Trump on trial: First week ends with jury picked, protester setting himself on fire

BY THE VILLAGE SUN | As of last week’s end, the jury had been selected for Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial, which is expected to last six weeks.

The prosecution, by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, centers on Trump making payments before the 2016 presidential election for a nondisclosure agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their earlier affair. According to Bragg, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid off Daniels; meanwhile, Trump reimbursed Cohen, with the money misleadingly being marked as for legal work.

The historic trial is the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president. Trump must attend the trial.

In a shocking incident, last Friday, a 37-year-old Florida man set himself on fire across from the Lower Manhattan courthouse. Max Azzarello died later that night at the burn center at New York-Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

CBS News reported that, before self-immolating at Collect Pond, Azzarello pulled fliers out of his backpack and tossed them around — according to one witness, “apparently while making allegations about New York University.”