A JOKE between colleagues has stopped short of causing an international incident after an escalator glitch temporarily stopped The Don.
The Secret Service has launched an investigation into the reason behind an escalator abruptly stopping the moment Trump and Melania stepped onto it on Tuesday.
ReutersMelania and Donald Trump glared over their shoulders after the escalator at the United Nations headquarters in New York City abruptly stopped[/caption]
UNTV/REUTERSEscalator at UN headquarters immediately stops as Donald Trump and wife Melania step on it shortly after arriving.[/caption]
APTrump and Melania were forced to walk up the escalator[/caption]
The probe comes after a report in The Sunday Times claimed UN workers had joked about turning the escalator off to “deliberately sabotage” the president.
The report came after awkward video footage captured the moment Melania walked in front of her husband and stepped on the escalator after he signalled for her to move forward.
Just seconds later, the stairs came to a complete stop, forcing the first lady to tightly grip the railing and keep herself from stumbling.
The seemingly simple joke between colleagues has sparked heated online criticism from Trump supporters.
Karoline Leavitt – the US Press Secretary – posted on X, saying: “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 outraged post was accompanied by screenshot of The Times article, which said “to mark Trump’s arrival, UN staff members have joked that they may turn off the escalators and elevators and simply tell him they ran out of money, so he has to walk up the stairs”.
The incident was one of several glitches that raised suspicions over whether Trump was being sabotaged by UN staff members, following his strong criticism of the institution.
When Trump took to the podium for his speech, the teleprompter wasn’t working, while the main UN audio feed to TV news channels switched over to a foreign language translation towards the end of his speech.
Leavitt weighed in further on Tuesday night, telling Fox News: “I put out a statement earlier when there was concerning reporting over the weekend from the London Times”.
“As you pointed out, the UN globalist staffers were basically plotting to set up the president of the United States,” she said.
“And first, it was the escalator, then it was the teleprompter, and then Katie Pavlich from Townhall … noticed the audio inside of the room was much lower and different for the president of the United States than the previous speakers.”
Leavitt said “when you put all of this together, it doesn’t look like a coincidence”.
“I know that we have people, including the United States Secret Service, who are looking into this to try to get to the bottom of it,” she continued.
“If we find that these were UN staffers who were purposely 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.”
The furore came after The Sunday Times reported UN staff had been overheard “joking” before the event about stunts they could pull to highlight the funding shortage faced due to the US withholding promised funds.
Since the report, the UN has since come out, saying they had solved the mystery.
The escalator probe revealed Trump’s videographer may have accidentally triggered a safety mechanism.
The ordeal began when Trump was entering the headquarters in New York City.
Fox NewsHe was forced to climb the stairs ahead of his speech[/caption]
UNTV/REUTERSThe seconds after the glitch halted the president and Melania[/caption]
AlamyHe later descended the escalator without issue[/caption]
Melania and Trump whipped their heads around to see what was going on before they walked up the stagnant stairs while an empty escalator beside them ran smoothly.
At the top of the stairs, Trump was greeted by a woman, and the first thing he said to her was, “Your escalator just broke.”
Trump later accused the global organisation of being useless after he was forced to trudge up the stairs.
Trump didn’t let go of the annoyances during his speech, later bringing them up as proof.
At one point, Trump accused the UN of merely sending “strongly worded” letters to countries in conflict instead of negotiating peace.
He also praised his own strong-arm approach and said that he was responsible for bringing seven wars to a close.
Ten bombshell quotes from Trump’s speech
“The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots.”
“If you want freedom, take pride in your country. If you want democracy, hold on to your sovereignty. And if you want peace, love your nation.”
“The UK needs to open up the North Sea and get rid of windmills. Stop relying on Russian oil and start drilling again. That’s how you save your economy.”
“London has been so changed, they want to go to Sharia Law.”
“Whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.” (This remark drew laughter from the audience.)
“If we ever use [nuclear or biological weapons], the world literally might come to an end. There would be no United Nations to be talking about. There would be no nothing.”
“It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders. Your countries are going to hell.”
“Climate change is the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”
“The United Nations has such great potential, but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!”
“Wise leaders always put the good of their own people and their own country first.”