UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations believes it has resolved the mystery behind why an escalator suddenly stopped shortly after US President Donald Trump stepped onto it on Tuesday — it appears his videographer may have accidentally triggered a safety feature.
AP Amiri, U.N. official escalator in question was actually stopped prematurely by someone from Trump’s group, who ran ahead of the group & accidentally triggered a stop mechanism. teleprompter that Trump was so upset about was a being operated by Whitehouse.@RickPetree pic.twitter.com/SWAb2xReMt
— Spring because after WINTER comes 🦁hear me ROAR (@summer7570) September 23, 2025
Trump made light of the incident during his address to world leaders earlier on Tuesday, also mentioning a malfunctioning teleprompter.
“These are the two things I got from the United Nations — a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he told the 193-member assembly, prompting some laughter, reports Reuters.
🔥 The UN sabotaged Trump
They stopped the escalator the moment he & the First Lady stepped up to it & the teleprompter stopped working as soon as he was about to make his speech.
This is petty, immature & deranged. Defund the UN 🇺🇳 🔥 pic.twitter.com/dvGWszJvNB
— Lozzy B 🇦🇺𝕏 (@TruthFairy131) September 24, 2025
However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took a more serious tone.
“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,” she wrote on X following the incident.
Safety function
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric explained that a review of the escalator’s central processing unit showed it “had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator.”
At the UN today…
They stopped the escalator. Then the teleprompter wasn’t working. Both done deliberately to humiliate and throw off Pres Trump. It didnt work.
“I can only say… whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.” pic.twitter.com/1q7zocz3NA— ⚜️💎👑 Queen Katerina 👑💎⚜️ (@QueenDarbyy) September 24, 2025
He stated that Trump’s videographer had been moving backwards up the escalator in order to film his arrival alongside First Lady Melania Trump.
“The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function,” Dujarric said in a statement. “The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing.”
Big trouble
The White House has yet to respond to a request for comment on the UN’s findings.
Regarding the teleprompter, Trump remarked to the General Assembly on Tuesday: “I can only say that whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.”
However, a UN official noted that the White House had been using its own teleprompter.
After Trump concluded his remarks, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock commented: “The UN teleprompters are working perfectly.”
