopter that crashed in October 1989, leaving three of his casino executives and two crew members dead. That BuzzFeed News report found that multiple biographies of Trump — citing multiple sources — disputed the claim.
In addition to the discussion in the biographies, however, one of his lawyers at the time, Patrick McGahn, testified under oath that the story was not true. McGahn said bluntly that "Donald was never going to be on the helicopter." Trump had a meeting with McGahn that evening.
The deposition was filed as part of the Trump Taj Mahal bankruptcy proceedings that were posted online on Wednesday for the first time by BuzzFeed News.