U.S. President Donald Trump, while traveling on the 23rd (local time) for his first United Nations General Assembly speech in six years, experienced an escalator stoppage while riding with his wife, First Lady Melania. Startled, they looked back and eventually walked up the escalator. In response, White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on X (formerly Twitter) that "if someone at the U.N. intentionally stopped it when the president and the first lady were on the escalator, they should be fired immediately and investigated."
The mishaps continued at the podium in the assembly hall. When it was Trump's turn to speak, the teleprompter malfunctioned and did not work. Taking the podium, Trump complained, saying, "The only things I got from the U.N. were an escalator that stopped while going up and a broken teleprompter," adding, "If the first lady had not been in good shape, she would have fallen."
As the controversy continued, U.N. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement, "A check of the controller logs showed that a safety device embedded in the comb step at the top of the escalator activated and stopped it."
Some argued it was a deliberate expression of dissatisfaction over Trump's post-inauguration withdrawals from international organizations and cuts and suspensions to related budgets. An article in The Times reported on the 21st said it included comments that "U.N. staff joked about stopping the escalators and elevators to coincide with President Trump's arrival and telling him the budget had run out so he had to walk up."