Joe Biden fell three times while climbing the stairs to Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews on Friday.
The stumbles happened just before noon when Mr. Biden, 78, was trying to jog up the steps to the aircraft for a flight to Atlanta.
After the first stumble, Biden, who has previously taunted former President Trump for lacking physical prowess, tried steady himself, but he fell a second time, and then a third time to his knees.
Biden then brushed himself off and continued up the stairs without further incident. When he reached the top, Biden saluted, and then disappeared into the aircraft.
Joe Biden just fell 3 times in a row trying to go up the stairs to Air Force One pic.twitter.com/gTUTckUH32
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 19, 2021
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Biden was okay.
“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,” she tweeted. “Nothing more than a misstep on the stairs.”
Here’s another angle of the falls:
President Biden stumbles while walking up the stairs to Air Force One
pic.twitter.com/t959EPMHpu— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 19, 2021
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre seemed to blame the wind for the stumbles.
Update: WH spox Karine Jean-Pierre seems to blame the wind for President Biden's fall
She told reporters aboard Air Force One:
'It's pretty windy outside. It's very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself. He is doing 100 percent'https://t.co/6GIwCG2xME
— Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) March 19, 2021
Biden was heading to Atlanta, along with Kamala Harris, to meet with the Asian community in Atlanta following the mass shooting at area spas and massage parlors on Tuesday that left eight people, including six Asian women, dead, the New York Post reported.
Biden suffered a hairline fracture in his right foot in November while playing with one of his German Shepherds. He wore an orthopedic boot for several weeks after the injury.
Friday’s awkward incident comes just one day after Biden referred to Kamala Harris as “President Harris,” and his State Department faltered badly in a meeting with Communist Chinese officials in Alaska.
Watch until the end. Utterly brutal. Completely outclassed.
This is bad, folks.pic.twitter.com/0lW4YYXwqB
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) March 19, 2021
Earlier this week, Biden engaged in a war of words with Russian President Vladimir Putin which ended with Putin caustically wishing him “good health,” and challenging him to a televised debate.
During the 2020 election campaign, Biden taunted President Trump for walking slowly down a ramp (but not tripping or falling) at West Point.
“Look at how he steps, and look at how I step,” Biden crowed to reporters last June. “Watch how I run up ramps, and he stumbles down ramps, okay? Come on.”
FLASHBACK -> Biden mocks Trump's ramp walk at West Point and claims he's stronger: "Look at how he steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. Come on." pic.twitter.com/U7CL0dBSQA
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 19, 2021
Joe Biden:
“Look at how [Trump] steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and how he stumbles down ramps.”Awkward…🥴 pic.twitter.com/sACiQrur8b
— Courtney Holland 🇺🇸 (@hollandcourtney) March 19, 2021
The obsequious corporate media at the time tried to make Trump’s physical prowess an election issue with multiple stories about Trump’s altogether unremarkable walk down the ramp.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 19, 2021
Trump held as many as six rallies a day in the final weeks of the campaign, while the Biden Campaign was calling lids, or holding just a few socially distanced campaign events a week.