- By Sam Cabral
- BBC News, Washington
Watch: Biden falls during graduation ceremony
President Joe Biden is “fine” after tripping and falling at an event in Colorado, White House officials said.
He tripped over a sandbag while handing out diplomas at a US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony.
Biden, who is the nation’s oldest serving president at age 80, was helped back to his feet and appeared unharmed after Thursday’s fall.
“I’m in a sandbag!” the president joked to reporters as he arrived back at the White House that evening.
He stood for about an hour and a half to shake hands with each of the 921 graduating cadets.
The footage showed Mr Biden appearing to point to one of two sandbags used to support his teleprompter as he was assisted by an Air Force officer and two members of his Secret Service detail.
He was seen walking back to his seat unassisted and later jogging back to his motorcade as the ceremony ended.
“There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands,” White House communications director Ben LaBolt wrote on Twitter. “He’s good.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden boarded the plane flashing “a big smile”, although a reporter noted he didn’t ask questions before the flight.
‘I hope he doesn’t get hurt’
Critics say Mr Biden is too old to run for a second term as president.
Recent polls suggest that most US voters are concerned about his aging. He will be 82 at the start of a second term if he wins.
This fall, in addition to previous falls from his bicycle and climbing the stairs of Air Force One, may add to the concerns.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner to face Mr Biden in the 2024 election to the White House, reacted to the incident from a campaign event in Iowa, saying “everyone is crazy”.
“I hope he doesn’t get hurt,” said Mr Trump, 76, who often mocked Mr Biden’s age. “That’s not encouraging.”
“You have to be careful about that because you don’t – you don’t want that. Even if you have to tiptoe down the ramp,” Mr Trump added, apparently referring to his own careful walk from a stage that made headlines. in 2020.
He said at the time that the ramp at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, was slippery, and dismissed subsequent media inquiries about his own health as fake news.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, another 2024 contender for the Republican nomination, also reacted to the fallout during a campaign event in New Hampshire: “We hope and hope that Joe Biden is a speedy recovery from any injuries he sustained.
“But we also wish the United States of America a speedy recovery from the damages it has sustained because of Joe Biden and his policies.”
Mr Biden’s last physical examination took place in February.
White House physician Dr Kevin O’Connor wrote at the time: “The President remains fit for office, and fully carries out all his responsibilities without any exceptions or accommodations.”
Dr O’Connor added that Mr Biden was walking with a “gait”, largely due to the destruction of his spine and nerve damage in his feet, but his condition had not changed from the previous physical in November 2021.
Biden is not the first commander-in-chief to lose his footing in front of the cameras.
President Barack Obama tripped while climbing the stairs at a 2012 event, while President Gerald Ford fell down the stairs of Air Force One in 1975.
