Trump frames UN speech as sabotage, cites 'three very sinister events' at the U.N.
The president alleges a triple disruption during his General Assembly remarks, while U.N. and White House officials offer competing explanations.
President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of the United Nations on Wednesday, saying the U.N. General Assembly remarks he delivered the prior morning were marred by what he described as three 'very sinister events.' He cited an escalator that stopped while he and the first lady were en route to the General Assembly Hall, a malfunctioning teleprompter, and a glitching sound system during his address.
Trump, writing on Truth Social, said the incidents were not a coincidence and described them as “triple sabotage at the UN,” adding that he would send a letter to the United Nations secretary-general requesting an immediate investigation.
The U.N. provided competing explanations for the disruptions. A videographer with the U.S. delegation may have triggered a safety feature on the escalator, causing it to halt while Trump and the first lady were on it, according to a U.N. official. Separately, a U.N. official said the White House was responsible for Trump’s teleprompter during the speech, while a White House official told CNN that the U.N. team was in charge of the teleprompter.
On the sound system, a U.N. official told the BBC that attendees could hear translations through earpieces in six languages, and that the system is designed to deliver the interpreter’s work to seats throughout the hall. The official suggested Trump’s assertion that attendees could not hear him without interpreters’ devices might reflect how the translation system is deployed rather than a failure of the room’s audio.
The U.N. Secretary-General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump’s comments fit a long-running pattern of criticisms of the United Nations, which he has repeatedly argued has fallen short of its mission and responsibilities.
