UN Explains Escalator Glitch During Trump’s Arrival

The United Nations on Tuesday said it had identified the cause of an escalator mishap that occurred just as US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stepped onto it: the President’s videographer may have accidentally triggered a safety mechanism while walking backward to film the arrival.

Trump later joked about the incident in his address to the UN General Assembly, quipping that the organization had given him “a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” drawing laughter from delegates.

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took a harder line, writing on X that if anyone at the UN had deliberately stopped the escalator, they “need to be fired and investigated immediately.”

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said system data showed the escalator’s safety function was activated to prevent objects or people from being caught in its gearing. “The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function,” he explained.

As for the teleprompter glitch, Trump teased that “whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.” A UN official later clarified that the White House had been using its own equipment, with UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock noting afterward: “The UN teleprompters are working perfectly.”