Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Trump now says there was ‘triple sabotage’ as he demands investigation into UN escalator glitch

President rants about ‘three very sinister events’ he says he suffered during visit to body’s headquarters on Tuesday to tell world leaders Europe is ‘going to hell’ and climate change is a ‘scam’

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says Donald Trump’s UN escalator fail ‘wasn’t a coincidence’
Leer en Español

President Donald Trump lashed out at the U.N. a day after his extraordinary address to the General Assembly, claiming he was the victim of a “triple sabotage” designed to undermine his appearance and demanding an investigation.

Trump stunned world leaders on Tuesday by telling them that the U.K. and Europe “are going to hell,” taking the credit for personally bringing an end to seven wars, dismissing climate change as a “green scam,” and accusing the body of “funding an assault on Western countries and their borders” by encouraging mass migration.

However, the president appears to feel that he was the one who was ill-treated at the body’s headquarters in New York City, taking umbrage at being caught on a malfunctioning escalator and experiencing technical glitches with his teleprompter and microphone as he spoke.

Donald and Melania Trump stuggle with a broken escalator at the U.N. on Tuesday
Donald and Melania Trump stuggle with a broken escalator at the U.N. on Tuesday (AP)

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

“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. This was absolutely sabotage, as noted by a day’s earlier ‘post’ in The London Times that said UN workers ‘joked about turning off an escalator.’ The people that did it should be arrested!

“Then, as I stood before a Television crowd of millions of people all over the World, and important Leaders in the Hall, my teleprompter didn’t work. It was stone cold dark. I immediately thought to myself, ‘Wow, first the escalator event, and now a bad teleprompter. What kind of a place is this?” I then proceeded to make a Speech without a teleprompter, which kicked in about 15 minutes later. The good news is the Speech has gotten fantastic reviews. Maybe they appreciated the fact that very few people could have done what I did.”

He continued: “And third, after making the Speech, I was told that the sound was completely off in the Auditorium where the Speech was made, that World Leaders, unless they used the interpreters’ earpieces, couldn’t hear a thing. The first person I saw at the conclusion of the Speech was Melania, who was sitting right up front. I said, ‘How did I do?’ And she said, ‘I couldn’t hear a word you said.’

“This wasn’t a coincidence; this was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. I’m sending a copy of this letter to the Secretary General, and I demand an immediate investigation. No wonder the United Nations hasn’t been able to do the job that they were put in existence to do. All security tapes at the escalator should be saved, especially the emergency stop button. The Secret Service is involved.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier in the day during a guest spot on Jesse Watters’ Fox News show that the Secret Service was investigating whether the escalator was switched off deliberately, also claiming it was an act of “sabotage.”

“That’s definitely what it appears to be to me,” she said. “There was some concerning reporting over the weekend that UN globalist staffers were basically plotting to set up the president of the United States.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News host Jesse Watters she suspects foul play
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News host Jesse Watters she suspects foul play (Fox News)

“First it was the escalator, then it was the teleprompter,” Leavitt continued, saying that conservative commentator Katie Pavlich claimed to notice “that the audio inside of the room was much lower and different” for Trump than the previous speaker.

“When you put all of this together, it doesn’t look like a coincidence to me. We have people, including the United States Secret Service, looking into this to get to the bottom of it.

“If we find that these were UN staffers who were purposefully trying to trip up – literally trip up – the president and the first lady of the United States. Well, there better be accountability for those people, and I will personally see to it.”

However, according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Trump’s own videographer may have been responsible for accidentally triggering the steps’ stop mechanism.

“The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing,” Dujarric said in a statement.

“The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function.”

The late-night hosts wasted no time in making fun of the hysteria and indignation over “Escalator-gate” being stoked by right-wing media, with Stephen Colbert donning a deerstalker hat and Meerschaum pipe in tribute to Sherlock Holmes to make light of the conspiracy theorizing.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in