JUST IN: Karoline Leavitt Brings Out Receipts, Suggests Trump’s UN Escalator Mishap Could Have Been Planned

An eagle-eyed Karoline Leavitt produced evidence of what may have been a prank played on President Donald Trump during his arrival at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

Trump and First Lady Melania were on their way to the floor of the 80th General Assembly, where the president was prepared to deliver scorching remarks about the state of U.N. spending on illegal immigrants, when an escalator he was on abruptly turned off.

The president briefly looked around as camera shutters snapped before climbing the frozen staircase.

But a Sunday report from the Hindustan Times casts doubt on whether the technical difficulty was genuine or manufactured, Leavitt asserted on social media.

She pointed to a paragraph deep in the story:

“Meanwhile, UN organisers have been joking about stunts they could pull to highlight the funding shortage. One idea doing the rounds: turn off the escalators and elevators and simply tell him they ran out of money, so he has to walk up the stairs.”

“If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately,” Leavitt thundered.

Observers quickly noted the timing: the escalator stopped precisely as the Trumps boarded, with some pointing out that Trump’s teleprompter also went dark earlier in the day right as he began his speech to the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly.

The escalator drama came against the backdrop of a combative speech by Trump before world leaders. He denounced global climate policy, calling climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” while slamming world leaders for funding the migrant crisis that landed at America’s doorstep under former President Joe Biden.

“In 2024, the U.N. budgeted $374 million in cash assistance to support an estimated 624,000 migrants journeying into the United States. Think of that, the U.N. is supporting people who are illegally coming into the United States, and then we have to get them out,” Trump said with a glare across a packed and silent New York auditorium.

Trump was not the only victim of mishaps on the first day of the gathering.

Before arriving, French President Emmanuel Macron found himself cordoned off by NYPD officers who cleared a thoroughfare for Trump’s motorcade to bypass the crowds. The desperate leader phoned Trump from the street, asking for help.

Macron eventually made his way down the New York sidewalk, arriving just in time to see President Trump deliver forceful remarks that touched on drug traffickers, national sovereignty, and multi-lateral trade deals.