Joe Biden is helped by his wife Jill Biden
(Picture: REUTERS)US President Joe Biden struggled to put on his jacket and then his aviator sunglasses dropped from his face in an awkward moment after visiting flood-stricken Kentucky.
A video shows Biden failing to put one arm into a navy jacket while stepping off the Air Force One, before walking to his wife, Jill Biden, for help.
Once she helped him put the jacket on, his sunglasses fell off his face and onto the ground.
The couple were making their way from Marine One to board Air Force One as they departed Lexington, Kentucky.
Biden,79, had been visiting families affected by devestated floods, in what was his first trip since contracting Covid-19.
He had been isolating in the White House for two weeks until Sunday.
He was deemed fit to safely return to public engagement and presidential travel by his physician.
The president and first lady met with first responders and families who had lost homes on Monday after the worst flooding in the state’s history in late July.
President Biden struggles to put on his blazer before dropping his trademark Aviators pic.twitter.com/6t0oQFw0H2
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 8, 2022
Biden has been praised for visiting the state of Kentucky before senator Mitch McConnell did.
The president continues to test negative for Covid but is suffering its lingering effects, the White House press office said on Tuesday, after he coughed repeatedly through a speech on the South Lawn.
He spoke to dozens of Congress members as well as business executives and members of his Cabinet before signing a $53 billion bill aimed at boosting the US semiconductor industry.
His persistent congestion forced him to stop the speech at several points to turn aside and cough into his hand or sip water.
“The president tested negative for Covid yesterday and this morning,” the press office told the White House pool, soon after the speech ended.
Biden used to have asthma, Ashish Jha, the Covid-19 coordinator, told reporters in July, and has “reactive airway disease”.
This means he is prone to getting “a little bit of bronchospasm,” or cough. He relied on an albuterol inhaler to alleviate his cough during his illness, and has previously used an inhaler while he had a cold, he said.
