The shocking development came shortly after the conclusion of jury selection for Trump’s trial (File)
A man set himself on fire Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s historic secret trial was taking place, witnesses said.
A witness at the scene said he first heard the man throwing leaflets into the air, then saw him douse himself with a can and set himself on fire. “At that point I said, ‘Oh, damn, what am I going to see?'” the witness told Reuters.
The witness, who did not want to be identified, said the man burned for several minutes.
CNN reporters said they saw a man engulfed in flames for more than three minutes. “I see a completely charred human being,” one of them said on air.
The shocking development occurred shortly after the conclusion of jury selection for the trial, paving 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 midtown Manhattan courthouse, heavily guarded by police, drew a crowd of protesters and onlookers on Monday, the first day of the trial, although the crowds have since thinned.
A smell of smoke lingered in the square shortly after the incident, according to a Reuters witness, and a police officer threw a fire extinguisher on the ground.
The 12 jurors, along with six alternates, will consider evidence in a first trial to determine whether a former US president is guilty of breaking the law.
The jury is made up of seven men and five women, most of them employed in white-collar professions: two corporate lawyers, a software engineer, a speech therapist and an English teacher. Most are not native New Yorkers, coming from the United States and countries like Ireland and Lebanon.
Trump is accused of covering up a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had a decade earlier.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and denies any such encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Trump has also pleaded not guilty in three other criminal cases, but this is the only one that will certainly go to trial before the November 5 elections, when the Republican politician intends to face Democratic President Joe Biden again.
A conviction would not prevent him from holding office.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story
