The mystery behind an escalator that abruptly stopped when US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania hopped on at the United Nations headquarters in New York seems to be have been solved.
The incident triggered a quip from Trump during his hour-long speech at the UNGA, a response White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and grabbed grabbed eyeballs with social media users wondering what may have led to it.
The mystery finally seems to have been solved. The United Nations believes they know who was behind the abrupt halt - Trump's videographer, Reuters reported.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the escalator "had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator". The official's assessment was reportedly based on data from the escalator’s central processing unit.
According to the official, Trump's videographer may have accidentally triggered the safety function while travelling backwards up the escalator to capture the arrival of the Trumps.
"The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing," Dujarric was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.
The UN clarification came hours after a video of Donald and Melania Trump hopping on the escalator went viral on social media. The clip showed the couple boarding the escalator, with Melania walking in front of the President.
As soon as the two stepped on it, the escalator abruptly stopped, and the couple looked around in surprise. Melania then started walking upwards on the stationary escalator.
During his hour-long speech, Trump jokingly complained about the incident after the teleprompter also didn't work. “These are the two things I got from the United Nations - a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter," he told the 193-member assembly, to some laughter.
However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wasn't so lighthearted about it.
“If someone at the U.N. intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately,” she posted on X after the incident.
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