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Who is Max Azzarello, the man who set himself on fire outside the courthouse of the Trump trial?
A person was covered in flames outside the New York courthouse where former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial is ongoing.
Attention was diverted from the Trump trial on Friday after an individual was covered in flames outside the New York courthouse where former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial is underway.
The person (identified as Florida resident Max Azzarello) on fire received medical attention and was taken from the area, said reporters at the scene, adding that the circumstances of the fire was unclear. The smell of smoke and burning human flesh lingered in the air, they added.
Prior to the incident, witnesses observed Azzarello distributing pamphlets titled “The True History of the World” with the 37-year-old apparently publishing an online manifesto where he explained why he was taking such an extreme act.
The courthouse in New York City is already under heightened security given the former president’s presence in the courtroom each day.
Who is Azzarello?
The Florida resident Azzarello, had recently started posting anti establishment “conspiracy theories” online, including a lengthy article on Substack which blasted corrupt politicians and billionaires with the manifesto-style document warning of an impending “apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
A LinkedIn profile that appears to be Azzarello identifies him as a self-employed research investigator who attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2005 and 2009, and later attended Rutgers University from 2010 to 2012, receiving a Master’s in City and Regional Planning.
According to the profile, where Azzarello claims to be from the Philly area and leads with a “we’ve got a secret fascism problem” in the bio reports that he held a number of positions at various businesses, including working on two Democratic congressional campaigns, since his graduation. He most recently worked at OpenTent from December 2020 to October 2021, according to the profile.
His LinkedIn profile reads that he “fell into a rabbit hole and learned all the secrets of the world” after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed last year and that he believes “cryptocurrency is our first planetary multi-trillion dollar Ponzi scheme.”
Critical condition
Offering a brief statement at the scene of the incident, NYPD confirmed that Azzarello arrived in New York earlier this week and he is currently in a local burns unit in a critical condition.