US President Joe Biden tripped and fell on Thursday while taking part in the commencement ceremony at the United States Air Force Academy (USAF) in Colorado, marking the latest tumble the commander-in-chief has made while in office.
Video from the scene showed the president shaking a graduates hand and then plummeting to the ground before three individuals on stage helped him stand back up.
White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt later told media that the president was "fine" and explained that he had stumbled over a "sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands."
Prior to the incident, Biden spoke to the attendees about how graduates have gone on to pilot Air Force One, underscoring that he trusts his "life" to the academy grads.
Reacting to the news, 2024 contender and former US President Donald Trump told a crowd in Grimes, Iowa, that he hoped his successor was okay. "You got to be careful about that because you don't want that - even if you have to tiptoe down a ramp," he said.
The Thursday incident occurred hours after the US House voted to pass a deal Biden successfully negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to address the country’s debt ceiling limit.