Trump's plane makes emergency landing, ahead of Montana rally

A mechanical issue forced the former president's plane to land more than 100 miles away from its destination

By Griffin Eckstein

News Fellow

Published August 9, 2024 8:09PM (EDT)

A plane carrying Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a rally on May 1, 2024, at Avflight Saginaw in Freeland, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
A plane carrying Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a rally on May 1, 2024, at Avflight Saginaw in Freeland, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump’s plane made an emergency landing in Billings, Montana on Friday evening, more than 140 miles away from a planned rally in Bozeman, Montana.

Trump, scheduled to speak in Bozeman for his only rally of the week, in support of Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, posted a video to Truth Social sharing that he’d touched down, not acknowledging the emergency landing, which the Secret Service attributed to a mechanical failure.

"I just landed in a really beautiful place, Montana, so beautiful flying over, and you just look down, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be," Trump said in the video, over the drone of an engine.

The aviation issue was confirmed by the Secret Service, though no details on the specific mechanical failure were made available.

The rally, in the state which Trump carried by more than 16 points in 2020, is still set to continue as planned, with Trump taking another jet to his final destination.

It marks Trump’s second public appearance of the week, after a troubling press conference on Thursday in which he acknowledged a massive momentum swing towards Harris and said he didn’t plan to change his strategy, despite a massive polling swing.

In Arizona, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to headline her own rally, in a venue with nearly triple the capacity of the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University, where Trump is set to speak.

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