‘Not one, not two, but three sinister events!’: Trump demands arrests over UN ‘triple sabotage’

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, in a letter posted on his social media platform Truth Social, alleged that he was the victim of “three very sinister events” during his visit to the United Nations on Tuesday, adding that the Secret Service would be looking into the matter.

The remarks follow an earlier statement from the White House that an investigation had been launched into whether a moving escalator had been stopped deliberately to humiliate the US president.

'Trying to trip up president, first lady’: White House demands accountability

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“If we find that these were UN staffers who were purposefully trying to trip up-literally trip up-the president and the first lady of the United States, there had better be accountability for those people. And I will personally see to it,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on a foreign news channel on Tuesday evening, soon after the incident.

She later took to X, posting: “If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator, they need to be fired and investigated immediately.”

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Notably, Trump also criticised the global body in his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday evening, claiming that the institution had been of little help in establishing peace and questioning its very purpose, saying it had tremendous potential but had been unable to live up to expectations.

Although he had earlier joked about the escalator mishap in his speech, saying the only things he got from the UN were a “bad escalator and bad teleprompter” and everybody laughed it off, the matter now appears more serious.

Escalator stoppage, teleprompter failure and audio issues

In his latest statement, the US president has claimed that the mishaps were deliberate. “The escalator came to a ‘screeching halt’ with Trump and his entourage on it, an event that Trump called ‘absolutely sabotage,’” he said. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric explained that a videographer from the US delegation may have “inadvertently” triggered the stop mechanism at the top of the escalator.

“The people that did it should be arrested,” Trump added on Truth Social.

The second issue involved the teleprompter, which Trump said went “stone cold dark” during his address. A UN official said the White House was responsible for operating the teleprompter.

Finally, Trump complained about the sound system at the UN. “This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage,” he said, claiming that his wife, Melania, could not hear his speech and that attendees required interpreters to follow his remarks.

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See full Trump's Truth Social post here:

Trump has instructed the UN to preserve security tapes regarding the escalator stoppage, saying the Secret Service would be involved in the investigation. On the other hand, A UN spokesman said the escalator stopped because someone in front of Trump accidentally triggered a safety mechanism.