Escalator suddenly halted, teleprompter stopped during speech, Donald Trump’s UNGA address marred with incidents, probe launched

US President Donald Trump’s visit to the United Nations headquarters to deliver his address was surrounded by bizarre ‘technical mishaps’, which prompted the White House to demand an investigation. Trump was on his way to deliver his UN address on Tuesday (23rd September), accompanied by the First Lady, Melania, when the escalator he used suffered an abrupt halt as soon as he and the First Lady stepped on it. As a result, Trump and Melania had to climb the steps of the dysfunctional escalator. As per latest reports, the Secret Service has launched a probe into the escalator malfunction at the UN headquarters. Watching it again – this was remarkably dangerous. If someone in the building wanted Trump assassinated this would have been a great way to freeze him. The UN needs to go. PNG the diplomats, seize the property, turn it into a new Trump hotel pic.twitter.com/VM8P36E6Xr— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) September 23, 2025 Another ‘technical glitch’ happened during Trump’s address at the UN when a teleprompter he was using suddenly stopped working. Commenting on the escalator mishap, Trump said, “…on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the First Lady weren’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape.” On the teleprompter malfunction, the Trump jokingly remarked, “Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble”. At the UN, Trump’s teleprompter failed—and he didn’t miss a beat. Imagine Biden in that spot. @POTUS: "I don't mind making this speech without a teleprompter — because the teleprompter is not working… I can only say that whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big… pic.twitter.com/l6456SAJ0l— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) September 23, 2025 “I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations. All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle,” said the US President, taking a dig at the United Nations. TRUMP: "I ended seven wars … I never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help…""These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much." pic.twitter.com/3SeYZVwmiY— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 23, 2025 Trump, however, continued his address without the teleprompter’s help and made it a point to mention it. White House flagged concerns of a possible conspiracy While Trump brushed off the two incidents with humour, the White House has taken a serious note of the incidents, particularly after The Times reported that the UN staffers had previously joked about cutting off escalators and the elevators when Trump arrived, saying they would tell him the organisation had “run out of money”. Flagging concerns of a possible security breah, the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the incident “unacceptable” and suggested it may not have been an innocent glitch. “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,” Leavitt wrote on X. 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.The Times reported this on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/NitsWbGYG0— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) September 23, 2025 Claiming that the audio level during Trump’s speech was lower compared to the previous speaker, Leavitt linked the incidents to a possible conspiracy. “The audio inside the room was much lower and different for the president of the United States than for the previous speaker. So when you put all of this together, it doesn’t look like a coincidence to me.  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,” Leavitt told Fox News. UN blames Trump’s videographer for the escalator mishap Hours after the video of Trump and Melania climbing the stopped escalator went viral on social media, the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric issued a statement, rejecting the claims of a conspiracy. Dujarric clarified that the escalator stopped “after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator”. Dujarric’s clarification was reportedly based on the data from the escalator’s central processing unit. She said that Trump’s videographer might have accidentally activated the safety function of the escalator while climbing backwards up the escalator to capture the visuals of the arrival of the US President and the First Lady. “The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing,” Dujarric was quoted as saying by Reuters. Trump supporters, in the meanwhile, have been p