Donald Trump lied about almost being on a helicopter when it crashed and killed five people, a former Trump Organization official has said.

Barbara Res, who was the company's vice-president of construction, told MSNBC the US president once fabricated a story that he decided at the last minute to avoid the 1989 flight.

News reports at the time quoted Trump “sources” as saying the business mogul was too busy to join three Trump Organization officials travelling from New York to Atlantic City.

The three executives - Stephen Hyde, Mark, Grossinger Etess, and Jonathan Benanav - and two crew members were killed in the tragedy.

But Ms Res branded the claims a “total, total lie”, and said they were promoted by Mr Trump himself.

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“It wasn’t very long after the crash that he was putting out the word that he was supposed to be on that plane or that helicopter, and he didn’t at the last minute, he got pulled off the plane,” Ms Res said on Tuesday. “In other words, he’d be dead now.”

She added: “Making news, making himself a part of the story, a very important story, and undermining the fact that three people died.”

Ms Res likened the story to Mr Trump's recent claim to have been among the first responders to the 9/11 terror attack on the Twin Towers.

“How would anyone ever consider him a first responder? It’s a stupid statement,” she said.

According to a biography of Mr Trump by Harry Hurt, titled Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald Trump, the then 43-year-old decided to promote the false claim during a conversation with a reporter.

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"You're going to hate me for this," Mr Trump is alleged to have told one of his vice-presidents before speaking to the reporter. "But I just can't resist. I can get some publicity out of this."

"Then Donald releases the mute button on his speaker phone and informs the reporter, 'You know, I was going to go with them on that helicopter…' Donald goes on to confide that for some unexplained reason he changed his mind and decided not to go," Mr Hurt claims.

"The next morning Donald's 'revelation' will appear in a caption on the front page of the New York Daily News beneath photographs of the three dead men: 'Trump decided not to go at the last minute.”