“Slippy Joe” be triple trippin’ on Air Force
President Biden stumbled several times while running up the steps boarding Air Force One in Maryland Friday morning as he was scheduled en route to Atlanta, Georgia.
Video shows Biden was briskly running about halfway up the stairs before he began to stumble. Biden got back upright but again tripped for a second time. The president struggled for a moment to get up, only to fall hard from the second stumble. He appeared to dust off his knee before finally making his way to the top of the stairs, turning around to salute at the top of the steps. Biden then quickly hustled inside the plane.
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre who is accompanying the president to his trip to Atlanta instead of press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One that Biden is “doing fine” following his hard fall and blamed the wind as reason for his multiple stumbles.
“So, as you know, it’s pretty windy outside, it’s very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself,” Jean-Pierre said while briefings reporters on the plane on the way to Atlanta. “He is doing 100% fine.”
Jean-Pierre refused to tell reporters when asked about medical explanation if Biden’s injured foot that was supposedly broken early December caused by chasing his dog, Major was the reason for the stumble.
“He’s doing great. All I can tell you is he’s doing fine. He’s preparing for the trip today and he is doing just great,” she said in response to the question.
In late November, Biden suffered hairline fractures on his right foot while playing with one of his German shepherd, and was required to wear a walking boot. Biden only wore the walking boot for about a week. In February, the White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said that Biden’s foot had healed.
“Both small fractures of his foot are completely healed,” Dr. O’Connor said in a statement to reporters shortly after Biden’s follow-up. “These films were obtained while standing, so we could further assess that his ligamentous stability remains fully intact and strong. This injury has healed as expected.”
Biden is the oldest president in history to take the oath of office when he was sworn-in in January at the age of 78. The issue was brought up multiple times during the 2020 election, but Biden has argued that one shouldn’t worry about his age given his 4 decades as Senator would give him the advantage.
The 78 years-old President once mocked former President Donald Trump during the campaign trail last September after videos of his predecessor showed him walking cautiously down a ramp following his commencement address to West Point graduates last June began virally recirculating.
“Look at how he steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. OK? Come on,” Biden said last September.
Trump defended his slow walk at West Point.
“The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” Trump tweeted on June 13. “The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield tweeted that Biden was not injured from the multiple stumbles.
“I know folks have seen that President Biden slipped on his way up the stairs to AF1, but I’m happy to report that he is just fine and did not even require any attention from the medical team who travels with him,” Bedingfield tweeted. “Nothing more than a misstep on the stairs.”
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to meet with the Asian community in their trip to Atlanta following Tuesday’s horrific mass shooting at three spas and massage parlors that left eight people, including six Asian women, dead.
46 NewsAir Force OneBiden FallKarine Jean-PierreKate BedingfieldPresident BidenPresident TrumpWest Point
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