The White House has suggested that UN staffers were behind a broken escalator that forced U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to climb it on foot.
Ahead of his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump ran into trouble entering the building after an escalator stopped working.
He later complained about the issue during his one-hour speech, meant to last 15 minutes, and the fact his teleprompter wasn’t working at the start of the assembly.
Highlights
- The White House accused UN staff of intentionally stopping a White House escalator to embarrass President Trump and the first lady.
- Trump complained during his UN speech about a broken escalator and a non-working teleprompter.
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt demanded an investigation and firings if UN staff were behind the escalator incident.
- UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric denied any sabotage, blaming a video crew member for triggering the escalator's safety stop.
Donald and Melania Trump had to walk up a broken escalator
Image credits: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt quickly addressed the issue on X, pointing to an article in The Times that suggested UN staffers could sabotage and humiliate Trump.
“To mark Trump’s arrival, UN staff members have joked that they may turn off the escalators and elevators and simply tell him they ran out of money, so he has to walk up the stairs,” the article, published on Sunday, read.
Leavitt called for an investigation into the incident and said if a UN staff member was involved, they must be fired.
“If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately,” she said.
In a later interview with Fox News on Tuesday evening, Leavitt added, “If we find that these were UN and staffers who were purposefully trying to trip up, literally trip up the President and the First Lady of the United States, well, there better be accountability for those people, and I will personally see to it.”
Trump also brought up both issues during his speech, which broadly targeted European nations over immigration and accused the UN of “funding an assault on Western countries.”
The president also described climate change as a “hoax” and said UN global warming predictions were made by “stupid people.”
Image credits: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
“Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” Trump said at one point.
He then continued to link the teleprompter issue to the broken escalator.
“I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations,” Trump said.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape.”
Trump fumed about the escalator during his UN speech
Image credits: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
“These are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much,” Trump added.
The UN has blamed Trump’s videographer for the broken escalator and the White House for problems with his teleprompter.
In a statement to The Guardian, Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary General António Guterres, denied any conspiracy targeting Trump, placing the blame on his own team.
“A subsequent investigation, including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit, indicated that the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator,” Dujarric said.
Dujarric said that a videographer filming Trump and Melania’s arrival “may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above.”
“Regarding the teleprompter, we have no comment since the teleprompter for the U.S. president is operated by the White House,” Dujarric added.