Biden, 80, is now boarding Air Force One using plane’s shorter, retractable stairs after stumbling up steps and falling over a sandbag prompts questions about his age as he launches reelection bid
- President Joe Biden, 80, is almost exclusively using the short staircase to board Air Force One
- He’s stumbled up the steps to the plane at least three times
- Biden is purposely using the shorter staircase to avoid more falls
The president first lost the battle against Air Force One’s rickety exterior staircase just two months into his tenure, in March 2021, as he headed to Atlanta, Georgia.
Then in February, as he left Warsaw, Poland – after his secret 10-hour each way train trip into Ukraine – he briefly tripped up the steps again.
It happened a third time in early March, as the president briefly stumbled as he boarded his plane en route to Selma, Alabama.
He’s had other spills too.
There was the time last June in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, when the president got his shoe stuck in his bike’s toe-clip, falling over sideways in front of a crowd of onlookers and reporters.
His biggest stumble of late happened when he tripped over a sandbag at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduation ceremony in Colorado last month.
The White House won’t officially acknowledge accommodations are being made.