The White House sharply criticized the United Nations after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were forced to walk up a broken escalator at the UN headquarters in Manhattan.
The incident occurred just before Trump delivered a combative address to world leaders on Tuesday.
According to reports, the escalator suddenly stopped as the couple entered the building, forcing them to climb the steps.
The malfunction immediately drew scrutiny from the White House.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt cited a Times report that said UN staff had “joked” about cutting power to escalators and elevators to inconvenience Trump.
The reported prank suggested they could claim the organization had “run out of money” while leaving the president to walk.
“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 in a post on X.
Trump himself mocked the mishap during his remarks.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator on the way up that stopped in the middle,” he said. “If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would’ve fallen.”
The escalator breakdown set the stage for Trump’s hour-long address, in which he repeatedly attacked the UN and its policies.
His speech, originally scheduled for 15 minutes, focused heavily on immigration, energy, climate change and global conflicts.
Trump accused the UN of “funding an assault on the West” by providing financial support to migrants.
“The United Nations is funding an assault on Western countries and their borders,” he declared.
“The UN is supporting people that are illegally coming into the United States.”
He said the organization should defend nations from invasions, not “create them and not finance them.”
Calling migration the most urgent issue of the time, Trump warned: “Your countries are being ruined by uncontrolled immigration.”
Turning to Europe, he added: “Europe is in serious trouble.”
“They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like no one has ever seen before. And nobody’s doing anything to change it, to get them out.”
Trump criticized leaders for refusing to act due to political correctness.
“It’s not sustainable. And because they choose to be politically correct they’re doing absolutely nothing about it,” he said.
He singled out London and its mayor, Sadiq Khan.
“I look at London where you have a terrible mayor and it’s been so changed,” the president said.
“Now they want to go to Sharia law but you’re in a different country, you can’t do that.”
The Daily Mail noted that Khan’s office dismissed the remarks, stating: “We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response.”
“London is the greatest city in the world, safer than major US cities, and we’re delighted to welcome the record number of US citizens moving here.”
Throughout the speech, Trump returned to his record, boasting that he had ended seven wars.
He listed peace agreements involving Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Ethiopia and Serbia and Kosovo.
“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 offering to help in finalizing the deal,” Trump said.
He asked pointedly, “What is the purpose of the United Nations? All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter. It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war.”
