President Donald Trump appeared to laugh it off Tuesday when an escalator and a teleprompter both malfunctioned during his United Nations visit — but for US officials it was no laughing matter.
The White House called for an investigation into whether the moving stairway was stopped on purpose to humiliate the US president, who bashed the global body in his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York.
“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,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X.
A UN spokesman told AFP the mishap happened because someone in front of Trump accidentally set off a safety mechanism on the escalator, causing it to shut down.
However, Leavitt pointed to a report in the Times of London newspaper on Sunday saying that UN staff members had joked that they would turn off the escalators and “tell him they ran out of money” amid sweeping US funding cuts.
Several other White House figures and conservative commentators also speculated about a plot against Trump.
Footage showed the 79-year-old president and First Lady Melania Trump getting on the escalator at UN headquarters, before it stopped with a lurch after a short distance.
Trump’s bad luck continued when his teleprompter was not working for the start of the speech.
“Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” said Trump.
He then went on to — apparently jokingly — link the two incidents to what he said were the UN’s multiple failings, including a lack of support for his peace efforts in a series of conflicts.
“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.”
He added: “These are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much.”
But the United Nations insisted there were simple explanations for it all.
“The safety mechanism was inadvertently triggered by someone who was ahead of the president on the escalator,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, told AFP.
The escalator was “reset” and was soon back in operation, he said.
“Regarding the teleprompter, we have no comment since the teleprompter for the US president is operated by the White House,” Dujarric said.
AFP reporters said escalators at the UN headquarters in New York were frequently out of order.
