President Donald Trump was still stewing a day after experiencing multiple technical difficulties at the United Nations, accusing the organization of “triple sabotage” and demanding an investigation and arrests.
Trump had to contend with an escalator and a teleprompter that weren’t working, and he claimed he was told that the sound was “completely off” in the auditorium during his address to the General Assembly.
“This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the UN,” Trump said in a social media post Sept. 24. “They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
The president didn’t offer evidence of his sabotage claim. The United Nations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Sept. 24.
‘Sound was completely off in the Auditorium’
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement released Sept. 23 that the organization investigated the elevator incident and found that a member of Trump’s own team may have caused the escalator to stop working.
Dujarric said a videographer with the U.S. delegation was traveling backward up the escalator to film Trump’s arrival. Just as the videographer reached the top, Trump and his wife, Melania, “mounted the steps at the bottom” of the elevator, the statement said.
An investigation, including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit, found that “the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator,” Dujarric said. “The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function.”
The teleprompter restarted during Trump’s speech. An unidentified U.N. official told Reuters that the White House had operated its own teleprompter, and that after Trump finished speaking, General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said: “The U.N. teleprompters are working perfectly.”
The Associated Press also reported that the White House was operating the teleprompter, citing an unidentified U.N. official.
Trump also claimed that “the sound was completely off in the Auditorium” during his speech and “that World Leaders, unless they used the interpreters’ earpieces, couldn’t hear a thing.” The news outlet TRT World reported there were multiple microphone failures during speeches by world leaders, including those from Canada and Indonesia.
U.N. officials told the outlet there was “no indication” it was deliberate.
But Trump has called for an investigation and arrests. Trump and U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz said the Secret Service would look into the technical failures.
“These lapses are unacceptable and symptomatic of a broken institution that pose serious safety and security risks,” Waltz said.
