The United Nations has broken silence on the escalator mishap during US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s visit.
According to Al Jazeera, following the White House’s “sabotage” claims and Trump’s sarcastic jab on escalator malfunction, the UN issued a statement to deny all the allegations.
Trump, on Tuesday, September 23, visited the UN New York headquarters along with the First Lady for his UN General Assembly speech.
Shortly before his address, when the US president and Melania stepped on the escalator, it stopped abruptly, forcing them to walk up the escalator.
A controversy sparked after the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X, “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."
Following the buzz about intentional malfunction, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, in a statement, clarified that the mishap was caused by a videographer from Trump’s delegation.
Dujarric stated, “A subsequent investigation, including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit, indicated that the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator.”
“The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects from accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing. The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above,” he added.
Furthermore, Trump, during his speech, also talked about the mishap, saying that he got two things from the UN: “a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter”, adding that if the first lady was not in great shape, she would have fallen.
