Runaway car almost slams into Donald Trump's presidential motorcade as it passes through Missouri

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A white car has been taped crashing through a Missouri forest and onto a street, just as Donald Trump’s motorcade was coming by.

The car can be seen emerging from the trees before slamming into a drainage ditch, and coming to a stop moments later. But, contrary to speculation on social media, the car had no intention of injuring the US President, and had instead encountered brake issues.

“Oh my gosh! Look at that car that just came out of the woods!” a man, who appeared to have approached the road to watch the President go by, said in a video.

“What the hell just happened here?” another man in the video asked.

Officials later said that the driver had encountered malfunctioning brakes, and wasn’t making a attempt at Mr Trump’s life.

After the white car came to a stop — and the President was long gone — a vehicle came back to check what had happened. Three people emerged from the emergency vehicle to respond, but did not appear aggravated by the events.

People on Twitter appeared to misunderstand the events, and thought that the car was attempting to ram into Mr Trump's motorcade

“No intent of harm or disruption to motorcade,” the Springfield Police Department later wrote in a Twitter post.

Mr Trump had travelled to Missouri to promote his efforts to pass a tax reform plan, which faces a difficult path forward once Congress reconvenes next month after a lengthy summer recess. Mr Trump has so far failed to pass a single piece of significant legislation during his time in office, and has overseen several high profile failed attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

While the driver in Missouri didn’t appear to be attempting to assassinate Mr Trump, others have tried before. The most talked about incident occurred during the 2016 campaign in Las Vegas, when a man tried to take the pistol of a police officer to kill the then-presumptive Republican nominee.