White House demands probe after Trump’s UN escalator mishap

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00:00An escalator malfunction and teleprompter failure at the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday

00:04sparked criticism from President Trump and prompted the White House to call for an investigation.

00:12Video shows the president and first lady stepping onto an escalator at the U.N. headquarters in

00:17New York when the moving stairs abruptly stopped, forcing the couple to walk on foot.

00:23Minutes later, during his address, Trump's teleprompter cut out, causing him to break

00:28script and jab at the glitch. I can only say that whoever's operating this teleprompter is in big

00:35trouble. Trump later wove the escalator and teleprompter failures into his speech,

00:40framing them as symbols of what he called U.N. inefficiency. All I got from the United Nations

00:45was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn't in great

00:52shape, she would have fallen. But she's in great shape. We're both in good shape. We both stood.

01:01And then a teleprompter that didn't work. These are the two things I got from the United Nations,

01:08a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. But a U.N. official told CBS News the White House was

01:13operating the teleprompter when it failed. On social media, White House Press Secretary Caroline

01:19Leavitt questioned whether U.N. staffers were behind the escalator malfunction, writing,

01:24if someone at the U.N. intentionally stopped the escalator as the president and first lady were

01:29stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately. Her post referenced a Times of London

01:35report about two U.N. employees joking they might shut off the escalator during Trump's arrival.

01:41There is no evidence that actually happened. Later on Fox News, Leavitt pushed the accusation further.

01:46When you put all of this together, it doesn't look like a coincidence to me. And I know that we have

01:52people, including the United States Secret Service, who are looking into this to try to get to the

01:56bottom of it. And if we find that these were U.N. staffers who were purposefully trying to trip up,

02:02literally trip up, the president and the first lady of the United States, well, there better be

02:07accountability for those people. And I will personally see to it, Jesse.

02:11The U.N. responded, saying a videographer from Trump's own delegation likely triggered the

02:16escalator's emergency shutoff while positioning for a shot. The spokesperson cited a technical

02:22readout from the escalator's control unit as evidence. For more unbiased updates,

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