President Joe Biden’s fell on the graduation stage at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs after greeting the graduates with salutes and handshakes.
Then the president turned to go back to his seat, tripped, stumbled and fell to the ground after tripping over a sandbag.
Secret Service agents and an Air Force officer swept in to help him up .
Biden, at 80, is the oldest serving president in U.S. history.
“He’s fine,” tweeted White House communications director Ben LaBolt.
“There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands.”
The sandbags were there to support the teleprompter.
President Joe Biden thanked U.S. Air Force Academy graduates for choosing “service over self” but said they now have the “great privilege” of leading in a world that will only get more confusing in the years to come.
“Graduates, you made a noble choice to lead a life of service,” Biden told more than 900 cadets.
“Now you also shoulder a great privilege and a mighty responsibility. Leadership, yeah leadership.”
“In the years ahead, your airmen and guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration because the world is going to get more confusing,” he added. “They’ll put their trust in you. You, in turn, must strive to always be worthy of their confidence.”
