(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The White House is demanding a formal investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s Tuesday appearance at the United Nations was sabotaged by rogue staffers.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made the call after some escalators at the UN abruptly stopped working as Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stepped onto them. Moments later, Trump’s teleprompter failed as he prepared to deliver his remarks.
“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,” Leavitt wrote on X.
She also posted a screenshot of a Times of London report noting that staffers had joked about cutting the escalator and elevator to force Trump to walk up the stairs.
The Times reported Sunday—two days before Trump’s speech—that jokes were aimed at highlighting that the UN was running out of cash because “the Trump administration was withholding cash.”
Just like clockwork, the escalators were shut down seconds after the first lady stepped onto them, causing her to stumble.
This is insane…
As Trump arrived to the UN, the escalator stopped working the moment he stepped on it.
Then the teleprompter stopped working the moment he got up to the podium to speak. pic.twitter.com/XBTgfr6zJ8
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) September 23, 2025
Trump flipped the script, using the botched stunt to ridicule the UN instead.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle,” Trump stated. “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. We both stood.”
The president continued: “These are the two things I got from the United Nations — a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much. And by the way, it’s working now. Just went on. Thank you.”
In response to the backlash, Farhan Aziz Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, insisted the incidents were accidental.
“Regarding the escalator: The safety mechanism was inadvertently triggered by someone who was ahead of the president on the escalator,” Haq claimed, according to the Times. “The escalator was immediately reset and is in operation.”
He added, “Regarding the teleprompter, we have no comment since we don’t operate that teleprompter. The interpretation audio was heard when a non-official interpreter pressed the wrong button, which briefly allowed a non-UN interpreter to be heard.”
