Outside the Trump trial court in New York, a man sets himself on fire
As jury selection was coming to an end on Friday, a man lit himself on fire outside the New York courtroom hosting Donald Trump’s historic hush-money trial. However, authorities claimed the guy did not seem to be targeting Trump.
Television cameras were positioned outside the courtroom, where the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former US president is taking place, and the guy burned for many minutes.
One witness told reporters, “He was on fire for quite a while,” but he would not provide his identity. “It was pretty horrifying.”
The guy, who is in his late 30s, was reportedly critically ill at a hospital but had survived, according to officials.
The guy, according to witnesses, took leaflets out of a rucksack and tossed them into the air before dousing himself with a liquid and setting himself on fire. “Evil billionaires” were mentioned in one of those leaflets, but none of the passages that a Reuters witness could see mentioned Trump.
The guy, identified by the New York Police Department as Max Azzarello of St. Augustine, Florida, did not seem to be aiming his gun toward Trump or any of the other defendants in the case.
Tarik Sheppard, a deputy commissioner of the Police Department, said during a press conference, “Right now we are labeling him as sort of a conspiracy theorist, and we are going from there.”
A guy using by that name claimed in an online manifesto to have burned himself and to have apologized to friends, witnesses, and emergency personnel. The message slams US politicians and cryptocurrencies while threatening “an apocalyptic fascist coup”; it does not specifically mention Trump.
A Reuters witness said that soon after the event, there was still a smoke odor in the plaza, and a policeman doused the ground with a fire extinguisher. There was a gas can visible, and a bag that was on fire.
On Monday, the first day of the trial, the highly police-guarded courtroom in central Manhattan was packed with protestors and spectators; but, since then, the number of people attending has decreased.
FINAL JURY SELECTION
The startling revelation happened just after the trial’s jury selection was finished, paving the way for Monday’s opening remarks from the prosecution and defense in a case involving hush money given to a porn actress. Later the afternoon, the court adjourned.
In a first-ever trial, 12 jurors and 6 alternates will weigh the evidence to decide if a former US president violated the law. At least twenty witnesses will be called by the prosecution, according to Susan Necheles, the Trump defense attorney. Trump may provide his own testimony, which would put him in danger of being questioned by the opposition.
Five women and seven males, primarily working in white-collar fields—two corporate attorneys, a software engineer, a speech therapist, and an English teacher—make up the jury.
The majority are not native New Yorkers; they come from all across the US as well as nations like Ireland and Lebanon. In the unlikely event that a juror must withdraw owing to sickness or another reason, the alternates, who will also hear the case, are kept on standby.
Trump is charged with concealing the $130,000 that porn actress Stormy Daniels received from his then-attorney Michael Cohen before to the 2016 election in exchange for her silence on a ten-year-old alleged sexual encounter.
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, has charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying company documents. Trump has entered a not guilty plea and has denied ever having spoken to Daniels, whose actual name is Stephanie Clifford.
In three other criminal cases, Trump has also entered a not guilty plea; but, this is the only one that is expected to go to trial before the November 5 election, when the Republican candidate hopes to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden once again.
His office would be unaffected by his conviction.
