'I Have Set Myself On Fire': Man Burns Outside Trump Hush-Money Trial

NEW YORK CITY — A conspiracy theorist grabbed the world's horrified attention from President Donald Trump's historic criminal trial when he lit himself on fire outside a Lower Manhattan courthouse.

Maxwell Azzarello, 37, clung to life Friday in critical condition after police said he burned for nearly two minutes as responders struggled to smother the flames that charred his body.

The motive for Azzarello's grisly self-immolation could be found in the multi-colored pamphlets he scattered before lighting himself aflame. The flyers linked to an online manifesto with the heading: "I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial."

"We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup," the manifesto states.

Watch live as @NYPDChiefofDept Jeffrey Maddrey & NYPD executives brief the media on an active investigation in Lower Manhattan. https://t.co/nTr0sUZkdq
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 19, 2024

The incident unfolded about 1:35 p.m. along Centre Street, where jury selection for Trump's hush-money trial was wrapping up inside a courtroom, authorities said.

Azzarello, who hails from St. Augustine, Florida, walked into Collect Pond Park, opened up a backpack, threw pamphlets from it and poured a liquid onto himself, said Jeffrey Maddrey, the NYPD's chief of department.

He then set himself on fire — a harrowing situation reported in a live CNN broadcast Friday by Laura Coates, who said she could smell burning flesh.

"We are watching a man who is fully emblazoned outside the courthouse today," she said.

Bystanders struggled to reach Azzarello, who was behind barricades, videos show and police officials said.

Coates, in her live report, said the man remained on fire after bystanders tried to smother the flames with their jackets. She said someone eventually ran up with a fire extinguisher.

Those details were broadly confirmed by officials, including FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, who said four people were exposed to flames besides Azzarello, but were fine.

Medics rushed Azzarello to a New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center burn unit, where he was intubated in critical condition, Kavanagh said.

Investigators will be delving into Azzarello's movements and social media activity, said Joseph Kenny, the NYPD's chief of detectives.

Azzarello apparently arrived in New York City this week, Kenny said.

He said Azzarello scattered pamphlets before burning himself with an alcohol-based cleaning fluid.

"Almost like a conspiracy theory-type of pamphlet in regards to a Ponzi scheme and the fact that some of our local education institutes are a front for the mob," Kenny said.

A reporter at the scene posted that the pamphlet's linked to a Substack called "The Ponzi Papers."

The Substack's writer identifies himself as Max Azzarello, an "investigative researcher" and contends to find proof of a vast conspiracy involving billionaire Peter Thiel, cryptocurrency, NYU and "The Simpsons."

A 2023 federal lawsuit, also filed by a Max Azzarello, contains similar accusations of a vast "Ponzi scheme." The lawsuit's dozens of defendants include the Clinton Foundation, Mark Zuckerberg, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the late Ross Perot.

The manifesto quickly spread online, as well as videos showing what appeared to be a man engulfed in flames.

One video posted by NewsNation reporter Libbey Dean shows a bystander try, and fail, to smother the flames with a jacket. Another person finally runs up with a fire extinguisher.

"Is this really happening?" a bystander can be heard on the graphic video, which shows the man twitching.

Politico reporter Emily Ngo tweeted that the man was responsive as medics moved him, but he was badly burned.

"Body charred," she wrote.

The incident unfolded as a full jury of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates was seated in Trump's hush-money trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.