As MSNBC reporter Yasmin Vossoughian was announcing on live TV that the jury for Donald Trump’s hush-money trial had been seated, with all six alternates, she announced in horror that a man had set himself on fire across the street from where she was reporting outside the Manhattan courthouse on Friday.
With tensions running high because of the first criminal trial for an ex-president, Vossoughian reported in horror as spectators rushed to assist the man and extinguish the fire, which Vossoughian said was about 50 feet from her. The incident occurred at approximately 1:40 p.m. inside an area set aside for demonstrators.
It is unknown whether the man was protesting the trial. He was taken to a hospital, where he was in critical condition in the burn unit, police said at a news conference later in the day.
It was the climax of an intense day inside the courtroom that resulted in two jurors breaking down in tears and three being excused after expressing anxiety about being on the case.
“We have our full panel,” Judge Juan Merchan declared after the last of the six alternates were added. They will serve alongside the panel of 12 jurors, and the completed jury sets the stage for opening statements to begin Monday.
Within minutes of Merchan’s declaration, the fire was lit. With flames leaping toward the sky, police raced in to put out the fire with extinguishers. Emergency personnel were summoned and arrived quickly. EMT personnel took the man away on a stretcher. Vossoughian reported that the man could move his limbs.
“There was no threat to anyone else in the area,” Vossoughian reported. “He was standing alone. People were yelling he was on fire.”
Laura Coates from CNN, also reporting from outside the courthouse, watched the incident unfold:
“We have a man who has set himself on fire, a man has been emblazoned himself outside of the courthouse just now,” she shouted during a live report. “Our cameras are turning right now. A man has now lit himself on fire outside of the courthouse in Manhattan.
“We are watching a man who is fully emblazoned in the front of the courthouse today. We are watching multiple fires breaking out around his body and person. We have seen an arm that has been visible that has been engulfed in total flames. There is chaos that is happening. ... I’m looking across the corner, across the courtyard. There is a man racing towards him, there’s coats coming off to try to put out the fire.
“We have members of security details. NYPD is rushing to the scene. They are trying to come now ... officers are on the scene with fire extinguishers right now. They are trying to put this man out. They’re climbing over barricades to try to separate the public and put out the flames on this man. He has lit himself out in fire in front of the courthouse right now.”
According to The Associated Press:
Emergency crews rushed away a person on a stretcher after fire was extinguished outside the Manhattan courthouse where jury selection was taking place Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case.
No other details were immediately available from police.
It’s unknown whether Merchan, who is presiding over the case, Trump or the jurors were aware of the incident, which occurred amid heavy security. The jurors had been dismissed for the day.
“There’s some irony in the fact that in this heavily fortified courthouse behind us that someone was able to so easily self harm,” MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin said from outside the courthouse. “With all of this spectacle and all this security around them — and to what extent the jurors are aware of this, we can’t say we don’t know, but obviously we want to. And after we come back from the break. If the proceedings are called, we’ll come back out here and we’ll share that as soon as we can.”
In the afternoon session, prosecutors will argue for the judge to admit prior acts by Trump that they believe are relative to the case. The hearing is designed to inform defendants of the scope of questions they could face from prosecutors on cross-examination if they choose to take the witness stand in their own defense.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office disclosed in a court filing that it would ask Trump about more than a dozen items, including a $464 million civil judgment against him and his company for fraud, $88 million verdicts and liability findings for sexual abuse and defamation in lawsuits brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, and a number of other adverse court rulings. Merchan will rule on what’s allowable.
One of the prospective jurors who broke down in tears told the court: “I feel so nervous and anxious right now. I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t want someone who feels like this to judge my case, either. I don’t want to waste the court’s time.”
The trial centers on a $130,000 payment that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, made to porn actor Stormy Daniels to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public in the final days of the 2016 race.
The AP contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.