Donald Trump accused UN employees: "This is not a coincidence, this is triple sabotage"

US President Donald Trump accused UN staff of "triple sabotage" during his visit to the General Assembly on September 23, 2025 in New York and demanded an immediate investigation with arrests of those responsible. In a post on Truth Social platform, Trump described the incidents as "absolute sabotage": an escalator stopping, teleprompter failure, and sound problems in the General Assembly hall. "The escalator stopped with a screech as soon as Melania and I stepped on it, the teleprompter went dark, and the sound disappeared – this is not a coincidence, this is triple sabotage at the UN! Those who did this need to be arrested!" – wrote Trump, referring to The Sunday Times article about UN staff joking about turning off escalators due to US funding cuts. The White House confirmed: Trump sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres demanding an investigation and preservation of camera recordings near the emergency stop button.

The incident occurred during the arrival of Trump and First Lady Melania Trump: the escalator at UN headquarters suddenly froze, forcing the couple to climb up on foot. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric explained: "The built-in safety mechanism was accidentally triggered – probably by a videographer from Trump's delegation who was walking backward and pressed the button." Trump, however, did not believe this: in his speech to the General Assembly, he joked that "these failures made my speech more interesting," but later in his post connected them to "jokes" by UN staff about "turning off escalators due to lack of money from the US." White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt added: "If someone at the UN deliberately stopped the escalator, they should be fired and investigated immediately."

The US Secret Service has already begun an investigation, and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield demanded "full results of the UN's internal investigation." This is not the first "escalator-gate": in 2017, Trump accused the media of fake photos with the golden escalator in Trump Tower. The UN, in turn, rejected the sabotage claim, noting: "This is a technical malfunction, not a conspiracy." The incident occurred against the backdrop of a 20% cut to the UN budget by the Trump administration, which increased tensions.