President Donald Trump has called for an immediate investigation and arrests following what he describes as three separate incidents of sabotage during his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
The president claims a malfunctioning escalator, broken teleprompter and poor audio quality constituted deliberate acts targeting him and first lady Melania Trump during their visit to the international body.
Trump detailed his allegations in a lengthy Truth Social post, writing that the escalator incident could have resulted in serious injury to both him and the first lady.
“A REAL DISGRACE took place at the United Nations yesterday – Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!” Trump declared on his social media platform.
The president described the escalator malfunction as particularly dangerous, stating it stopped abruptly while he and Melania were ascending to the second floor.
“It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first. It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster,” Trump wrote.
Resist the Mainstream reported earlier this week that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had previously referenced a Sunday Times report suggesting UN staff joked about disabling escalators and elevators as a prank against the president.
Trump characterized the escalator incident as “absolutely sabotage” and demanded accountability for those responsible.
“The people that did it should be arrested!” the president declared in his social media statement.
The audio problems during Trump’s speech were confirmed by first lady Melania Trump, who told her husband she could not understand his remarks from her front-row seat.
“I was told that the sound was completely off in the Auditorium where the Speech was made, that World Leaders, unless they used the interpreters’ earpieces, couldn’t hear a thing,” Trump explained.
When asked about his performance immediately after the speech, Melania reportedly responded, “I couldn’t hear a word you said.”
A UN official explained to the Daily Mail that the audio system operates by design to facilitate translation services through earpieces for the six official UN languages.
“The sound system was designed to allow people at their seats to hear speeches being translated into six different languages through earpieces. It has been like this for decades,” the official stated.
The teleprompter malfunction added to Trump’s frustrations, as the device reportedly went “stone cold dark” at the beginning of his address to world leaders.
Trump delivered approximately 15 minutes of his speech without the teleprompter before it was restored to working order.
“I then proceeded to make a Speech without a teleprompter, which kicked in about 15 minutes later,” Trump recounted.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told the Daily Mail that the White House was responsible for operating the president’s teleprompter during the event.
Trump maintains these incidents were not coincidental but represented coordinated sabotage efforts against his administration.
“This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the UN,” the president asserted.
The president announced his intention to send a formal letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres requesting an investigation into the incidents.
Trump specifically requested that all security footage from the escalator area be preserved, particularly recordings of the emergency stop button activation.
The Secret Service has become involved in investigating the escalator incident, according to previous White House confirmation. However, the Daily Mail reports the Secret Service has not responded to additional requests for comment from media outlets regarding their investigation.
UN spokesperson Dujarric provided an alternative explanation for the escalator malfunction, pointing to Trump’s videographer as the likely cause.
The videographer was observed boarding the escalator several seconds before the first couple and walking backward up the steps while filming.
“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 explained.
The safety mechanism activates to prevent people or objects from becoming caught in the escalator’s gearing system.
“The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above,” Dujarric suggested.
