(NEW YORK) — The United Nations issued a statement after President Donald Trump took to social media to complain about technical difficulties, including a stopped escalator, during his visit to the United Nations on Tuesday.
As first lady Melania Trump and the president stepped onto the escalator at the U.N. ahead of Trump’s speech, it stopped moving, prompting both of them to stop in their tracks. Mrs. Trump then started walking up the escalator with the president following behind her.
“The teleprompter was broken and the escalator came to a sudden halt as we were riding up to the podium, but both of those events probably made the speech more interesting than it would have been otherwise. It is always an honor to speak at the United Nations, even if, their equipment is somewhat faulty,” Trump posted on his social media platform.
The United Nations issued a statement about the mishap, saying that the elevator stopping might have been triggered for safety as a videographer was standing backwards ahead of the president trying to film him.
“The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing. The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above,” the U.N. statement said.
“Our technician, who was at the location, reset the escalator as soon as the delegation had climbed up to the second floor. A subsequent investigation, including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit, indicated that the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator,” the U.N. statement continued. “The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing. The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above.”
The president also groaned about a bad teleprompter.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen. But she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape. We both stood. And then a teleprompter. That didn’t work,” Trump said. “These are the two things I got from the United Nations. A bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”
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