Tourist from Virginia climbing Trump Tower watched by millions

Climbing
Climbing
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Stephen Rogata is a tourist from Virginia visiting New York City. He wanted attention and he got it.

Stephen Rogata is a tourist from Virginia visiting New York City. He wanted attention and he got it.

His visit was far from normal and he had millions watching him, while he is putting his young life on the line for an hour of fame to impress US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

It’s not a tourism stand – millions are tuning at this time to watch this US citizen sending his own message to presidential candidate Donald Trump.

He wanted a private meeting with Donald Trump, but he didn’t get that far yet. His message was of upmost importance, and he encouraged to vote for Mr. Trump.

He released this video message for Trump. eTN cannot guarantee this video is in fact from the climber.

Cops finally succeeded to pull the man into a room on the 9th floor.

It happened on Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan this afternoon — creating a spectacle in the heart of New York City as the real estate mogul campaigned hundreds of miles away from his flagship building.

The climber, using a contraption made up of five suction cups, has been scaling the 68-story building for nearly two hours, shutting down 5th Avenue during rush hour.

Police and the fire department removing vents and breaking holes in windows of the building. Rescuers also deployed airbags in case the climber were to fall.


The man appeared to change his path at one point, shimmying sideways to avoid holes that police sawed into ventilation grates, where officers were leaning out. At one point he appeared to be talking to officers through a hole that cops had punched through a window.

NYPD Emergency Services officers were trying to โ€œsafely isolateโ€ the climber while talking to him, an NYPD official said, by making it difficult for him to continue climbing, before finally rescuing him.

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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