Campaign

Trump plane heading to Montana rally diverted, lands safely

by Tara Suter - 08/09/24 7:28 PM ET

Former President Donald Trump’s Boeing 757 arrives at the Billings Logan International Airport in Billings, Mont., on Friday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2024, enroute to Bozeman. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)

Former President Trump’s plane, dubbed “Trump Force One,” was diverted Friday on its way to his rally in Montana due to a mechanical problem.

The plane, heading to Bozeman, Mt., touched down safely instead at Billings Logan International Airport, the staff confirmed to The Associated Press.

Jenny Mockel, an administrative assistant at the airport in Billings, Mt., told the news wire that the former president would use a private jet to continue to his campaign event in Bozeman — a little over two hours away.

Trump is holding a campaign rally in the Treasure State Friday evening. The event is largely seen as a platform for the former president to target Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the last-standing Democrat elected statewide. Polling shows Tester is locked in a tight race against GOP businessman Tim Sheehy, who was backed by the GOP presidential nominee.

An Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey, released earlier this week, shows Sheehy with a 2-point lead over Tester, 48 percent to 46 percent. Another 5 percent were undecided.

In a video posted to social media platform X by Trump aide Margo Martin, the former president said he “just landed in a really beautiful place, Montana.”

“So beautiful flying over… you just look down, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he added in the video.

Trump’s Montana rally is the only campaign event he has this week. Vice President Harris has outpaced him in terms of campaign rallies this week, in which she will hold five alone.

Harris has garnered large amounts of enthusiasm and fundraising as she has ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket. Her campaign said that 14,000 people attended her rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday and 15,000 attended another in Detroit on Wednesday night.

Trump boasts a 15-point lead over the vice president, the poll from Emerson/The Hill found. But Harris’s 40 percent support is a notable 5-point improvement from the 35 percent President Biden garnered back in March.

The Hill has reached out to Billings Logan International Airport and the Trump campaign.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.