President Donald Trump has alleged he was the target of “three very sinister events” at United Nations headquarters during the General Assembly in New York this week, saying a halted escalator, a failed teleprompter and muted audio during his address amounted to “triple sabotage” and demanding a formal investigation that he says will involve the U.S. Secret Service. In a social media post on Wednesday, a day after his speech to world leaders, Trump wrote, “This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves,” adding that he was sending a letter to Secretary-General António Guterres and that “the Secret Service is involved.”
Video taken as the president and first lady Melania Trump entered the complex on Tuesday shows an escalator carrying the couple stopping abruptly, forcing them to climb the remaining steps. Later, opening his remarks in the General Assembly Hall, Trump told delegates, “The teleprompter is not working,” and quipped, “I can only say that whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” before continuing his speech. Afterward he said he learned “the sound was completely off” in the hall during his remarks. “All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle… These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he said.
Trump’s account escalated in tone on Wednesday. “A REAL DISGRACE took place at the United Nations yesterday — Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!” he wrote, asserting that delegates could only hear him via interpreter earpieces and describing the halted escalator as “absolutely sabotage.” “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,” he said.
The United Nations pushed back, offering a technical explanation for the escalator stoppage and distancing itself from the other complaints. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, said a review “including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit” indicated the escalator halted after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step at the top was triggered—likely by a videographer from the U.S. delegation who had moved ahead of the president to film the arrival. “The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function,” the statement said. The U.N. also noted that operation of the U.S. president’s teleprompter is handled by the White House, not U.N. staff.