Leavitt calls for firing, investigation if UN escalator malfunction with Trumps on board was intentional
United Nations officials addressed the incident, saying that nothing nefarious took place
By Louis Casiano Fox News
Published September 23, 2025 6:15pm EDT
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called for the firing and investigation of those responsible for a stalled escalator that carried President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at Tuesday’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The escalator malfunction occurred before Trump addressed the General Assembly in New York.
He and the first lady were forced to walk up the stalled escalator.
"If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately," Leavitt posted on X.
A United Nations spokesperson later told Fox News that someone from the U.S. delegation or security detail ran up the escalator and then back down again before the Trumps were off the escalator. The act of running down the up-moving escalator triggered an alarm, halting it.
"We understand it was someone from the President's party who ran ahead of the president and inadvertently triggered the stop mechanism," said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
The U.N. added that there was nothing nefarious about what happened.
Fox News Digital reached out to the U.N. and the U.S. Secret Service. The White House referred Fox News Digital to Leavitt's post on X.
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