President Donald Trump has accused the United Nations of presiding over what he called “triple sabotage” during his address to the General Assembly this week, pointing to a series of mechanical and technical failures that marred his appearance before nearly 150 world leaders.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump alleged that three separate incidents — an escalator malfunction, a teleprompter blackout, and sound system issues — combined to undercut his moment on the world stage. The president demanded an investigation, called for security footage to be preserved, and urged the arrest of those he claimed were responsible.

Trump said the first disruption came as he and former First Lady Melania Trump rode an escalator on their way to the main floor of the UN headquarters. The escalator, he claimed, “came to a screeching halt,” nearly causing the couple to fall. He later described the sudden stop as suspicious and suggested foul play.

The second incident, according to Trump, occurred moments into his General Assembly address, when his teleprompter went dark. Trump said he was forced to ad-lib his remarks for 15 minutes while technicians worked to restore the system.

Finally, Trump alleged that delegates inside the hall were unable to hear him because of a failure in the sound system. “Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!” Trump wrote online, calling the disruptions “sabotage” aimed at undermining his message.

United Nations officials quickly disputed the accusations. They said the escalator’s safety mechanism had been triggered, possibly by Trump’s own photographer, and emphasized that the teleprompter was operated by the White House, not the UN. On the sound issue, UN officials noted that speeches are delivered to delegates through headsets in six different languages, suggesting that any interruptions may have been due to equipment use rather than a system-wide failure.

As of Wednesday, UN officials had not formally responded to Trump’s demand for an investigation or his call to preserve security camera footage.

The allegations come as the Secret Service has already been operating under extraordinary pressure during this year’s UN General Assembly, which has drawn world leaders from nearly every major capital. Earlier in the week, the agency revealed it had dismantled a massive hidden telecom network spread across the New York area, one that investigators said could have blacked out cell service, jammed 911 calls, and unleashed chaos during the high-profile gathering.

Agents seized more than 300 servers with over 100,000 SIM cards clustered within 35 miles of UN headquarters, describing it as one of the most sweeping communications threats uncovered on U.S. soil. Officials warned the system had the potential to disable cell towers and overwhelm networks with as many as 30 million text messages a minute. While investigators have not tied the system directly to the General Assembly, they said its presence underscored the vulnerabilities surrounding the event.

Trump’s claims of sabotage put new scrutiny on the UN and the White House’s own event logistics. He characterized the disruptions as deliberate acts meant to humiliate him in front of foreign counterparts. “Triple sabotage,” he wrote, underscoring his belief that the malfunctions were too coincidental to ignore.

The president also pressed the UN to turn over security footage from the building, raising the possibility of a confrontation over access to internal recordings.

It remains unclear how the Secret Service is approaching the alleged malfunctions. Officials have not confirmed that the incidents are under formal investigation, and UN staffers have pointed to mechanical and operational explanations. Trump’s insistence on an inquiry, however, ensures that the episode will remain a flashpoint as the weeklong UN summit continues.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)