Trump Says UN Escalator Outage Was ‘Absolutely Sabotage’

US President Donald Trump has demanded arrests following an abrupt escalator malfunction at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, which occurred as he and First Lady Melania Trump stepped onto it.

The unexpected escalator failure, which nearly caused the First Lady to stumble, was the first of at least three disruptions the 79-year-old president reported experiencing during his visit to address world leaders and diplomats at the UN General Assembly in New York.

“A REAL DISGRACE took place at the United Nations yesterday — Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“First, the escalator going up to the Main Speaking Floor came to a screeching halt. It stopped on a dime. 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,” the president elaborated. Video footage captured Melania Trump visibly lurching forward when the escalator stopped.

Trump claimed the escalator incident was “absolutely sabotage,” referencing a Times of London report suggesting UN staffers were overheard joking about turning off the escalator to make him walk.

“The people that did it should be arrested!” the president exclaimed, calling for an “immediate investigation” and the preservation of “all security tapes at the escalator, especially the emergency stop button.” He noted that the Secret Service is involved.

A UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, indicated that a member of the US delegation might have unintentionally caused the stop.

Dujarric explained that a videographer from the US delegation stepped onto the escalator before the President and First Lady “in an effort to document their arrival.” As the videographer, moving backward, reached the top, the escalator halted.

“A subsequent investigation… 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 clarified. “The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above.”

Trump asserted that the mechanical issue was followed by two additional “sinister events.” His teleprompter failed during his speech, and he claimed that those in the auditorium without earpieces could not hear his remarks.

“It was stone cold dark,” Trump said of the teleprompter. “I immediately thought to myself, ‘Wow, first the escalator event, and now a bad teleprompter. What kind of a place is this?’” He mentioned the teleprompter “kicked in about 15 minutes later.”

The president said he discovered the audio issue after his speech when he asked Melania, “How did I do?”

“And she said, ‘I couldn’t hear a word you said,’” the president recalled.

In concluding his remarks, Trump stated, “This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli