Willie Brown says near-death experience with Trump never happened

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown responded Thursday to Donald Trump's claim that the two of them survived a near-death experience together when they were once in a helicopter that "went down."

According to the former mayor, it never happened.

"I've never done business with Donald Trump, let's start with that," Brown told KRON4. "And secondly, I don't think I'd want to ride on the same helicopter with him. There's too many people that have an agenda with reference to him, including the people who service helicopters!"

Brown was responding to anecdote the former president shared at a Mar-A-Lago news conference earlier in the day. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, told reporters that he and Brown were in a helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing and both men thought "maybe this is the end."

"He was doing what Donald does best — his creative fiction," Brown replied with a chuckle.

And if the mayor had been in a helicopter that was going down?

"The world would've known about it!" he said.

During Thursday's news conference, the former president also suggested that former Mayor Brown had told him "terrible things" about his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Brown emphatically denied this.

"He's creative, real creative. That's so far-fetched, it's unbelievable," Brown said. "I could not envision thinking of Kamala Harris in any negative way. She's a good friend a long time ago, absolutely beautiful woman, smart as all hell, very successful, electorally speaking."

"I was a part of every campaign that she's ever been involved in, supported her religiously and will still do so, and I am just looking forward for the next 89 days. I just can't wait to get her in as president," he added.

While Brown insists he never did any business with Trump, he did reveal that the two men had lunch together in the 1990s when Trump was trying to get a deal done in Los Angeles. Trump and Brown also appeared together on a 1997 episode of the sitcom, "Suddenly Susan."

On Thursday, it was announced that the Trump campaign and the Harris campaign had agreed to do a debate on Sept. 10. In terms of who he thought would come out on top, Brown had this to say.

"I would think it will probably be unfair for her to debate Trump," Brown said. "He is so inept at debating. The absence of knowledge is appalling."

Brown briefly dated Kamala Harris in the 1990s in San Francisco, where she launched her political career. After being elected San Francisco District Attorney, Harris went on to serve as Attorney General of California before being elected to the U.S. Senate and eventually, being elected vice president.

Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, she has closed the gap on Trump in several key swing state polls.