President Joe Biden on Friday stumbled several times while climbing the stairs to board Air Force One, but a White House aide said he didn’t require medical attention.
Biden, 78, the oldest president in history, fell as he was about halfway up the steps. He regained his footing but stumbled again, eventually needing to place his left knee on a step as he tried to right himself.
Biden ultimately made it up the stairway. He turned around and saluted before entering the plane.
“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. Nothing more than a misstep on the stairs,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said in a social media statement.
“It’s pretty windy outside. It’s very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself, he is doing a hundred percent fine,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy press secretary, added to reporters aboard Air Force One.
Air Force One, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, was flying to Georgia. Biden was visiting during his tour to promote the recently signed COVID-19 relief package, though his team was refocusing the trip on the recent spate of violence against Asian Americans.
Biden told reporters before departing that he was proud of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who clashed with Chinese diplomats in Alaska in their first in-person meeting since the president took office.
He also said his administration is planning additional sanctions against Russia and that he will likely speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin at some point.
President Gerald Ford fell down Air Force One’s steps in Austria in 1975, making international news. Vice President Mike Pence also tripped while boarding a plane last year.
