Donald Trump suffered a number of awkward tech difficulties during his visit to the United Nations General Assembly, raising fears it may have been sabotaged.

The day was beset with technical problems: a broken escalator and a faulty teleprompter, after reports UN workers had been overheard joking about switching off the power to an escalator.

According to The Sunday Times, “figures inside the UN” were swapping ideas of pranks they could pull to highlight budget holes in the organisation after the Trump administration withheld funding.

Among them was stopping the power to the escalators and lifts.

On Tuesday, US president and Melania, the First Lady, were left standing confused on an escalator after it stopped as they stood on it at the entrance of the assembly’s headquarters in Manhattan.

The couple were then forced to trudge up the static steps towards the assembly hall.

Things only got worse when the president arrived at the podium and his teleprompter appeared to have failed, forcing him to revert to a hard copy of his speech.

“I can only say whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” he joked, drawing laughter from the diplomats in attendance.

The US president berated the United Nations for the state of the assembly’s New York headquarters during his speech, pointing out his 2000s bid to renovate the building had been rebuffed.