A metal can sits on the ground where a man set himself on fire outside a Manhattan court where jury selection was taking place in Donald Trump's hush-money criminal case. Photo / AP
A metal can sits on the ground where a man set himself on fire outside a Manhattan court where jury selection was taking place in Donald Trump's hush-money criminal case. Photo / AP
Police officials said they were reviewing whether to restrict access to a public park outside the courthouse where former US President Donald Trump is on trial after a man set himself on fire there on Friday local time.
“We may have to shut this area down,” New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said at a news conference outside the courthouse, adding that officials would discuss the security plan soon.
Collect Pond Park has been a gathering spot for protesters, journalists and gawkers throughout Trump’s trial, which began with jury selection on Monday.
Crowds there have been small and largely orderly, but about 1.30pm on Friday a man, whom some media have identified as Maxwell Azzarello, took pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said.
A metal can sits on the ground where a man set himself on fire in a park by a courthouse in which Donald Trump's hush-money trial will take place. Photo / AP
Broadcasters recorded the incident - some subsequently cut away and apologised for showing the footage - through the metal barricades in place for the trial.
The incident across the road from Manhattan Criminal Court happened just moments after a full jury panel had been selected to try the former president.
Azzarello was engulfed in flames as horrified bystanders screamed and fled before police rushed over to extinguish the fire.
He was hospitalised in critical condition on Friday afternoon.
Trump was reportedly made aware of the incident as he sat inside the courtroom, but did not respond to reporters’ questions. His campaign offered “condolences to the traumatised witnesses” and paid tribute to “the great first responders of the City of New York”.
Azzarello, who police said had travelled from Florida to New York in the past few days, hadn’t breached any security checkpoints to get into the park.
Police said they were treating him as a “conspiracy theorist” based on pamphlets he scattered around him before the incident, which apparently made claims about Ponzi schemes and the Mafia.
Azzarello published a blog post on Friday that began with the words: “My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan.”
The 2600-word essay made only a handful of references to Trump, suggesting he was part of a “secret kleptocracy” that counted previous presidents and their election rivals among its members.
“We do not believe ... this was targeting any particular person or any particular group,” Tarik Sheppard, a New York Police Department deputy commissioner, said.
“We’re just right now labelling it as a sort of conspiracy theorist and we’re going from there - but the investigation will continue.”
Former US President Donald Trump speaks with the media after proceedings in his trial on Friday at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. Photo / AP
Opening statements in Trump’s trial are set to go ahead on Monday morning after six alternates - who will take the place of jurors if they have to step aside - were selected on Friday.
Trump appeared to be alarmed at the speed the trial was proceeding, attacking Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over the case, in a social media post.
“Judge Merchan is ‘railroading’ me, at breakneck speed, in order to completely satisfy his ‘friends’,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Robert Clifford, a lawyer for Trump, argued before an appeals court on Friday that the judge was denying the former president a fair trial by rushing through the jury selection process.
Prosecutors signalled they would provide the defence with the name of their first witness, after refusing to do so on Thursday over fears Trump would attack them on social media.
“If that should be tweeted that will be the last time we provide that courtesy,” Joshua Steinglass, prosecuting, warned.
Trump’s team have repeatedly asked to be given the names of the first three witnesses to be called. They will be aware of those who will take to the stand over the course of the trial, however.
Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, and David Pecker - a publishing executive who allegedly worked to “catch and kill” negative stories about the Republican - are widely expected to give evidence.
Former Playboy Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal appeared on CNN and apologised to Melania Trump for the alleged affair with Trump. Photo / via CNN
Justice Merchan ruled on Monday that Karen McDougal, a Playboy model with whom Trump allegedly had an affair before enlisting Pecker to cover it up, will also be allowed to testify.
While Trump appeared to fall asleep in court on Friday, as he has done repeatedly throughout the week, there were other points where he seemed engaged by the jury selection.
His interest was piqued by the answers of a fellow “born-and-bred New Yorker”, and he watched closely as a prospective alternate burst into tears and admitted being a “hustler drug addict” who had spent time in prison.
The former president pursed his lips when social media posts by a potential juror describing him as a “sociopath” and “devil” were read out, the New York Times reports.
After the full jury panel had been selected, prosecutors argued they should be able to ask Trump about his previous legal cases, including civil rulings that he artificially inflated his company’s assets and sexually abused a magazine columnist.
Justice Merchan said he would make a decision on the issue when court resumes next week.
