UN Scrambles to Avoid a Repeat of Trump’s 2025 Escalator Snafu

The defining moment of 2025’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations may have been Donald Trump’s accusation of “sabotage” after his teleprompter blinked out and an escalator stalled while he was on it.

The defining moment of 2025’s gathering of world leaders at the United Nations may have been Donald Trump’s accusation of “sabotage” after his teleprompter blinked out and an escalator stalled while he was on it.

Now the world body is working overtime to make sure nothing similar happens again to distract from its focus on solving the world’s problems this week. Trump is set to deliver his speech at the UN’s iconic East River headquarters in New York City on Tuesday.

“It has been checked and rechecked,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters about the escalator at a briefing Monday, ahead of the high-level General Assembly session.

The UN is anxious for everything to run smoothly a year after Trump called for the arrest of the person who purportedly triggered an escalator to shut down just as he and First Lady Melania Trump stepped onto it. At the time, the UN said Trump’s videographer may have been to blame.

The president then accused the organization of “triple sabotage” after a teleprompter went dark as he prepared to give his speech, and then was told the sound in the General Assembly hall went quiet when he delivered the address. 

UN officials again put the blame with Trump and his team at the time, saying they were the ones who had insisted on using their own teleprompter. They said audio in the hall is typically kept low so dignitaries can listen to translations piped in via earpiece.

“New arrangements were made to facilitate the US delegation’s use of a teleprompter,” Dujarric said. He added that the US now had a separate work station, “so we hope that will work without a hitch.”

In any case, the UN may have bigger problems on its hands. Flights at New York’s major airports were disrupted because of a technical problem at an air traffic control facility in Philadelphia.

That problem delayed the arrival of some officials in New York for the UN event. Trump, who was set to arrive in the city in the afternoon for a meeting with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, wasn’t impacted by the delay.

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