Leaked Emails Reveal Biden Admin Canceled Visit Over Fear of Biden Taking ‘Too Many Steps’

Newly unearthed records raise fresh questions about Joe Biden’s fitness long before his 2024 dropout

In newly released internal emails, the Biden White House canceled a 2023 visit to a major U.S. vessel because the aging president would have had to climb “too many steps.”

The revelation, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust, shows that Biden’s physical limitations were a serious consideration for his handlers—more than a year before he abruptly abandoned his re-election campaign.

The emails, circulated between the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the Department of Transportation in July 2023, reveal plans for Biden to tour a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) at a Philadelphia shipyard.

But those plans were abruptly scrapped.

“No visit to the NSMV vessel is planned after the WH realized how many steps were involved to get on the ship. {True – lots of steps on grating},” one MARAD official wrote on July 17, 2023.

A day later, Department of Transportation officials were still trying to piece together what happened, noting that no one from the White House had actually coordinated with MARAD directly.

The decision came just weeks after Biden’s now-infamous June 1, 2023, stumble and fall at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs. White House spokespeople at the time insisted he simply tripped over a sandbag and was “fine.”

But behind closed doors, the president’s team was quietly editing his schedule to avoid physical challenges, according to the watchdog group.

“This is amateur hour,” Protect the Public’s Trust Director Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital. “You don’t plan a major presidential visit to one of the nation’s most important shipyards without looping in the very agency running projects there. And worse, you’re crossing events off the list because the president can’t handle stairs. That’s a problem.”

Chamberlain added, “Voters want a Commander-in-Chief who can sprint to the Situation Room in an emergency—not someone whose staff is choreographing his schedule to avoid steps.”

Publicly, the Biden White House dismissed any suggestion the president was struggling. Then-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre bristled at repeated questions about his age and stamina, rattling off his “Unity Agenda” and “bipartisan accomplishments” like the Cancer Moonshot initiative.

Privately, however, event planners were taking no chances. According to the emails, multiple teams considered “accessibility” and “security” when vetting shipyard events—a clear sign the president’s physical ability factored into decision-making.

Republican operatives now say the 2023 emails are just the latest proof Biden’s health was an open secret in Washington.

“First it’s the falls, then the short walks to Marine One, and now avoiding ships because of steps? It’s no wonder Democrats panicked in 2024,” said GOP strategist Carl Whitmore. “Trump’s walking up Air Force One stairs two at a time, while Biden’s team is calculating step counts like it’s a fitness tracker.”

A former Biden aide called the controversy “manufactured,” accusing Protect the Public’s Trust of “fixating on steps to distract from President Trump’s economic policies and his connections to wealthy elites.”

But the facts remain: the ship visit was canceled—because Biden’s team decided the steps were too much.

In 2025, under President Trump, the optics couldn’t be clearer: Biden’s critics say he wasn’t fit for duty long before voters were told the truth.