Donald Trump received a cheeky reminder of one of his more bizarre grievances as he arrived at the headquarters of the United Nations on Tuesday.

As Trump and first lady Melania Trump rode an escalator inside the building, a woman called out from below: “Be careful with the stairs.”

Laughter rippled through the crowd.

The line was a callback to Trump’s visit to the U.N. almost exactly a year earlier when the escalator carrying him and the first lady suddenly stopped and they were forced to walk up.

Trump later freaked out over the malfunction, demanding an “immediate investigation” into the mishap. He branded the incident “sabotage” and called for whoever was responsible to be arrested.

Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump step on an escalator as they arrive for the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly in September 2025.

Alexi J. Rosenfeld via Getty Images

A U.N. spokesperson, however, offered a rather less sinister explanation, saying a member of Trump’s own delegation may have inadvertently triggered the escalator’s emergency stop.