President Donald Trump’s nearly hour-long address to the United Nations on Sept. 23 featured a range of admonishments for the international body. The visit included two technical snafus: one with a teleprompter, another involving an escalator.

The latter event took on a life of its own and prompted a UN investigation after videos circulated of the president and first lady Melania Trump stepping onto the escalator at the UN headquarters in New York City that morning. The escalator lurched to a halt just after the pair got on. The first lady waited a few seconds before walking the rest of the way up to the top, followed by the president and administration officials.

“If the first lady wasn't in great shape, she would've fallen,” Trump said during his speech, receiving audible laughs from the audience. “But she's in great shape. We're both in good shape.”

While the president's comments at the UN were joking in nature, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested in a Fox News appearance and in a post on X hours later that the stoppage might have been an intentional act, or "sabotage." She said the Secret Service was investigating the incident.

"If we find that these were UN staffers who were purposely trying to trip up – literally trip up – the president and the first lady of the United States, well, there better be accountability for those people, and I will personally see to it," Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters.

Clips of the escalator stoppage and conspiracy theories stemming from the incident have begun spreading online.

The UN launched an investigation, concluding in a statement Sept. 23 that it was a videographer with the U.S. delegation who may have mistakenly triggered a safety function of the escalator in their attempt to document the president's and first lady's arrival.

"A subsequent investigation, including a readout of the machine's central processing unit, indicated that the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator," Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, said in a statement. "The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing."

The flurry around the escalator incident also attracted the attention of California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office, known recently for its often-viral social media posts that troll and criticize the president and the administration.

"DOZY DON WAS DEFEATED BY THE ESCALATOR, POOR GUY!," the governor's press office posted on X Sept. 23, signed with the governor's initials. "THE ENTIRE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT THE LOW IQ 'PRESIDENT.' NEXT STOP: THE BEST ROOM AT MEMORY MEADOWS RETIREMENT RESORT. TYLENOL INCLUDED. ENJOY YOUR STAY, DON!"

Not long after the escalator event, as President Trump stepped to the podium to address world leaders, the teleprompter stopped working as well.

“These are the two things I got from the United Nations,” Trump said. “A bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much.”

A UN official told Reuters the White House had operated its own teleprompter, and, after Trump finished speaking, General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said, "The U.N. teleprompters are working perfectly."

Contributing: Reuters.

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.

This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Was that Trump escalator snafu sabotage? UN responds to question.

Reporting by Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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