Trump's videographer might have caused UN escalator to stop as the president stepped onto it, United Nations spokesperson says

In his recent UNGA speech, President Donald Trump complained about a non-functioning escalator and a faulty teleprompter. Trump reportedly used these examples to further corroborate bigger complaints about the United Nations. During the speech, the United States President stated,

"These are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter."

For the unversed, according to reports, the escalator stopped functioning when he arrived at the UN headquarters on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. Later, UN issued a statement about the broken teleprompter. According to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, the escalator possibly stopped after Trump's videographer triggered the "built-in safety mechanism." In a statement, Dujarric said,

"The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function. The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing."

He said that the videographer was traveling backwards up the elevator, trying to capture the President with his partner Melania Trump. Reuters confirmed that as of now, no official statement has been received by the White House. Meanwhile, videos capturing the elevator getting stuck with Trump and Melania standing on, have been going viral on social media.

Eventually, Donald Trump and his entire team of officials and staff had to walk up the elevator, since it did not resume working.

Donald Trump made remarks about the apparently broken teleprompter during his speech

As previously mentioned, it was not just the malfunctioning elevator that bothered President Trump, but also an allegedly broken teleprompter. According to reports by The Times Of India, at one point during his speech before several world leaders, Trump addressed the alleged teleprompter issue and said,

"I don’t mind speaking without a teleprompter because that way, you speak more from the heart... I can only say that whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble."

According to Reuters, a UN official later claimed that the teleprompter was being operated by officials from the White House. Once the US President was done speaking, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock confirmed that all the UN teleprompters were working absolutely fine.

As for the malfunctioning elevator situation, while Trump's remarks was treated in a seemingly humorous manner at the assembly, it seemingly did not have a light impact on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. In a tweet, Leavitt wrote,

"If someone at the U.N. intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately."

While talking about the non-functional elevator, on Tuesday, Trump recalled the time in the 2010s when he allegedly wanted to renovate the UN headquarters but failed. According to the President, he wanted marble floors but instead terrazzo floors were selected. This also was Donald Trump's first address at the general assembly, since his tenure began in January 2025.

According to the reports by The Financial Express, it was not uncommon for escalators and elevators at the UN to stop functioning. The outlet that they were often non-functional in the UN offices in New York and Geneva, to save money.