U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) on Sept. 23, 2025 in New York City.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he was the victim of a “triple sabotage” at the United Nations a day earlier, where an escalator, teleprompter and microphone all failed to work for him.
“A REAL DISGRACE took place at the United Nations yesterday — Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the UN,” wrote Trump, whose post was tweeted by the White House.
Trump, who said he was sending his post to U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to demand an investigation, wrote that an escalator he and First Lady Melania Trump were boarding at the U.N. on Tuesday “came to a screeching halt” as he headed to make a speech to the General Assembly.
“It stopped on a dime. It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first,” Trump wrote. “It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster.”
“All security tapes at the escalator should be saved, especially the emergency stop button. The Secret Service is involved,” he wrote.
U.S. President Donald Trump (C) and first lady Melania Trump (R) walk up an escalator as they arrive to the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Then, Trump’s teleprompter did not work for the first portion of that speech, forcing him to read from paper for 15 minutes until the machine kicked in.
“The good news is the Speech has gotten fantastic reviews,” Trump wrote. “Maybe they appreciated the fact that very few people could have done what I did.”
But unfortunately for some people in the room, the president noted, “after making the Speech, I was told that the sound was completely off in the Auditorium where the Speech was made.”
“World Leaders, unless they used the interpreters’ earpieces, couldn’t hear a thing,” Trump wrote.
“The first person I saw at the conclusion of the Speech was Melania, who was sitting right up front. I said, ‘How did I do?’ “
“And she said, ‘I couldn’t hear a word you said.'”
A UN official told the Associated Press on Tuesday that a person traveling with Trump inadvertently hit the stop lever on the escalator.
Trump’s post on Wednesday noted that The Times, a British newspaper, over the weekend reported that U.N. employees “joked about turning off an escalator” before his appearance there.
“The people that did it should be arrested!, Trump wrote.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 23, 2025.
Mike Segar | Reuters
“I’m sending a copy of this letter to the Secretary General, and I demand an immediate investigation,” Trump wrote.
“No wonder the United Nations hasn’t been able to do the job that they were put in existence to do.”
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for Secretary-General Guterres, in a statement late Wednesday, said, “This evening, the Secretary-General received correspondence from the Permanent Mission of the United States to the United Nations regarding events that transpired during President Trump’s visit to UN headquarters on 23 September.”
“The Secretary-General informed the US Permanent Mission that he had already ordered a thorough investigation, and he conveyed that the UN is ready to cooperate in full transparency with relevant US authorities on this matter to determine what caused the incidents referred to by the United States,” Dujarric said.
