Fox News host claims Trump was ‘vulnerable’ in chilling escalator scandal warning

Fox News host Maria Bartiromo applauded Melania Trump when the escalator failed but expressed concern for President Donald Trump and how ‘vulnerable he was’

The host praised Melania’s handling of the incident (Image: Getty Images)

A Fox News host shared her chilling concerns that President Donald Trump was left “vulnerable” after an escalator mishap at the United Nations’ General Assembly session. 

The incident occurred when the president and First Lady Melania Trump were arriving at the UN’s New York City headquarters and the escalator quickly ground to a halt.

Speaking on her show Mornings with Maria, Maria Bartiromo, praised Melania for her handling of the incident. It came before Trump was spotted wearing outlandish footwear on his way to the Ryder Cup.

“The president wants answers after the escalator stopped as soon as he and the first lady stepped on it. Look at how great Melania was. She’s unfazed. She walks on it, it stops, she turns around to the president and she just leads the president up and walks so she was unfazed by it but this could’ve been a massive, massive issue.”

“The president being frozen there in one place makes him vulnerable. Later the same morning the teleprompter goes dark in the middle of his speeches and the president said the sound was off during his remarks and only the people with interpreters speaking into earpieces could actually hear his address.”

The couple had to walk up the escalator instead (Image: AP)

Trump’s supporters have demanded that the Secret Service “do better” after accusing agents of being caught “lacking” over the escalator failure.

Later, as he began his speech, Trump noted that his teleprompter wasn’t working and used his speech to complain about both issues.

“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would’ve fallen,” the president said.

“These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the incident may have been intentional.

The Secret Service is investigating the incident (Image: Getty Images)

“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,” she posted on X. She also posted a screenshot of an article from The Times of London, which reported that UN workers were overheard joking about potentially shutting off escalators during Trump’s visit.

However, there is no proof that the UN staff acted on this joke.

The press secretary later confirmed that the Secret Service is looking into the incident. Yet, the federal law enforcement agency has been criticized for their agents’ own reaction to the mishap.

Supporters of Trump have suggested that the incident could have created a “catastrophic choke point” implying it was a potential assassination risk and criticizing the Secret Service agents surrounding the president for not responding appropriately.

A user shared a video of the incident on X, writing: “When the escalator came to a sudden halt, Secret Service just looked around hoping someone would fix the problem. That wasn’t supposed to happen and it turned Trump into a stationary target. Why did they not cover and evacuate him immediately?”.

One person replied: “Some dude runs up the stairs to his left with a backpack on. Friendly? Who knows? This could have been a catastrophic choke point. Secret Service definitely needs to do better here.

“They are lacking,” agreed the original poster. “A president on a frozen escalator is a sitting target. That moment wasn’t ‘awkward,’ it was a failure in protocol. Investigate and fix it before it costs lives,” another demanded.

One individual questioned: “The lack of action is frightening. How do they know someone wasn’t trying to stop Trump to harm him?”.

Another remarked: “Watching the Secret Service is like watching a group of interns who forgot to read the manual. I mean, an escalator stops, and suddenly they’re all just standing there like deer in headlights, hoping someone else will fix it. Really? They admitted to systemic failures after the July assassination attempt, but here we are, still playing ‘who’s got the walkie-talkie?’ every time something goes wrong.”

Some pointed out that the UN building would have been secured before the event. One person stated: “You do realize the entire UN is extensively sweeped, scanned, and monitored for any potential threats before Trump gets there, right? If somehow a hidden sniper was watching through an HVAC vent or something, it was not going to make a difference whether Trump came to a full stop or the escalator was moving 2-3ft a second.

“That’s inside the UN building. The entire building had been secured,” another highlighted.

“When you put all of this together, it doesn’t look like a coincidence to me,” Leavitt commented on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime on Tuesday night. However, a UN spokesperson suggested that a videographer from the US delegation may have been responsible.

The photographer was spotted ahead of the president and first lady on the escalator, apparently capturing their entrance. “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,” stated Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

He further noted: “The safety mechanism is designed to prevent people or objects accidentally being caught and stuck in or pulled into the gearing. The videographer may have inadvertently triggered the safety function described above.”