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Aug. 10 (UPI) — A mechanical issue caused the pilots flying Donald Trump‘s private plane to make an emergency landing in Billings, Mont., with the former president aboard.
The Boeing 757 touched down in Billings at 2:29 p.m. MDT Friday.
Officials did not comment on the nature of the mechanical issues but Secret Service agents did a sweep of the entire airport before Trump was able to leave the jet.
Trump then took a smaller private jet to West Yellowstone Airport to attend a planned rally on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman.
The former president was there supporting former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, the Republican candidate for one of the state’s Senate seats. Sheehy is running against Democrat Sen. Jon Tester, who announced in February he would seek a fourth term in the tightly-contested district.
The race between Tester and Sheehy has also been one of the most expensive of the election cycle.
“We need the Senate,” Trump told the crowd at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse multiple times Friday evening, stressing the importance of the current slim Democratic majority in the upper chamber.
He then shifted his focus, attacking his opponents on the Democratic presidential ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“The people cheering will be the pink-haired Marxists, the looters, the perverts, the flag burners, Hamas supporters, drug dealers, gun-grabbers and human traffickers,” Trump told the crowd, painting a picture of a Harris-Walz win Nov. 5.
Trump is planning campaign fundraisers Saturday in Montana and Aspen, Colo. He then will return to his home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.