Loading
“It stopped on a dime. 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,” Trump wrote.
The US president said that when the teleprompter failed, he immediately thought to himself: “What kind of a place is this?” Afterwards, he asked his wife for her thoughts on the speech. “I couldn’t hear a word you said,” she responded, according to Trump’s account.
“This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves,” he wrote, adding that he was writing directly to Secretary-General António Guterres to demand an immediate investigation.
“No wonder the United Nations hasn’t been able to do the job that they were put in existence to do. All security tapes at the escalator should be saved, especially the emergency stop button. The Secret Service is involved.”
Donald Trump also besieged by a troublesome escalator and a broken teleprompter, which he made light of in his address.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The UN has pushed back on the Trump administration’s characterisation of events, suggesting the escalator’s emergency switch could have been triggered by the president’s own videographer.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a readout of the escalator’s central processing unit indicated it “had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator”.
The videographer had been travelling backwards up the escalator to capture his arrival with the first lady, he said. “The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function.”
Meanwhile in Washington, the White House has ditched a portrait of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden from a new “Presidential Walk of Fame” it has installed on the West Wing Colonnade, instead using a picture of an autopen used by Biden and other presidents to sign documents.
The installation, which the White House promoted on social media, runs alongside the Rose Garden, which the president has rebranded into “the Rose Garden Club” for events.
Trump has been obsessed with Biden’s use of the device, using it as proof the former president was unable to execute his duties. He has frequently said the autopen – or those operating it – was really running the country.
President Donald Trump has long been obsessed with Joe Biden’s use of the pen, despite it being common practice.Credit: Twitter
The devices are commonly used by presidents, and others, from both parties, and Biden said in a previously reported statement: “I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Loading
However, this month Axios reported on internal emails it had obtained that indicated some Biden aides had concerns about the use of the autopen as part of a rush of pardons or commutations granted at the end of Biden’s term, as part of broader concerns about the clemency process.
Republicans on the congressional House Oversight Committee have launched an investigation into the Biden White House’s use of the autopen, as well as whether Biden was unfit for office, whether his alleged cognitive decline was covered up whether critical decisions were made by others on his behalf.
With Reuters
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
