US President Joe Biden stumbled and fell while handing out diplomas at the US Air Force Academy’s commencement ceremony in Colorado.
Mr. Biden, the nation’s oldest serving president at age 80, was assisted to his feet and appeared unharmed.
The president stood for approximately an hour and a half shaking palms with each of the 921 graduating cadets.
The director of communications at the White House stated earlier “he’s fine”
“There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands,” Ben LaBolt wrote on Twitter after Thursday’s fall.
“I got sandbagged,” the smiling president joked to reporters as he arrived back at the White House that evening.
Earlier, the White House press pool reported that Mr. Biden had stumbled on a black sandbag while entering the stage.
Mr. Biden appears to point to one of the two sandbags used to hold up his teleprompter as he is helped up by an Air Force official and two members of his Secret Service detail, as captured on video.
Shortly after the accident, he was observed walking back to his seat unassisted and jogging back to his motorcade when the ceremony concluded.
The pool reporter added that when the president returned to his plane, he did not accept questions.
The press secretary for the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, reported that Mr. Biden was in “perfect health” and had boarded the aircraft with a “huge smile.”
Critics assert that Mr. Biden is too old to seek for a second presidential term.
Recent surveys indicate that the majority of American voters are concerned about his age. If he wins, he will be 82 years old at the commencement of his second term.
This fall, along with his previous stumbles from his bicycle and while ascending the stairs to Air Force One, may contribute to these concerns.
Former President Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate to face Vice President Joe Biden in the 2024 White House election, reacted to the incident from a campaign event in Iowa by stating, “the whole thing is crazy.”