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REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. – President Biden fell to the ground while taking a morning bike ride near his vacation home here on Saturday, and fell when it looks like his shoes got stuck in the cages of his feet as he tried to stop.
“I’m fine,” he said quickly, as Secret Service agents went to help him.
He fell as he approached a crowd waiting for him, and after reappearing, he spent a few minutes talking to the spectators and then answering some questions from reporters.
Asked about the rise in tariffs in China in light of tensions over the US economy, he joked, “I won’t talk to you on my vacation.”
He added that he plans to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping “soon” and said he is still determining what to do with tariffs.
He also said he was “happy with the progress” of gun legislation before getting on his bike and leaving.
The president and first lady, Jill Biden, are in Rehoboth Beach, where they have a vacation home, as they celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.
They both rode their bikes together on Saturday mornings on trails around Cape Henlopen State Park, but the first lady had advanced before the president fell.
It’s not the first time Biden has been spilled. He fell in December 2020 while chasing his older dog home, causing an injury that forced him to wear a medical boot for several weeks. He also stumbled as he climbed the steps of the Air Force One.
Critics use each case to raise doubts about the fitness of the nation’s oldest president, although in this case it was a fact that many cyclists who get stuck or have a cage on their feet have experienced.
“He grabbed my foot,” Biden said.
He fared better than John F. Kerry, who, in 2015, fell over a parking lot in the French Alps while being hooked and fractured a femur. That fall led to months of surgery and recovery that complicated nuclear negotiations with Iran, which Kerry led for the United States.
Biden had no visible scratches from his fall, and a White House official later said it was “okay” and that “no medical attention is needed.”
“The president hopes to spend the rest of the day with his family,” the official said.