According to witnesses, a guy set himself on fire Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s historic hush-money trial was being held.
A witness on the site stated that he first heard the man throw pamphlets into the air, then saw him douse himself with a can and set himself on fire. “At that point, I said, ‘Oh shoot, what am I going to see?'” the witness told Reuters.
The witness, who declined to provide his identity, stated that the man burned for several minutes.
The incident occurred shortly after jury selection for the trial was completed
CNN correspondents stated they witnessed a man enveloped in flames for more than three minutes. “I see a totally charred human being,” one of them said on air.
The surprising incident occurred shortly after jury selection for the trial was completed, paving the way for prosecutors and defense attorneys to deliver opening statements next week in a case involving hush money paid to a porn star.
A Reuters witness reported that a smell of smoke lingered in the plaza shortly after the incident and that a police officer sprayed a fire extinguisher.
Trump is accused of covering a $130,000 payment made by his lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels
The 12 jurors, along with six alternates, will hear evidence in a first-ever trial to determine whether a former US president violated the law.
The jury is made up of seven men and five women, most of whom work in white-collar professions: two corporate lawyers, a software engineer, a speech therapist, and an English teacher. The majority are not native New Yorkers, having come from all around the United States as well as Ireland and Lebanon.
Trump is accused of covering a $130,000 payment made by his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence over a sexual encounter she claims they had a decade ago.
Trump has pled not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and he denies having any such conversation with Daniels, whose true name is Stephanie Clifford.
Trump has pled not guilty in three other criminal cases, but this is the only one that will go to trial before the November 5 election, when the Republican politician hopes to face Democratic President Joe Biden again. A conviction would not bar him from office.