The man burned for several minutes in view of the television cameras installed outside the court, where the first criminal trial in history is being held against a former president of the United States. The fire was quickly controlled by the deployment of a security operation. After the transfer, a smoking backpack and a can of gasoline, awarded to Azzarello, were left in the square.
A NYPD spokesperson He said the man was pronounced dead overnight at a hospital. Although he had been taken to the health center alive, the authorities had anticipated that he was in critical condition.
Witnesses said the man, aged in his 30s, pulled pamphlets from a backpack and threw them into the air before dousing himself with liquid and setting himself on fire. One of those pamphlets included references to “evil billionaires”but the parts that were visible did not mention former President Trump.
“Right now we’re labeling it as some kind of conspiracy theoristand we go from there,” Tarik Sheppard, a deputy police commissioner, said at a news conference.
In a manifesto posted online, a man using the protester’s name claims he set himself on fire and apologizes to his friends, witnesses and first responders. The message warns of “an apocalyptic fascist coup” and criticizes cryptocurrencies and American politicians, but does not single out Trump in particular.
The trial of Donald Trump begins
The former president of the United States He is accused of concealing a payment of $130,000 that her then-lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 elections. This payment sought to ensure silence about an extramarital sexual encounter that she claims they had a decade before.
The shocking news of the man who set himself on fire came shortly after jury selection for the trial concluded. The court adjourned late in the afternoon.
The 12 members of the jury, along with six substitutes, will examine the evidence in the first trial in history to determine if the former president is guilty of breaking the law. Prosecutors intend to call at least 20 witnessesaccording to Trump’s defense attorney, Susan Necheles. Trump could testify in personin a risky maneuver that would open him to cross-examination.
Source: Ambito
