NEW YORK, United States: A man set himself ablaze Friday outside the New York courtroom where the process for jury selection for historic hush-money trial of former US president Donald Trump took place, witnesses said.
According to a witness, , who declined to give his name, the man first heard the man throwing pamphlets into the air, then saw him douse himself from a can and light himself on fire.
The witness said the man burned for several minutes.
According to other media reports, the man engulfed in flames for more than three minutes becoming to be a totally charred human being.
The shocking incident came shortly after the jury selection was completed, clearing the way for defence attorneys and prosecutors to make opening statements next week in a case stemming from hush money paid by Trump to a porn star.
Twelve jurors and six alternates will review the evidence in the first trial to determine whether Trump is guilty of violating the law.
The jury consists of seven men and five women, most of whom work in white-collar professions, including two corporate lawyers, a software engineer, a speech therapist and an English teacher.
Most of them are not native to New York, but come from various parts of the United States and countries such as Ireland and Lebanon.
Before the 2016 election, President Trump paid a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says they had a decade earlier.
President Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and has denied any contact with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
President Trump has maintained his innocence in three other criminal cases, but this is the only one that will definitely go to trial before the Nov. 5 election. This Republican politician is once again looking forward to facing Democratic President Joe Biden.
Even if he is found guilty, he will not be removed from public office.
