The president of the United States, Joe Biden, suffered a spectacular but innocuous fall on Thursday during a graduation ceremony at the Colorado Air Force Academy.
The 80-year-old president quickly got up with the help of three people and returned to his seat under his own power. Getting up, Biden pointed to something on the ground behind him; apparently the object he had stumbled upon.
"There was a sandbag on the stage as he shook hands with the military graduate," White House Communications Chief Ben LaBolt later explained. The president "is fine," he said. And he retweeted another message that Biden had fallen just after congratulating the last of the graduating cadets.
Earlier, in his speech, Biden stated that after having spoken with the recently re-elected president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he congratulated, he saw Sweden's integration into NATO closer. Which would mean that he sees it as very possible that Erdogan will lift the Turkish veto on the matter.
It is not the first time that Biden, a candidate for re-election in the November 2024 presidential elections, has suffered a fall. A year ago, the president fell off his bike while riding near his Delaware residence. Just like this Thursday, he immediately got up and said: "I'm fine."
