In September last year, U.S. President Donald Trump encountered an incident at the United Nations headquarters in New York where the escalator suddenly stopped. He was furious and posted that this must be "intentional destruction," demanding an investigation. This year, Trump will again speak at the United Nations headquarters.
Bloomberg reported on September 22 that currently, United Nations staff are working overtime to ensure that similar incidents do not happen again, so as to not distract them from their focus on solving world issues.
United Nations Spokesperson Stefanos Demetriou on a briefing said that the United Nations elevator has gone through "multiple checks".
"Derek said that 'for the convenience of the American delegation using teleprompters, we have made new arrangements.' He also added that the US now has an independent work station,' so we hope everything will run smoothly."
On September 23, 2025, Trump went to the United Nations headquarters to give a speech, but encountered successive unexpected failures. Trump posted that he experienced three “very dangerous” incidents.
Trump said that, first of all, the escalators leading to the main speaking area suddenly stopped. If he and his wife Melania hadn’t held onto the handrails tightly, “the consequences would have been unimaginable.” Trump believed that this was definitely “intentional sabotage”.
However, the United Nations stated that the accident was caused by a White House cameraman who accidentally triggered the safety device of the escalator. At that time, in order to capture footage of the president's arrival, the cameraman from the American delegation went ahead and boarded the top of the escalator, activating the safety mechanism at the top of the escalator.
Trump also accused the microphones of malfunctioning during his speech, and they were not restored until about 15 minutes later. The United Nations explicitly denied any responsibility, stating that the relevant equipment was entirely maintained and operated by White House personnel.
In addition, after the speech, Trump was informed that there were also problems with the audio in the auditorium. Unless world leaders used headphones provided by interpreters, they would not be able to hear anything.
The United Nations explains that the audio in the lecture hall is usually turned down to a low volume, so that dignitaries from various countries can listen to the translation through headphones.
