The White House is calling on United Nations officials to investigate whether an escalator malfunction at UN headquarters in New York was intentionally triggered as President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived Tuesday morning for his speech to the General Assembly.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement on X after a report from the Times of London suggested UN staffers had joked about sabotaging the escalators and elevators as a stunt tied to budget disputes.
“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.
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
Video from the entrance hall shows the escalator abruptly stopping just as the Trumps stepped onto it.
The first lady, wearing high heels, lurched forward when the movement ceased, though both quickly regained balance.
Rather than switch to the adjacent working escalator, the couple proceeded up the frozen steps.
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
UN spokesperson Farhan Aziz Haq told The Times the incident was caused by “the safety mechanism [being] inadvertently triggered by someone who was ahead of the president on the escalator.”
Haq added, “The escalator was immediately reset and is in operation.”
The Times of London reported that some UN staffers had discussed the idea of halting escalators and elevators to highlight funding shortages the organization has faced since Trump cut about $1 billion in U.S. contributions after taking office in January.
“One idea doing the rounds was to turn off the escalators and lifts and simply tell Trump they ran out of money, so he had to walk up the stairs,” the outlet reported.
BREAKING: The Secret Service has launched an investigation into the escalator situation at the United Nations today, per Karoline Leavitt
If someone did this intentionally, they should be CRIMINALLY charged.
It put President Trump is a VERY compromising position.
“If we… pic.twitter.com/nHJW36wCCx
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 24, 2025
In his address to the General Assembly, Trump referred to the incident with a pointed remark.
“I’ve ended seven wars, and all I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle,” he said.
“If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would’ve fallen.”
How can you not love this man.
“I ended seven wars and never even received a phone all from the UN. These are the two things I got from the UN, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.” pic.twitter.com/dW1Ql4YrJv
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) September 23, 2025
The moment also drew scrutiny from security professionals.
Former Secret Service official Rich Staropoli criticized how agents responded to the unexpected stoppage.
“This is not hard. Don’t just stand there,” Staropoli told RealClearPolitics.
Staropoli said the president’s detail should have acted more quickly to protect the first couple.
“They should have closed ranks right around there, as close as you can be,” he explained.
“Somebody’s got to make a call. We’re going to stand here like a bunch of morons, like we did in Butler. Or are we going to scoop up the first lady and POTUS and either go down or go up?”
The Butler reference was to the July 2024 rally in Pennsylvania where Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt before Secret Service agents killed the gunman.
The White House has not indicated whether it will press the UN for disciplinary action beyond Leavitt’s statement, but the incident comes at a time of heightened security awareness surrounding Trump.
With the UN acknowledging that the escalator had been disabled by human action, questions remain over whether the malfunction was accidental or part of a deliberate attempt to embarrass the president.
Through the U.N. back to where it came from-a paper idea. There are countries no more interested in peace. Oh Yes!! They are interested in a piece of the U.S. Cut the funds off!!!! It’s time for Europe to stand on its own. We are not the piggy bank of the European community. Be gone Satan!! Begone!!
We must stop being a member of the u n now. We also need to remove what’s left out of the u s and take back the land the building sits on.
Good use of it would be to provide housing for disabled and homeless vets.
It’s New York City soon to be managed by a communist mayor. There is no hope for a practical use of the building. It should be razed.