Donald Trump's Plane 'Grounded', Photo Shows

Donald Trump's plane appears "grounded" at LaGuardia Airport in New York as he takes part in his hush money trial in Manhattan, according to commentators online.

Laura Packard, a health care activist and political commentator, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Looks like Trump's plane is grounded at LaGuardia for now."

While the former president's plane is not technically grounded, Trump is required to be present in court every day, as his trial started this week with jury selection.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He's currently facing a total of 91 felony charges across four different states and several lawsuits, but the hush money case is likely to be the only one which will go ahead this year before the November's presidential election.

Trump's lawyers have been trying, more or less successfully, to pause or postpone most of the cases; the former president is expected to put a halt to most of the lawsuits should he return to the White House in January 2025.

The prosecution is seeking to prove that before the 2016 presidential election Trump paid two women—adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—not to disclose his alleged affairs with them. The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after repaying his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for a payment of $130,000 he made to Daniels. Trump's lawyers insist that the payment to Cohen was for legitimate legal expenses.

McDougal was paid $150,000 by American Media Inc. in June 2016 not to disclose her story about her alleged ten-month affair with Trump between 2006 and 2007. Prosecutors says the company made the payment with the understanding that the Trump Organization would reimburse them.

The former president has denied all the allegations and says he is the target of a political "witch hunt" aimed at keeping him out of the White House.

"Everybody's outraged by it," Trump told reporters after Thursday's court proceedings, complaining that he should be campaigning instead of sitting in the New York court. "You know the whole world's watching this New York scam."

The process of selecting 12 residents of Manhattan who'll serve on the jury for Trump's hush money trial is nearing its end, as lawyers now focus on picking remaining alternates. A full jury was seated on Thursday after two jurors who had been seated a day earlier were dismissed from the panel. One of them said she felt intimidated about her identity being revealed during the trial.

The 12 will decide whether Trump is guilty or innocent in the hush money trial.

Opening statements in the trial could take place as early as Monday, Justice Juan Merchan—the judge overseeing the case—said.

Update 19/04/2024, 4:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with more background information.