White House calls for probe into Trump's escalator incident
President Donald Trump seemed to laugh it off on Tuesday when both an escalator and a teleprompter malfunctioned during his United Nations visit — but for US officials, it was far from a laughing matter.
The White House called for an investigation into whether the moving stairway was stopped on purpose to humiliate the US president, who bashed the global body in his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
"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," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X.
A UN spokesman told AFP the mishap happened because someone in front of Trump accidentally set off a safety mechanism on the escalator, causing it to shut down.
However, Leavitt pointed to a report in the Times of London newspaper on Sunday saying that UN staff members had joked that they would turn off the escalators and "tell him they ran out of money" amid sweeping US funding cuts.
Several other White House figures and conservative commentators also speculated about a plot against Trump.
Footage showed the 79-year-old president and First Lady Melania Trump getting on the escalator at UN headquarters, before it stopped with a lurch after a short distance.
Trump's bad luck continued when his teleprompter was not working for the start of the speech.
"Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble," said Trump.
He then went on to -- apparently jokingly -- link the two incidents to what he said were the UN's multiple failings, including a lack of support for his peace efforts in a series of conflicts.
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