Plane Carrying Hillary Clinton Is Grounded, Returns to Gate Over Mechanical Issue: Reports

Hillary Rodham Clinton, former first lady, in New York City on Nov. 6, 2019. (Michael Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times)

A plane carrying former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a mechanical problem and was forced to return to the gate on Sunday afternoon at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to reports.

Unnamed law enforcement sources told CNN that the former first lady and two-time presidential candidate was on the plane.

American flight 2144, which was set to depart from New York to Washington’s Reagan airport, returned to its gate at around 3:15 p.m. ET, USA Today reported.

Passengers on the plane later boarded a separate aircraft.

Air travelers wait to to board a flight at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. Airlines cancelled thousands of flights into and out of East Coast airports as a major snowstorm packing up to three feet of snow barrels down on the region. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Pilots told officials that the plane shook and ground personnel saw and later found metal debris following the incident. The pieces were found hundreds of feet away from the terminal, CNN reported.

The aircraft’s mechanical issue wasn’t reported to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. There wasn’t an emergency response, USA Today reported.

Other details about the matter are unclear.

A spokeswoman for American Airlines said that the airline doesn’t “disclose passenger manifest information,” Yahoo reported.

Clinton has not yet issued a statement about the incident.

On Potential 3rd Clinton Presidential Run, Democratic Senators Say ‘No’

Amid conflicting reports and statements about whether Clinton would run for president in 2020, some Democratic senators recently said she should stay home.

“She’s done a great service to our country and public service, and I supported her wholeheartedly, but I believe it’s time for another nominee,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), reported Politico last month.

“I don’t think it would be good for her,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “She’s been through this war once. The Republicans have made a target out of her for 30 years and she’s still going to [be] that same target. I just think it would be tough.”

“That would be a mistake,” claimed Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). He repeated, “That would be a mistake.”

“Absolutely not,” added Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

“We have a lot of really fantastic candidates out there already. Let’s leave it at that,” the website quoted Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) as saying.

“It’s just my instinct that there’s no way she wants to go through this meat grinder again,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Politico.

“It’s hard to know whether the world has passed on or not,” longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) added.