Man sets himself on fire outside Trump trial courthouse in New York

A
Florida
man
set
himself
on
fire
Friday
outside
of
the
New
York
courthouse
where
a
jury
was
being
picked
for
the
criminal
hush
money
trial
of
former
President

Donald
Trump.

The
man,
identified
by
police
as
Max
Azzarello,
was
taken
to
the
Cornell
Burn
Center
at
New
York
Presbyterian
Hospital,
where
he
was
in
very
critical
condition
and
not
expected
to
survive.

“His
condition
is
not
good,
but
of
a
right
now
he’s
still
alive,”
a
police
official
said
of
Azzarello,
a
St.
Augustine
resident
who
is
in
his
mid-30s.

Azzarello
ignited
himself
in
an
area
across
from
Manhattan
Supreme
Court,
which
is
cordoned
off
for
protestors.

Police
said
he
walked
into
the
park
area,
opened
a
bookbag,
and
threw
paper
pamphlets
onto
the
ground
before
pulling
out
a
canister
and
pouring
liquid
that
is
suspected
of
being
an
accelerant,
and
then
set
himself
on
fire.

Ed
Quinn,
a
freelance
photojournalist
who
lives
in
the
East
Village
neighborhood
of
Manhattan,
said
he
was
facing
the
courthouse
when “I
heard
someone
scream, ‘He’s
going
to
light
himself
on
fire.’ “

“I
see
him
dumping
gasoline
on
his
face,
very
deliberately,”
Quinn
said,
according
to
NBC
News. “He
had
grey
t-shirt
on.
It
soaked
his
face.
It
soaked
his
shirt.
Boom,
he
went
up.”

“Women
were
begging,
screaming,
put
it
out,
put
him
out,”
according
to
Quinn,
who
said
it
took
about
a
minute
before
police
arrived.

Flames
from
the
fire
reached
20
feet
into
the
air
before
police
were
able
to
put
out
the
fire
using
a
large
extinguisher
after
a
smaller
extinguisher
was
unable
to
do
the
job,
video
showed.

Azzarello’s
motives
were
unknown
but
papers
containing
conspiracy
theories
were
found
around
him.

“We
do
not
believe
he
was
targeting
any
particular
person
or
any
particular
group,”
another
police
official
told
reporters.

While
Azzarello’s
LinkedIn
profile
says
he
is
currently
a
self-employed “research
investigator,”
it
shows
he
previously
held
roles
for
a
range
of
organizations,
including
the
nonprofit
advocacy
group
Strong
Towns.

Charles
Marohn,
president
of
Strong
Towns,
confirmed
in
a
call
with
CNBC
that
Azzarello
worked
for
the
group
from
early
2017
until
August
2018.
His
work
included
helping
set
up
the
nonprofit’s
Salesforce
account.

“Today
just
makes
me
very
sad,”
Marohn
said. “I
hope
he
gets
the
help
he
needs.”

The
organization
is
entirely
remote,
Marohn
said,
so
he
only
saw
Azzarello
in
person
once
or
twice.
They
communicated
mostly
over
email
and
Slack.

Asked
if
Azzarello
seemed
normal
or
well-adjusted
at
that
time,
Marohn
said
he “can’t
say
one
way
or
the
other,
really.”

“To
find
out
that
it’s
someone
you
know
…
I
hope
anyone
who’s
human
in
that
instance
would
just
feel
sad,”
Marohn
said. “He’s
a
human
being,
he
deserves
our
compassion.”

Azzarello
in
April
2023
filed
a
lawsuit
in
Manhattan
federal
court
accusing
a
large
number
of
defendants,
including
the
Bill,
Hillary
and
Chelsea
Clinton
Foundation,
various
cryptocurrency
exchanges
and
companies,
financial
firms,
New
York
University,
the
Kingdom
of
Saudi
Arabia
and
Mark
Cuban
of
participating
in
a
wide-ranging,
decades-long
fraudulent
scheme
that
had
caused
Azzarello
significant
financial
and
psychological
harm.

Judge
J.
Paul
Oetken
dismissed
the
lawsuit
in
October
after
Azzarello,
who
was
representing
himself,
failed
to
respond
to
an
order
directing
him
to
explain
why
the
complaint
should
not
be
dismissed
for
lack
of
legal
standing
and
lack
of
subject
matter
jurisdiction.

The
last
jury
spots
were
being
filled
around
the
time
the
fire
occurred.
Trump
was
inside
the
courthouse
at
the
time.

Officials
told
people
inside
the
courtroom,
including
Trump,
that
they
were
free
to
leave
the
building,
which
is
located
in
lower
Manhattan,
close
to
a
federal
courthouse,
City
Hall
and
the
Brooklyn
Bridge.

Judge
Juan
Merchan
had
been
scheduled
to
hold
a
hearing
Friday
afternoon
on
the
admissibility
of
past
conduct
by
Trump
as
evidence
at
the
trial.

The
area
where
the
incident
took
place
has
been
filled
this
week
with
journalists,
protesters,
counter-protesters
and
other
passersby
seeking
a
glimpse
of
the
historic
trial
site.

On
Tuesday,
New
York
City
Mayor
Eric
Adams
was
spotted
just
outside
the
building.

Karoline
Leavitt,
spokeswoman
for
Trump’s
presidential
campaign,
in
a
statement
Friday
said, “Not
knowing
the
motivations
behind
this
sickening
situation,
it’s
difficult
to
make
any
definitive
remarks,
other
than
to
say
we
are
thankful
that
to
the
best
of
our
present
knowledge,
nobody
other
than
the
individual
in
question
was
hurt.”

“We
also
extend
our
condolences
to
the
traumatized
witnesses
on
the
scene
and
offer
our
deepest
gratitude
to
the
great
first
responders
of
the
City
of
New
York
for
their
actions,”
Leavitt
said. “Today
is
more
proof
that
our
nation
is
in
deep
trouble
and
that
perhaps
more
than
ever,
we
all
must
work
to
Make
America
Great
Again.”