International Politics

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump is demanding an investigation and arrests after claiming a broken escalator could have left him and First Lady Melania Trump gravely injured at the United Nations’ General Assembly.

He also claimed that he was the victim of ‘triple sabotage’ during his Tuesday trip to the UN, pointing to the escalator incident, a broken teleprompter and how those in the assembly hall, including First Lady Melania, could barely hear him.   

Trump wrote on Truth Social: ‘‘A real disgrace took place at the United Nations yesterday - Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!’’

He said given the escalator incident, it’s ‘amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first. It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster.’

Echoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who had cited a report in the Sunday Times that said UN staff had joked about turning the escalators and elevators off to prank the president, Trump referred to the escalator incident as ‘absolutely sabotage.’

“The people that did it should be arrested!” Trump said.

He was also furious about the audio quality for his speech, confirmed by his wife, who bluntly remarked she couldn’t understand him after the address.

“I was told that the sound was completely off in the Auditorium where the Speech was made, that World Leaders, unless they used the interpreters’ earpieces, couldn’t hear a thing. The first person I saw at the conclusion of the speech was Melania, who was sitting right up front. I said, ‘how did I do?’ And she said, ‘I couldn’t hear a word you said.’”

A UN official told the Daily Mail that the audio was set up that way by design.

“The sound system was designed to allow people at their seats to hear speeches being translated into six different languages through earpieces. It has been like this for decades,” the official said.

President Donald Trump made a dramatic claim Wednesday night that he and First Lady Melania Trump could have been gravely injured by the United Nations’ escalator. (Pic: MSNBC News)