A Secret Service agent stands at the bottom of the stairs while President Joe Biden boards Air Force One – even via the shorter stairs — in order to ensure that the president does not fall.
According to a report from The New York Times, Biden has almost exclusively used the shorter stairs since he tripped on a sandbag during a graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy — and in recent weeks, Secret Service agents have taken to guarding the base of the stairs while the president is on them.
WATCH:
According to The New York Times, a Secret Service agent is now "positioned at the bottom of the stairs" — even the short stairs — whenever Biden boards or disembarks to make sure he doesn't trip. pic.twitter.com/FNlGYMvawQ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 17, 2024
From the NYT piece:
Even the way Mr. Biden walks to the presidential aircraft is subject to careful management. The president started taking a short flight of stairs directly into the belly of Air Force One, rather than a tall stairway wheeled up to a higher point on the plane, after he tripped and fell over a sandbag during a commencement ceremony this past summer. Now, there is a Secret Service agent positioned at the bottom of the stairs when he disembarks.
The NYT report, titled “Inside Biden’s Protective White House,” detailed a number of other steps that White House staffers have taken to protect Biden — giving him cheat sheets so he’ll know who to call on at press conferences; abruptly ending events and turning up the music so that Biden won’t be able to hear or answer questions from the press; and forgoing traditional interviews (like the pre-Super Bowl spot) entirely.
And despite the Biden-Harris campaign promise to be the most transparent administration in history, the NYT refers to the Biden White House as “cloistered,” adding that in recent years, “some of Mr. Biden’s key aides have gone from letting ‘Joe be Joe’ to wrapping a presidential cocoon around him that is intended to shield him from verbal slips and physical stumbles.”