The president of the United States, Joe Biden, tripped over a sandbag this Thursday and fell at the graduation ceremony for the new class of the United States Air Force Academy, held in Colorado. The president has not suffered serious injuries and is doing well, according to the White House.
Biden is the first octogenarian president in the history of the United States and his age has been systematically used by his political rivals to attack him. Former President Donald Trump frequently screens videos with compilations of Biden’s missteps and lapses at his campaign rallies. Trump is 76 years old and if he is re-elected in 2024 he would surpass Biden as the oldest president. Biden has gotten up and walked unassisted to his seat after the fall. The president was returning to his seat when he fell. He seemed to have tripped over a black punching bag on the stage. When he got up he pointed to the black punching bag suggesting that he had tripped over it.
“Alright. There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands, ”Ben Labolt, from his communication team, has written on Twitter.
Then, at the end of the act, he has been smiling and jogging to his car, as if to show that the fall has not affected him.
The White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, has indicated that the president is “totally fine.” She has indicated that Biden has boarded Air Force One, the presidential plane, showing “a big smile.”
When Biden himself was asked how he felt, he answered something difficult to hear over the roar of the plane’s engines.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
subscribe
Biden is in very good shape for his age. He has a list of little ailments, according to a routine physical he underwent in February at a Maryland military clinic, but the doctor’s conclusion was resounding: “President Biden remains a healthy and vigorous 80-year-old man, fit for successfully perform the functions of the presidency, including those of chief executive, head of state and commander in chief,” according to the statement signed by Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician.
The report noted that a small lesion removed from his chest had been biopsied for analysis. The doctor confirmed weeks later that it was basal cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer, successfully removed. Biden did not need any more treatment.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
#Biden #trips #falls #military #graduation #ceremony