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NOT the wind: Psaki blames Biden fall on 'tricky' Air Force One steps

"I don’t know if you’ve been up those steps, they’re a little tricky sometimes."

Published: March 22, 2021 4:37pm

Updated: March 22, 2021 5:12pm

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday the wind didn't cause President Joe Biden to fall on the steps of Air Force One last week.

Nope. It was the "tricky" stairs leading to the door of the presidential aircraft.

"I don’t know if you’ve been up those steps, they’re a little tricky sometimes," Psaki said, adding that the 78 year old is "100 percent fine" after falling three times at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland ahead of a flight to Atlanta.

Psaki also said she was "not aware" whether a doctor evaluated Biden after he fell.

Biden on Friday walked unsteadily across a tarmac, then stumbled several times while trying to walk up the steps of the aircraft, at one point trying to hold onto both side railings.

The commander in chief held one railing as he began walking up the stairs, then tripped. He gathered himself – then tripped again. He got started again, then fell down onto his knees, barely keeping his face from hitting the steps. He then brushed off his knees and tried to reach across to hold both railings as he boarded the presidential aircraft at Joint Base Andrews.

Biden, having finally mounted the stairs, gave a salute before ducking into the cabin to take off for a trip to Georgia.

Donald Trump Jr. had a field day on Twitter.

"I remember the press bashing Trump for touching the rail once. Biden falls repeatedly but I’m sure he’s the picture of health. No wonder all our enemies are pouncing simultaneously and mocking him publicly," the former president's son wrote.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Biden was not injured after his several stumbles.

"I know folks have seen that President Biden slipped on his way up the stairs to AF1, but I’m happy to report that he is just fine and did not even require any attention from the medical team who travels with him," she tweeted. "Nothing more than a misstep on the stairs."

Well, three.

But another Biden aide said he fell because of the wind.

"It’s pretty windy outside," Karine Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy press secretary, told reporters traveling with Biden to Georgia. "It’s very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself. He is doing 100 percent fine."

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