US President Donald Trump's visit to the United States headquarters in New York was reportedly marred by a malfunctioning escalator and a broken teleprompter, prompting the White House to demand an investigation into the UN staff. Trump was among many world leaders gathered to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2025. According to Reuters, the president, along with his wife, Melania Trump, and their Secret Service agents, was seen at the entrance hall of the United Nations headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, when the escalator incident occurred. A video of the incident showed the escalator stopping as soon as Melania and Trump stepped on it. The clip showed Melania Trump slightly lurching forward as the escalator came to a sudden halt. The couple continued climbing the apparently malfunctioning escalator instead of taking the adjacent one that appeared to be functioning, as seen in the clip. Afterwards, Trump's teleprompter reportedly malfunctioned while he was addressing 193 foreign dignitaries at the assembly. This, along with the escalator issue, led Trump to joke about the technical difficulties he faced during his speech, saying:“These are the two things I got from the United Nations - a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter."Additionally, the president said that whoever was operating the teleprompter was "in big trouble." He also spoke more about the escalator incident, adding that he “ended seven wars” and that “all I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle.” Furthermore, he said his wife would have fallen when the escalator stopped if she had not been in "great shape."Trump's White House staff demands an investigation into the UN staff following the escalator incidentKaroline Leavitt, the White House's press secretary, recently said she and the Secret Service were looking into the recent malfunctions President Donald Trump experienced at the United Nations General Assembly. On September 23, Leavitt posted on X an article from The Times, dated September 21, 2025, which reported that UN staff had joked about wanting to turn off the escalators and elevators to make Trump climb the stairs. The press secretary added that if someone had "intentionally stopped" the escalator, then that person should be fired and investigated.Karoline Leavitt @PressSecLINKIf 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. The Times reported this on Sunday.Furthermore, Leavitt called for accountability if people deliberately caused the malfunctions at the UN when she appeared on Fox News with Jesse Watters, adding:"If we find that these were UN staffers, who are purposely trying to trip up - literally trip up - the president and the first lady of the United States? There better be accountability for those people and I will personally see to it."So when you put all of this together [teleprompter, escalator], it doesn't look like a coincidence to me. And I know that we have people, including the United States Secret Service, who are looking into this to try to get to the bottom of it."UN staff claim the president's videographer triggered the escalator's built-in safety mechanismMeanwhile, UN staff claim the escalator suddenly stopped after a videographer on the president's team accidentally triggered the built-in safety mechanism. According to Reuters, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated that the escalator stopped "after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator."Dujarric added that a videographer had been moving backward up the escalator to record Trump and his wife's arrival and might have "inadvertently triggered the safety function."According to the BBC, the UN also denied involvement in the malfunctioning teleprompter, claiming that the White House used one of its own teleprompters for the president's speech, as they would know the correct speed to run the text across the screen.Following the president's address, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock also addressed the issue, saying, "The UN teleprompters are working perfectly."President Donald Trump addressing world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly (Image via Getty)Meanwhile, the president shared his thoughts about the malfunctions he faced at the UN headquarters in a post on his Truth Social platform. According to MSNBC, Trump wrote that he believes his speech was "well-received," adding that the broken escalator and teleprompter made his speech "more interesting.""It was a great honor to speak before the United Nations. I believe the speech was very well received. ... The teleprompter was broken and the escalator came to a sudden hault as we were ridding up to the podium, but both of those events probably made the speech more interesting than it would have been otherwise. It is always an honor to speak at the United Nations, even if, their equipment is somewhat faulty. Make America Great Again!"The White House has not responded to the United Nations' recent findings regarding the escalator or teleprompter at the time of writing this article.