White House adds ‘tricky’ steps to ‘windy’ weather as reason for Biden’s triple tumble on Air Force One

Administration has refused to confirm whether the president was examined by a doctor

The commander in chief of the United States was tripped up by a set of particularly “tricky” steps when he fell three times boarding Air Force One, according to the White House.

Press secretary Jen Psaki added the set of stairs to the growing list of reasons behind President Joe Biden's fall after her deputy first blamed the breeze at Joint Base Andrew.

“He’s 100 per cent fine, I don’t know if you’ve been up those steps, they’re a little tricky sometimes, but he’s doing great," Ms Paski said.

Mr Biden, who at 78 is America's oldest president, fell three times before recovering to give a salute at the top of the stairs before take off on Friday.

Shortly after the fall, deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters that the president was doing "100 per cent" fine.

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“It's pretty windy outside. It's very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself," Ms Jean-Pierre said.

Despite maintaining that the president suffered zero per cent injury, the White House refused to confirm whether or not he was examined by a doctor following the fall.

While Ms Paski told reporters on Monday that while she wasn't aware of Mr Biden needing any treatment, she pointed out that a doctor travels with the president at all times.

“I’m not aware of it needing actual extensive medical attention,” she said.

When pressed, specifically, if that was a yes or a not as to the question, Ms Psaki avoided a direct response.

“Was it no? Well, I’m not trying to be, there’s a doctor who travels with him, he was walking around as you all saw by the end of the day, so I’m just trying to be completely transparent," she said.

"He’s absolutely fine, as he was on Friday, was this weekend, he spent the weekend at Camp David. He’s good.”

The triple tumble comes amid question over the septuagenarian fitness for office after confusing his vice president as “President Harris”.

Half of Americans were “not confident” that Mr Biden was “physically and mentally up to the job”, with a third concerned he hasn’t held a press conference, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

The White House announced Mr Biden’s first press conference will be held on his 65th day in office on 25 March.

Mr Biden’s fall comes after he suffered a hairline fracture in his right foot playing with dog Major in November, which required him to wear a boot for weeks.

“I got out of the shower. I got a dog and anybody who’s been around my house knows — dropped, little pup dropped a ball in front of me. And for me to grab the ball,” Mr Biden said at the time.

“I’m walking through this little alleyway to get to the bedroom. And I grabbed the ball like this and he ran. And I’m joking, running after him and grab his tail. And what happened was that he slid on a throw rug. And I tripped on the rug he slid on. That’s what happened.”

Presidential precariousness became a campaign issue during the 2020 election after Donald Trump’s awkward walk down a slight ramp at the West Point military academy.

While it may have been relegated to a footnote of the election cycle, Mr Trump spent several days defending the walk during campaign rallies and media interviews after receiving sustained criticism.

"Look at how [Donald Trump] steps and look how I step,” Mr Biden said at the time. “Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps.”