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TURKEY’S President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the latest world leader to be blocked by Donald Trump’s motorcade as he was captured grumpily waiting on the sidewalk.
The n…
TRUMP’s escalator drama at the UN could have been caused by one of his own team, officials have said.
The US President and First Lady Melania Trump were left stopped at the bottom of the moving starcase yesterday at the UN building in New York.
Melania and Donald Trump glared over their shoulders after the escalator at the United Nations headquarters in New York City abruptly stopped[/caption]
Escalator at UN headquarters immediately stops as Donald Trump and wife Melania step on it shortly after arriving.[/caption]
Trump and Melania were forced to walk up the escalator[/caption]
It came before Trump delivered a scorched earth speech where he eviscerated the organisation – including blasting them over the broken escalator and a faulty teleprompter.
And the double blunder sparked the President’s fury – with his team launching an investigation into whether it was an act of sabotage.
But now UN officials have said they believe the mishap was actually sparked by one of Trump’s own team.
Awkward footage showed him and wife Melania almost losing their balance before having to trudge up the steps before his keynote speech.
At the top of the stairs, Trump was greeted by a woman, and the first thing he said to her was, “Your escalator just broke.”
With the Secret Service stepping in and Trump’s press sec Karoline Leavitt demanding answers, the United Nations have scrambled to work out what happened.
The UN said a readout from the machine showed the esclator stop was triggered by the safety mechanism being tripped.
And they suggested a videographer in Trump’s team may have “inadvertently triggered” the system.
A UN official said: “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.”
The esclator was “reset” and was soon back in operation.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, added the teleprompter was being operated by the White House.
Trump’s team however are suspicious – pointing to a report in The Sunday Times which suggested UN staffers could sabotage the esclator in a bid to humilate Trump.
White House spokesman Leavitt said: “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”.
The outraged post was accompanied by screenshot of The Times article, which said “to mark Trump’s arrival, UN staff members have joked that they may turn off the escalators and elevators and simply tell him they ran out of money, so he has to walk up the stairs”.
When Trump took to the podium for his speech, the teleprompter wasn’t working, while the main UN audio feed to TV news channels switched over to a foreign language translation towards the end of his speech.
Leavitt weighed in further on Tuesday night, telling Fox News: “I put out a statement earlier when there was concerning reporting over the weekend from the London Times”.
“As you pointed out, the UN globalist staffers were basically plotting to set up the president of the United States,” she said.
“And first, it was the escalator, then it was the teleprompter, and then Katie Pavlich from Townhall … noticed the audio inside of the room was much lower and different for the president of the United States than the previous speakers.”
Leavitt said “when you put all of this together, it doesn’t look like a coincidence”.
“I know that we have people, including the United States Secret Service, who are looking into this to try to get to the bottom of it,” she continued.
“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.”
The furore came after The Sunday Times reported UN staff had been overheard “joking” before the event about stunts they could pull to highlight the funding shortage faced due to the US withholding promised funds.
He was forced to climb the stairs ahead of his speech[/caption]
The seconds after the glitch halted the president and Melania[/caption]
He later descended the escalator without issue[/caption]
Trump later accused the global organisation of being useless after he was forced to trudge up the stairs.
Trump didn’t let go of the annoyances during his speech, later bringing them up as proof.
At one point, Trump accused the UN of merely sending “strongly worded” letters to countries in conflict instead of negotiating peace.
He also praised his own strong-arm approach and said that he was responsible for bringing seven wars to a close.
A JOKE between colleagues has stopped short of causing an international incident after an escalator glitch temporarily stopped The Don.
The Secret Service has launched an investigation into the reason behind an escalator abruptly stopping the moment Trump and Melania stepped onto it on Tuesday.
Melania and Donald Trump glared over their shoulders after the escalator at the United Nations headquarters in New York City abruptly stopped[/caption]
Escalator at UN headquarters immediately stops as Donald Trump and wife Melania step on it shortly after arriving.[/caption]
Trump and Melania were forced to walk up the escalator[/caption]
The probe comes after a report in The Sunday Times claimed UN workers had joked about turning the escalator off to “deliberately sabotage” the president.
The report came after awkward video footage captured the moment Melania walked in front of her husband and stepped on the escalator after he signalled for her to move forward.
Just seconds later, the stairs came to a complete stop, forcing the first lady to tightly grip the railing and keep herself from stumbling.
The seemingly simple joke between colleagues has sparked heated online criticism from Trump supporters.
Karoline Leavitt – the US Press Secretary – posted on X, saying: “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”.
The outraged post was accompanied by screenshot of The Times article, which said “to mark Trump’s arrival, UN staff members have joked that they may turn off the escalators and elevators and simply tell him they ran out of money, so he has to walk up the stairs”.
The incident was one of several glitches that raised suspicions over whether Trump was being sabotaged by UN staff members, following his strong criticism of the institution.
When Trump took to the podium for his speech, the teleprompter wasn’t working, while the main UN audio feed to TV news channels switched over to a foreign language translation towards the end of his speech.
Leavitt weighed in further on Tuesday night, telling Fox News: “I put out a statement earlier when there was concerning reporting over the weekend from the London Times”.
“As you pointed out, the UN globalist staffers were basically plotting to set up the president of the United States,” she said.
“And first, it was the escalator, then it was the teleprompter, and then Katie Pavlich from Townhall … noticed the audio inside of the room was much lower and different for the president of the United States than the previous speakers.”
Leavitt said “when you put all of this together, it doesn’t look like a coincidence”.
“I know that we have people, including the United States Secret Service, who are looking into this to try to get to the bottom of it,” she continued.
“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.”
The furore came after The Sunday Times reported UN staff had been overheard “joking” before the event about stunts they could pull to highlight the funding shortage faced due to the US withholding promised funds.
Since the report, the UN has since come out, saying they had solved the mystery.
The escalator probe revealed Trump’s videographer may have accidentally triggered a safety mechanism.
The ordeal began when Trump was entering the headquarters in New York City.
He was forced to climb the stairs ahead of his speech[/caption]
The seconds after the glitch halted the president and Melania[/caption]
He later descended the escalator without issue[/caption]
Melania and Trump whipped their heads around to see what was going on before they walked up the stagnant stairs while an empty escalator beside them ran smoothly.
At the top of the stairs, Trump was greeted by a woman, and the first thing he said to her was, “Your escalator just broke.”
Trump later accused the global organisation of being useless after he was forced to trudge up the stairs.
Trump didn’t let go of the annoyances during his speech, later bringing them up as proof.
At one point, Trump accused the UN of merely sending “strongly worded” letters to countries in conflict instead of negotiating peace.
He also praised his own strong-arm approach and said that he was responsible for bringing seven wars to a close.
DONALD Trump has told Nato countries to “shoot down” Russian aircraft if they breach allied airspace – but stopped short of promising automatic US support if Moscow strikes back.
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FRENCH leader Emmanuel Macron was left stranded in New York when his car was blocked by Donald Trump’s motorcade – before he called the US President for help.
A b…
The continent’s leaders have concerns that U.S. officials are pushing for parties that support their views of nationalism and traditional values to come into power.
The continent’s leaders have concerns that U.S. officials are pushing for parties that support their views of nationalism and traditional values to come into power.
The provision in the government funding bill could shield pesticide companies from billions of dollars in lawsuits.
DONALD Trump has warned Venezuela that they are “in trouble” as they flew F-16s over US warships for a second time.
The chilling escalation came after the Don deployed three US naval destroyers to despot Nicolas Maduro’s waters as part of new narco-terror operations.
Donald Trump warned Venezuela are in trouble following another jet flyover[/caption]
F-16s were spotted over a US navy ship again[/caption]
Trump struck a narco boat earlier this week, killing 11[/caption]
The latest swoop over USS Jason Dunham was slammed by US officials who branded the teetering conflict a “game of chicken”.
When asked what Trump’s response would be if Maduro were to fly jets over his destroyers again, the US President said: “I would say they’re going to be in trouble.”
He added: “If they fly in a dangerous position, I would say that… you or your captains can make the decision as to what they want to do.”
It comes after Trump blitzed a drug-smuggling boat which he said were carrying members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang earlier this week.
The deadly strike killed 11 people on board and marked a huge escalation before he declared full-scale war against the cartels.
The latest development adds to the simmering tensions between Washington and Caracas which kicked off at the start of Trump’s term when he vowed to destroy the cartels.
He made sure that multiple gangs, including Tren de Aragua, were branded “terrorist organisations” – a move he says gives him legitimacy to strike and kill drug smugglers.
On Friday, it was reported the White House was also planning to send 10 F-35 fighter jets to the Caribbean to help with the counter-narco operations.
Washington has already ordered the deployment of more than 4,000 soldiers and three US naval destroyers to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean.
Sitting on the edge of Venezuela’s territorial waters are USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson.
After the first flyover, the White House blasted in a statement which read: “Today two Maduro regime military aircraft flew near to a US Navy vessel in international waters.
“This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our narco terror operations.”
They also warned the cartel to back down and not pursue any further attempts to obstruct their military presence to combat cartels.
The F-16 can reach blistering speeds of up to 1,319mph, and carry deadly missiles as well as a six-barrel cannon.
Meanwhile its opponent on two occasions now, USS Jason Dunham, weighs a hulking 9,200 tons and is over 500ft long – also equipped with missiles and a naval gun.
by Harvey Geh
DONALD Trump has launched his full-scale war on drugs – favouring missiles over law enforcement.
The first day of Trump’s second term kicked off with the designation of narcotraffickers as terrorists – giving him the right to kill them before they can reach American shores.
This is the argument he has used in the face of law experts warning that his decision to strike a suspected drug-smuggling boat on Tuesday was illegal.
Washington-watchers claim that the gangsters should have been arrested – but the White House says that law enforcement is ineffective.
Trump vowed after the blitz: “There’s more where that came from.”
The US President has long spoken of his desire to enact force to take on drug cartels, which he accuses Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of actively backing.
Maduro has denied the allegations, and the last few months have seen teetering escalations deteriorate into a tense standoff.
The US has positioned naval destroyers and soldiers around Maduro’s waters, while the Venezuelan dictator has ordered mass mobilisation of over four million troops.
Following the deadly boat blitz on Tuesday, Trump said: “There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people, and everybody fully understands that.
“Obviously, they wont be doing it again. And I think a lot of other people wont be doing it again.”
He also warned: “There’s more where that came from.”
Meanwhile Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned following the boat attack: “We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships.
“Because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t, it won’t stop with just this strike.”
Maduro is funding cartels, Trump says[/caption]
The jets flew over USS Jason Dunham[/caption]
President Trump accuses Maduro of “mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere”.
He says the Venezuelan tyrant is actively backing cartels and funding them.
In response, the Venezuelan President ordered mass mobilisation of over four million troops last month.
Maduro has also hit back claiming Trump is seeking regime change, declaring: “In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defence of Venezuela.”
The tit for tat escalation started with a $50million bounty on Maduro offered by Washington.
On top of this, $700million worth of assets with alleged links to Maduro have been seized since August – including luxury goods and private jets.
Salvadoran police officers cut the hair of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua[/caption]
USS Sampson docks at the Amador International Cruise Terminal in Panama on Tuesday[/caption]
A VERY senior member of Donald Trump’s Cabinet put it bluntly this week: “You’re about 15 years behind us.”
I was taken aback by how informed the key lieutenant to the President was about exactly what is happening in Britain after a …