White House calls for probe into Trump's UN mishaps

UNITED NATIONS: President Donald Trump appeared to laugh off Tuesday when an escalator and a teleprompter both malfunctioned during his United Nations visit - but US officials saw it differently.

The White House said an investigation had been launched into whether the moving stairway was deliberately stopped to humiliate the president, who later criticised the global body in his UN General Assembly speech in New York.

"If we find that UN staffers were purposefully trying to trip up, literally, the President and the First Lady, there better be accountability," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. "I will personally see to it."


A UN spokesman, however, said the escalator stopped because someone in front of Trump accidentally triggered a safety mechanism. Leavitt cited a Times of London report noting that UN staff had joked about turning off the escalators amid US funding cuts. Several other White House officials and conservative commentators speculated about a plot.

Footage showed the 79-year-old president and First Lady Melania Trump stepping onto the escalator at UN headquarters before it abruptly halted after a short distance.

Trump's teleprompter also malfunctioned at the start of his speech. "Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble," he said.

He humorously linked the two incidents to what he called the UN's broader failings. "I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each of these countries, and never received a phone call from the UN," Trump said. "All I got from the UN was an escalator that stopped mid-way. If the First Lady wasn't in great shape, she would have fallen. We're both in good shape. These are the two things I got from the UN: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much."