US President Donald Trump launched a sarcasm-laden broadside against the United Nations Tuesday, saying the institution does not help peace and mocking the quality of the headquarters building.
"The UN has such tremendous potential. I've always said it -- it has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it's not even coming close to living up to it," Trump said in an address in which he complained about a broken escalator at the New York headquarters.
Trump told world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday that the global institution was "not even close" to fulfilling its potential.
Claiming to have ended seven wars, Trump said "sadly in all cases the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them."
"What is the purpose of the United Nations?" Trump asked. "The UN has such tremendous potential" but it was "not even close" to fulfilling that potential, he said.
The UN was proficient at writing letters, but not at taking the kind of action that ended conflict, he said.
