Warning: contains graphic content.
A person who was on fire in a park across from the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place was rushed away on a stretcher.
The fire was extinguished Friday shortly after a jury and their alternates were seated in Trump’s criminal case. A person could be seen lying on the ground on fire. People then rushed to put out the person with a fire extinguisher and try to put out the flames. First responders then took the person away on a stretcher.
Minutes earlier, a full jury of 12 people and six alternates had met in Trump’s case to maintain his silence, bringing the first criminal trial of a former US president closer to his opening statements.
The fire occurred in a park across from the courthouse that has been a gathering point for protesters and media covering jury selection for Trump’s trial.
Lawyers spent days questioning dozens of New Yorkers to choose the panel that has promised to set aside their personal views and impartially judge whether the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is guilty or not. The jury includes a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher and several lawyers.
The trial will put Trump in a Manhattan courtroom for weeks, forcing him to juggle his dual role as a criminal defendant and political candidate against the backdrop of his tight race against President Joe Biden. It will contain lewd and unflattering testimonies that his opponent will no doubt take advantage of to try to portray him as unfit to return as commander-in-chief.
Trump has spent the week sitting quietly in the courtroom as lawyers press potential jurors on their opinions of him in a search for any bias that might prevent them from hearing the case. During breaks in the proceedings, he has lashed out at the accusations and the judge before cameras in the hallway, using his mounting legal troubles as a political rallying cry to portray himself as a victim.
Over several days, dozens of jurors were dismissed after saying they did not believe they could be fair. Others expressed anxiety about having to decide such an important case with enormous media attention. The judge ruled that their names will only be known to prosecutors, Trump and his legal teams.
A woman who had been chosen to serve on the jury was fired Thursday after raising concerns about messages she said she received from friends and family when aspects of her identity became public. On Friday, another woman broke down in tears as a prosecutor questioned her about her ability to decide her case based solely on the evidence presented in court.
“I feel very nervous and anxious right now,” the woman said. “I’m very sorry. I wouldn’t want someone who feels that way to judge my case either. I don’t want to waste the court’s time.”
As more potential jurors were questioned Friday, Trump appeared to lean at the defense table, scribbling some papers and exchanging notes with one of his lawyers. He would occasionally brighten up and look at the jury box, even when one of the would-be jurors said he had volunteered in an effort to “get out the vote” for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Another potential juror caught Trump’s attention when he mentioned that he follows the White House Instagram account, even when Trump was in office. Trump smiled at a man who was asked if he was married and joked that he had been trying to find a wife in his spare time, but that “it’s not working out.”
Judge Juan Merchán is also expected to hold a hearing Friday to consider a request by prosecutors to bring up Trump’s previous legal entanglements if he takes the stand in the hush money case. Manhattan prosecutors have said they want to question Trump about his recent civil fraud trial that resulted in a $454 million judgment after a judge found Trump had lied about his wealth for years. He is appealing that verdict.
The trial centers on a $130,000 payment that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, made to porn actress Stormy Daniels to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public in the final days of Trump’s career. 2016.
Prosecutors say Trump concealed the true nature of the payments in internal records when his company reimbursed Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018 and is expected to be a star witness for the prosecution.
Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels and his lawyers argue that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He could receive up to four years in prison if he is convicted, although it is unclear whether the judge would choose to put him behind bars. Trump will almost certainly appeal any conviction.
Trump is involved in four criminal cases, but it is unclear whether others will go to trial before the November election. Appeals and legal disputes have caused delays in the other three cases accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election and illegally hoarding classified documents.
(Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; writing by Susan Heavey, editing by David Ljunggren)