Man Sets Himself on Fire Outside New York Courthouse During Donald Trump Trial: Witness Accounts and Updates

World

A witness to what happened said that the man threw leaflets in the air, and that he set himself on fire

Posted: 4 Hours ago
Last updated: 1 hour ago

A police officer uses a fire extinguisher as emergency workers respond to the scene of a person covered in flames Friday. The incident took place outside the New York courthouse where the hush-money trial of former US president Donald Trump is ongoing. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

A man set himself on fire Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s historic trial is taking place, but it did not appear to be aimed at Trump, officials said.

The man shot for several minutes in full view of television cameras set up outside the courthouse, where the former US president’s first criminal trial is being held.

“I see a person completely burned,” a CNN reporter said on air.

Officials said the man survived. “The victim is in critical condition but is alive and well,” New York Fire Department Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.

Witnesses said the man pulled leaflets out of a backpack and threw them in the air before dousing himself with liquid and setting it on fire. One of these pamphlets, titled “The True History of the World (Haunted Carnival Edition), included a reference to “evil billionaires,” but some that were visible did not give anyone Reuters evidence mentions Trump.

Officials said the man until recently lived in St. Augustine, Fla., and that it did not appear to be aimed at Trump or others involved in the lawsuit.

“Right now we’re calling him some kind of conspiracy theorist and we’re going from there,” Tarrik Sheppard, deputy commissioner with the New York Police Department, said at a news conference.

WATCH |
A woman tells reporters what she saw before the man set himself on fire:

‘A difficult process to balance’

Witnesses who were on the scene said that what happened disturbed them.

“It’s hard to even process in your brain,” one witness, who declined to give his name, told Reuters.

The smell of smoke wafted into the plaza shortly after the incident, according to a Reuters witness, and a police officer with a fire extinguisher blasted the ground. A smoldering backpack and gas can were visible. The police quickly left the scene and were seen picking up the leaflets.

Police officers collect leaflets dropped by a person covered in flames outside the courthouse where Trump’s criminal trial is taking place. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

The midtown Manhattan courthouse, heavily guarded by police, drew crowds of protesters and onlookers on Monday, the first day of the trial, although crowds have since thinned.

The shocking development came shortly after jury selection for Trump’s trial
it was completedclearing the way for prosecutors and defense attorneys to make opening statements next week in a case stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.

The 12 jurors, along with six others, will consider evidence in the first ever trial to determine whether the former US president is guilty of breaking the law.

The jury consists of seven men and five women, who mostly work in white collar professions: two corporate lawyers, a software engineer, a speech therapist and an English teacher. Most New Yorkers are not native, coming from all over the United States.

Hours after the jury was seated, an appeals court judge rejected a last-minute bid by the Republican to stop the trial over his claims that jury selection had been improperly rushed – fair

The judge said that lawyers will give opening statements on Monday morning before prosecutors start presenting their case. alleging a scheme to cover up negative stories that Trump feared would damage his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, appeared in court on Friday. Jurors will consider evidence in the first ever trial to determine whether the former US president is guilty of breaking the law. (Spencer Platt/The Associated Press)

Trump is accused of covering up a US$130,000 payment made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about a sexual encounter. she says they had ten years before.

Trump has
he pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and denying meeting Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in three other criminal cases as well, but this is the only one that is certain to go to trial ahead of the November 5 election, when the Republican politician aims to win the the face of the Democratic and US President Joe Biden.

A conviction would not bar Trump from office.

With files from The Associated Press