President Joe Biden has once again climbed the steps of Air Force One on his way home from his European trip in Helsinki.
The 80-year-old Biden had made his way halfway up the steps of the presidential plane at Helsinki-Vantaan International Airport in the Finnish capital when he appeared to lose his balance before bracing for a fall.
But the 80-year-old president recovered, clung to the banister and regained his composure to continue the rest of the way up.
When he finally reached the top of the stairs, Biden turned to wave to the onlookers as the plane headed for Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Biden had spent the past few days in Europe for the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, meeting with Nordic leaders.
It is not the first time that the president has had trouble with the stairs leading to the presidential plane. During the recent flight, Biden appeared to be using a shorter kick than before.
President Joe Biden has once again stumbled up the stairs of Air Force One on his way home from his European trip in Helsinki
Biden waved at Helsinki-Vantaan International Airport in the Finnish capital just before tripping on the steps of the presidential plane
The most recent misstep turned out to be at least the fourth time Biden had tripped on the Air Force One staircase.
Earlier this year, in February, he tripped over the stairs when he left Warsaw in Poland after another international trip. He lost his footing and fell forward before calming himself down and making the rest of the way up.
A month later, he again had trouble navigating the steps of Air Force One as he boarded the presidential plane as he took off from Selma, Alabama.
The president also fell down the stairs of Air Force One just two months into his term in March 2021.
It appears Biden has been using a shorter kick since last month, when he fell slightly when he tripped over a sandbag during a graduation ceremony at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.
However, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she was not aware of “any decision making” regarding the possible change of stairs for boarding Air Force One.
Presidents have sometimes used the shorter strides in severe weather.
It comes as Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, said Wednesday that the president’s staff should “control his age.”
Brzezinski berated White House staff for not simplifying his schedule and keeping him from falling.
Biden was about halfway up the steps of the presidential plane at Helsinki-Vantaan International Airport in the Finnish capital when he seemed to lose his footing.
The 80-year-old president recovered, clung to the banister and regained his composure to continue the rest of the way up
Biden was on his way home from a European trip that included a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting at a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is pictured with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) and NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana
As Biden builds his 2024 re-election bid, the Morning Joe co-hosts discussed another president whose age was an issue — the late President Ronald Reagan, who successfully won a second term.
Scarborough pointed out that Reagan’s staff – who was nearly 78 when he left the White House – “managed his schedule very carefully.”
“I’ll be honest,” Brzezinski said, “I don’t think they help the president very well.”
“I’m just saying that if you manage a president’s agenda, and you manage a president who gets on stage and comes off stage and gets on planes and gets off planes — and yes, he’s 80 — you have to be there for him. are,’ she continued.
During his trip, Biden also met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left) at 10 Downing Street in London on Monday
President Joe Biden discusses royal guards alongside Britain’s King Charles III at a welcome ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, on Monday
“And you have to make a path and you better make sure it doesn’t fall on a sandbag,” she added. “And I blame the staff,” Brzezinski said.
“There are things that will hurt him,” she continued. “These are things that play in a loop, okay?
“Let him do his job, let him give his speeches, let him work on policy, let him do his connections in Congress like no president we’ve seen, I don’t know, since Clinton,” she said. “But my God, make sure you know—you’re Secret Service, you’re his staff—that you’re there and tell him what’s going to happen.”