President Donald Trump delivered fiery remarks in front of the UN General Assembly Tuesday morning – but not before an escalator stalled and his teleprompter stopped working.
Technical Difficulties
Upon arriving at United Nations headquarters in New York City, the president and first lady attempted to get on an escalator that promptly broke down. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later shared on X an article from UK paper The Times last week, in which the outlet reported UN staffers were joking about interfering with the Trumps’ travel plans.
“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 Times reported.
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has been working to revamp U.S. foreign aid programs, cutting billions in funding and canceling thousands of contracts across the government.
Leavitt called for an investigation, saying if someone intentionally stopped that escalator, that person needs to be fired. A UN spokesperson responded that the issue was not the result of an intentional act, but rather a “safety mechanism” that was “inadvertently triggered by someone who was ahead of the president on the escalator.”
Video of the moment does show a few people riding ahead of the president and first lady on the escalator, though it is unclear who they were and whether what the UN says happened is true.
Secret Service Backlash
The Secret Service is also taking heat for the incident. RealClearPolitics investigative reporter Susan Crabtree, who covers the agency, posted on X that “the stalled escalator with President Trump and First Lady Melania stuck on it was a classic setup for an assassination hit, yet the Secret Service barely noticed and didn’t pull POTUS and FLOTUS off the suddenly stopped stairs, Secret Service sources warn.”
Sources in the Secret Service community told Crabtree they are “very concerned about what they witnessed from fellow agents today when President Trump was stalled and vulnerable.” She noted that it is “a similar critique to the Secret Service’s delayed response and getting Trump off stage after a bullet grazed his ear” at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
Open Investigation
During an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night, Press Secretary Leavitt revealed that the Secret Service is now investigating the matter.
“[Also], the audio inside of the room was much lower and different for the president of the United States than the previous speaker. So when you put all of this together [teleprompter, escalator], it doesn’t look like a coincidence to me,” she told Jesse Watters. “And I know that we have people, including the United States Secret Service, who are looking into this to try to get to the bottom of it.”
The escalator incident combined with the faulty teleprompter only added fuel to President Trump’s speech, which took sharp aim at the very existence of the United Nations.
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