Donald Trump trial LIVE: Man sets himself on fire outside court in horrifying scene as evidence hearing continues

A man set himself on fire outside the Manhattan criminal courthouse according to reporters standing outside.

The fire has since been put out, and the man is reportedly moving his arms and legs.

Reporters noticed a fire 'light up' while reporting live on air.

It is not clear whether his actions had any connection to what is taking place at the court with Trump's trial.

The man was standing in the middle of a nearby square on his own.

It came just as the full jury had been empaneled in the hush money case.

Shortly after Day 4 of Trump's criminal trial wrapped up, a New York appeals court judge denied the former president's request to move his case out of the liberal city.

Judge Marsha Michael gave both sides just five minutes to make their case on Friday.

Opening statements in the criminal trial are set to begin Monday morning.

As Trump left the courtroom, he was asked by a reporter about whether he would testify.

He replied 'yes' and continued walking.

The former president also called the hush money trial a 'giant witch hunt' and slammed Democrats for trying to take down his 2024 bid.

Judge Juan Merchan told Trump’s lawyers that he was getting tired of their legal tactics.

He said: ‘The defense cannot continue to submit pre-motion letters or request the court to reconsider every single one of its decisions in its omnibus decision and other pretrial motions.

He said the defense is now challenging each motion 'one by one'.

‘That has to end', he said.

‘There comes a point where you accept my rulings. I’ve entertained the motions, I’ve heard the arguments in good faith.

‘But at some point you need to accept the court’s rulings. We’re going to have opening arguments on Monday morning’.

A New York appeals court will hear arguments Friday afternoon over Donald Trump's motion to change venue, two sources told CNN.

Trump has argued he couldn't get a fair trial in Manhattan.

Last week, his team had asked the appeals court to stop the trial so they could argue over a change of venue.

An appellate judge denied the motion. The full panel is hearing Trump's challenge over a change of venue.

The court then turned to the lawsuit filed by Trump against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and others for racketeering in a conspiracy against him.

The case was dismissed by Florida federal judge Donald Middlebrooks last year who ordered $1 million in sanctions against Trump’s lawyers.

Trump's attorney Bove tried to argue it was ‘so far afield’ from the conduct in the hush money case.

But Judge Mercan appeared skeptical and said it seemed ‘squarely’ within the relevant law.

The prosecution agreed and said that in a case where ‘credibility will be core,’ this was a highly relevant matter.

They also want to question Trump about his real estate empire being found guilty of tax fraud and falsifying business records in 2022.

They also sought to be able to cross-examine Trump on being ordered in 2019 to pay $2 million for misuse of funds for The Trump Foundation, his charitable organization.

Trump’s lawyers objected to both.

Judge Merchan said he would decide the questions on Monday.

Trump’s lawyers objected to the prospect of Trump being cross examined over the two defamation verdicts in civil cases brought against him by the journalist E. Jean Caroll.

She won an $83.3 million judgment against Trump earlier this year, after already winning $5 million when a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her in the mid 1990s.

Trump lawyer Bove called the case ‘unacceptable as a basis for impeachment’ and said that it  ‘pushes the salacious on another level.’

The first issue in the Sandoval hearing was the prosecution request to cross examine Trump about the $364 million finding against Trump by a New York judge in his fraud trial earlier this year.

Emil Bove, Trump’s lawyer, said that the verdict was on appeal and that Trump ‘would have to respond’ which would take the trial down a ‘rabbit hole.'

Judge Merghan appeared skeptical and said that it was usual practice for a defendant to be asked about previous legal action and they could respond while being cross examined.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said that it should be allowed.

He said: ‘It’s hard to think of something that is more squarely in the wheelhouse of appropriate impeachment examination as to his credibility than a finding by a judge of fraud and illegality by a judge in the state of New York.'

The next issue were contempt findings from Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the fraud trial, that Trump breached his gag order barring him from talking about witnesses or his staff.

Bove argued there was a ‘significant risk of confusion’ for the jury if these were introduced.

Colangelo countered that these findings were relevant because they were evidence of ‘immoral, vicious, illegal or bad acts’ outside of the indicted conduct.

He said that it was difficult to find something more probative than Judge Engoron saying, after calling Trump into the witness box and asking him to testify about breaching his order, that the ‘defendant's testimony rings hollow and untrue’

In a tense moment, Trump attorney Emil Bove got into a tiff with Judge Merchan regarding redacting Michael Cohen's phone records.

The moment came after the prosecution requested the phone records of Michael Cohen be sealed so they wouldn’t reveal personal information of people with nothing to do with the case.

Judge Merghan said the idea of forcing prosecutors to redact all the filings was ‘absurd’.

He told Bove: ‘Don’t interrupt me’.

Bove protested: ‘I’m not interrupting you’.

Judge Merchan said: ‘Oh you are, have a seat’.

Judge Merchan signed the order sealing the records.

The former president took his seat in the courtroom following a lunch break.

The court is now expected to hold a so-called Sandoval hearing to rule on what prosecutors can use if Donald Trump takes the stand in his own defense.

Ex-President Donald Trump fired off a series of posts while his hush money trial was on a lunch break slamming Judge Merchan and District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

'Judge Merchan is “railroading” me, at breakneck speed, in order to completely satisfy his “friends,"' Trump wrote on Truth Social.

'Additionally, he has “GAGGED” me so that I cannot talk about the most important of topics, including his totally disqualifying conflict of interest, and taking away my Constitutional Right of Free Speech,' Trump added.

In another post, Trump wrote 'This Trial is a Long, Rigged, Endurance Contest, dealing with Nasty, Crooked People, who want to DESTROY OUR COUNTRY. MAGA2024!'

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked during the daily briefing about the man that set himself ablaze outside of the Trump trial.

It's 'very sad news,' Jean-Pierre replied.

She said she learned about the 'developing situation' from live news coverage.

Donald Trump left the courtroom on a lunch break just moments after a protestor set himself on fire outside the courthouse.

He did not look at the cameras assembled or speak.

The former president ignored shouted questions on his way out.

The final two alternate jurors were seated Friday afternoon.

Judge Merchan declared 'I think we have our full panel’ after a grueling few hours.

Alternate 5 is a woman who works for a clothing company and is married without children.

She gets her news from the New York Times and Google.

Alternate 6 is another woman who has lived on the Upper East Side for four years.

She is an estimator and project manager for a small construction company. She is divorced and has three boys.

'I do whatever my kids want me to do in my spare time," she said. She has a subscription to NY Times, but mainly plays Spelling Bee.

She watches NY1 and listens to true-crime podcasts.

Opening arguments are expected to kick off on Monday.

Due to Passover, the court will work through lunch and stop at 2:00 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

Donald Trump's defense lawyers challenged the selection of an alternate juror attacking the ex-president's 'egomaniacal, sociopathic incompetence'.

The former president sat back in his chair and didn't seem to respond as his attorney Susan Necheles read another social media post calling Trump 'the devil'.

Earlier the man said he didn't like the high-profile defendant's 'rhetoric'.

According to reporters in the courtroom, Trump appeared to fall asleep as the fourth day of jury selection drones on.

He slowly dropped his head and closed his eyes before jerking back up.

He then adjusted himself before allowing his head to droop once again before snaping back up.

Trump seemingly muffled a yawn in another picture from the photographers in court.

The court has not yet breaked for lunch, and it has been a long morning in the freezing room.

It was previously reported that he may have fallen asleep during proceedings on Monday and Tuesday.

But his campaign emphatically rejected claims that he did so.

'This is 100% Fake News coming from 'journalists' who weren't even in the court room,' they said in a statement.

There are two spots left to fill as alternates on Trump's criminal trial.

• Alternate 1: Woman investment analyst who loves to run and eat good food.
• Alternate 2: Woman from Spain that is not currently employed.
• Alternate 3: Man in the audio industry that enjoys martial arts podcasts.
• Alternate 4: Woman originally from Oregon who lives in Chelsea.
• Alternate 5: Still open.
• Alternate 6: Still open.

A man who helps fund startups called the question about his opinion of Trump a 'very interesting question' and stated he would have mulitple answers depending on it was Trump the person, Trump the politician or Trump the businessman?

'I don’t know him personally. He’s a family man. He’s a businessman,' he said. 'He brought a lot of value to the economy.'

The man called Trump ‘successful’ but when it came to politics things ‘get a bit tricky’ for him.

‘I really like lower taxes in this country, lower regulation, I like startups to have an easier way. I want more jobs through information technology. Lower taxes, I subscribe to,' he said.

But when it came to 'bringing religion into people's lives and women’s right to their bodies’, the man said he didn’t share that Republican viewpoint.

Overall, he said he was 'neutral leaning positive' on Trump.

A woman who could serve as a potential juror was pressed by lawyers over attending the Women's March.

She said she does not have a bias against Donald Trump, but she admitted her personal bias is more focused on his base.

'I think his rhetoric at times enables people to feel as if they have permission to discriminate or act on their negative impulses,' she said.

The woman added that she doesn't know what his rhetoric is, but she explained how some of his base has felt enabled to makehomophobic and rasist comments based on it.

'I think that is an issue for me in the ballot box I will have to deal with, not within the courtroom,' she said.

The fifth juror of the day - who is a fan of DailyMail.com - was dismissed.

The woman who lives in Battery Park asked to approach the bemch after 'getting the same anxiety and self-doubt.'

She enjoys traveling and cooking in her spare time.

In addition to the DailyMail.com, she gets her news from the New York Times and CNN.

The woman whose father has been lifelong friends with Chris Christie was dismissed after she broke down during questioning.

She also disclosed that Michael Cohen's son works at her company.

The woman said she felt 'so nervous and anxious' while being questioned by the prosecution.

'I thought I could do this. But I wouldn’t want someone who feels this way to judge my case. I don’t want to waste the court’s time. This is so much more stressful than I thought it was going to be.'

Judge Merchan called her up to the bench along with counsel for both sides and then promptly dismissed her.

One potential juror was crying as lawyers huddled around her.

Judge Merchan had to stand up and lean in to hear her.

The woman was loud enough for reporters in the room to hear pieces of the conversation.

The woman said she was a drug addict and mentioned conspiracy and felony charges.

She said she would have brought it up earlier but did not want to say anything in front of 150 people.

'Sorry for crying,' she said.

Convicted felons are not allowed to serve as jurors in New York.

The woman said she was pretty sure she should not have been called.

Trump was closely paying attention to the full interaction, according to reporters in the room.

One woman who works in sales told the court her dad is a lifelong friend of former Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Christie was a onetime Trump ally who became one of the ex-president's harshest critics and even ran against him the the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

The potential juror said she reads the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Post.

There have been three potential alternate jurors dismissed so far on Friday for being unable to be 'fair and impartial.'

That's out of a total panel of 22 possible jurors looking to fill five seats.

Judge Merchan said that there will be six alternate jurors. One alternate was selected on Thursday before the court adjourned for the day.

A woman who works as an investment analyst for an asset manager was seated as the first alternate.

In her spare time she likes to run, hang out with friends and eat food.

She gets her news from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

A prospective juror immediately got Donald Trump's attention when he said he had volunteered for Hillary Clinton's campaign.

The man who was raised in New Jersey said he was a private equity manager whose fund was a minority investor in the company behind Michael Cohen's Mea Culpa podcast.

He insisted he could be impartial, then explained to the court that he volunteered for Get Out The Vote during the Clinton campaign.

He also attended a women’s march.

Trump looked up and glanced at him a few times as he spoke.

The former president and Blanche passed notes and had a brief verbal exchange when the potential juror was reading out his answers.

A potential juror who works as the Chief Technology Officer of a start up told court he believes everyone is equal to the law.

He said he comes from a scandinavian country where the difference between people in power and regular people 'is less.'

The man said he believes everyone should be treated fairly and equally.

At one point, the man leaned forward while responding to the questionnaire and stopped to say with a sigh 'this is more stressful than I thought.'

Donald Trump braved the freezing court room by flipping through court documents and whispering to his lead attorney Todd Blanche.

He has only looked up a couple of times from the defense table.

Three prospective alternate jurors have been dismissed so far. The court already has one, and needs five more to complete the full quota.

A female juror being considered for the panel said she didn't think she could be impartial before reading any answers from her questionnaire.

Prospective jurors have to answer 42 questions and show they can be 'fair' if they want to be sworn onto the jury.

But candidate B800 was excused when she said: 'I don’t think I can be impartial after thinking about this yesterday when I heard the questions. I don’t think I can be impartial.'

Merchan dismissed her with the attorneys' consent.

Trump, who was leaning his elbows on the defense table looking down, did not appear to look up as the juror passed him in the well to exit the courtroom.

A prospective jury alternate was also exused on Friday morning when she admitted she didn't think she could be impartial 'after some introspection'.

'I want to be, and I have every intention when I first started, but I think after the questions posed to prospective jurors, in asking those questions to myself, I don’t think I can be impartial,' she told the court.

An executive chef told the court he believes Donald Trump is being 'treated fairly' in the hush money trial and promised he could be 'impartial'.

The man who works for a large hospitality group and lives in the Upper East Side said he kept up to date with White House social media when Trump was president.

He added that he doesn't follow any news organizations, but watches YouTube.

One potential juror, a lawyer who works as an assistant corporate counsel, said she had been sexually assaulted multiple times on the train.

She also said how she has had her cellphone stolen.

The woman said she browes headlines from the New York Times and New York Post, but she does not really listen to podcasts or the radio.

Reporters inside the court noticed Donald Trump start chewing on something as prospective jurors were questioned.

Was it gum? Was it a mint?

Judge Juan Merchan could hold a so-called Sandoval hearing on Friday to rule on what prosecutors can use if Donald Trump takes the stand in his own defense.

Trump said last week while speaking at Mar-a-Lago that he does plan to testifying in the hush money case.

A Sandoval hearing is a preliminary proceeding that reviews a defendant’s criminal history and looks at how much prosecutors can ask if a defendant testifies.

Prosecutors could use his past legal cases in an effort to discredit him.

In a court filing released Wednesday, prosecutors for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said they would ask the ex-president about recent verdicts against him including the New York civil fraud trial where Trump was found to have inflated the values of his properties to get better loan rates.

They could also ask about the E Jean Carroll case in which Trump was ordered to pay more than $90 million for defamation.

Other cases that would be considered are Trump's lawsuit against Hillary Clinton which was dismissed in 2022, the settlement over the illegal use of Trump Foundation funds and the 2022 Trump Organization tax fraud conviction.

Merchan said late Tuesday that the matter could be debated in court on Friday if jury selection was completed.

A prospective female juror was the first to be excused as an alternate on Friday after she admitted having 'really bad anxiety'.

The Manhattan resident sat in Seat 1 said she was concerned she could not be impartial.

'The more days that go on the more people in my life know they just put the pieces together. I don't think I will be able to be here and be fair.'

The judge then excused her.

Judge Juan Merchan told the court on Friday morning that his still 'working on the temperature' after Donald Trump complained the room was 'freezing'.

Donald Trump entered the courtroom at 9:26am for the fourth day of his hush money trial.

He was trailed by his lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles.

The ex-president glanced at one of the security officers before taking a seat at the defense table.

Sitting in the back row of the courtroom is Trump aide Steven Cheung as well as lawyer Cliff Robert who was one of Trump's lawyers in the New York Attorney General's civil fraud trial.

Both the prosecution and defense wanted an 'educated' and 'sophisticated' jury to decide the fate of Donald Trump in his hush money trial, a jury expert has told DailyMail.com.

Renato Stabile, an attorney who specializes in jury selection, said his takeaway from the arduous selection process is that each side wanted Manhattan residents who would 'understand the legal and financial issues' involved.

'I think the big takeaway is that both sides were going for a more educated, more sophisticated jury.

'You have two lawyers, people in finance, and people with advanced degrees. I

'It looks like both sides want the jurors to really understand the legal and financial issues that are involved in this case, like HELOC loans, grossing up payments for tax purposes, reimbursement of advances made by Cohen, and the federal crimes that form the basis for the New York felony charge.

'It’s interesting to me that both sides seem to have wanted the exact same thing, and I expect that the defense will be a highly technical one.

'I think putting two lawyers on the jury was an extremely bold move by the defense.

'I still believe there is an unlikely chance of a full acquittal here, but we may be looking at a hung jury.'

Former President Donald Trump spoke to the assembled press at the courthouse Friday morning.

He went after Biden for orchestrating a 'rigged' trial and demanded the judge release him from the gag order.

'This is a rigged trial coming from the White House,' Trump declared upon entering court.

He said that DA Bragg, who attended Harvard, is 'not smart enough to represent himself… like Letitia James.'

And the 2024 frontrunner stated he should be campaigning in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina instead of stuck in court all day.

He went on to declare: 'The gag order has to come off.'

'People are allowed to speak about me, and I have a gag order, just to show you how much more unfair it is.'

'They've taken away my constitutional rights to speak, and that includes speaking to you. I have a lot to say to you, and I'm not allowed to say it, and I'm the only one. Everyone else can say whatever they want about me.'

He went further, calling unspecified people talking about him 'real scum.'

Trump also accused the overseeing judge of having a conflict of interest.

'The conflict has to end with the judge. The judge has a conflicct the worst I've ever seen,' he added.

Donald Trump was joined by loyal aide Margo Martin on Friday as he made his way to court for the fourth day of his historic hush money trial and demanded that the gag order be lifted.

The former president, 77, stepped out of Trump Tower with his communications staffer and got into a motorcade in preparation for the last part of the gruelling jury selection process.

He gave a wave and a fist bump to the waiting crowd of fans and photographers as he walked across the sidewalk while Martin was looking at her phone.

Proceedings lef by Judge Merchan are set to kick off at 9:30 a.m.

Trump aide Margo Martin posted a video of the former President departing Trump Tower to head to the New York court.

Donald Trump landing in jail for violating the gag order in the Manhattan hush money trial could spark protests across the country, a CNN analyst has warned.

Mark Preston told host Jim Acosta there would be 'civil unrest' if Judge Juan Merchan decide to put the president behind bars.

The judge scheduled a hearing next week to consider if Trump violated the gag order with seven social media posts about Michael Cohen and 'undercover liberal activists' on the jury.

Trump could be held in contempt and even faces a short prison stint.

Acosta asked the panel, including Preston, what impact a Trump custodial punishment would have.

'It really does put us between this rock and a hard place,' Preston said.

'And and the rock is like, listen, he has done something that’s wrong.

'And if it was any of us sitting at this table, would we be, you know, held to a higher or was held to a higher standard? Would we have to go, you know, into that holding cell?

'I think that if he does go into this hole, if that were to happen, first of all, I think you would probably see civil unrest across the country, certainly in some cities. That’s one.

He added that the Biden campaign doesn't want to see Trump in jail because it will 'inflame' more people.

Two jurors have already been removed from the case.

On Thursday, Justice Juan Merchan dismissed one juror who said she felt intimidated after friends and relatives figured out she had been chosen for the trial.

Another was dismissed after prosecutors questioned whether he had been truthful about prior run-ins with the law.

The grandfather was arrested in the 1990s for ripping down posters with right-leaning messages.

He told the court he thought Trump was 'fascinating' when he was questioned in voir dire.

Former President Donald Trump's staffers were spotted out in New York doing a McDonald's run at lunchtime Thursday during his third day in court for the Stormy Daniels hush money trial.

An aide was caught leaving the famous fast food chain with four large bags, riding around in a vehicle marked 'Staff 2,' a sign the black van was part of Trump's motorcade.

Trump's love for McDonald's is a well-documented affair.

His go-to meal is two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish and a chocolate malted milkshake - according to ex-aides Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie in their book, Let Trump Be Trump.

During a 2019 government shutdown, the then-president ordered McDonald's and other fast food - totaling around $5,500 - to feed the Clemson University football team, due to the White House kitchen not being open.

Finding an impartial jury in the trial of the century proved to be a challenge in the hush money case against Donald Trump as it dragged into day three.

It turns out that many potential jurors already have an opinion of the ex-president while others are concerned about their own safety and whether their identities would be publicly uncovered even if they do believe they can remain impartial in the case.

Day three of the Trump hush money trial started with seven jurors having been seated but two were dismissed throughout the day dropping the number down to five before more were added.

Dozens of more potential jurors filed through the courtroom in lower Manhattan as the ex-president of the United States looked on. But many were excused after saying the could not remain impartial.

By the end of the day twelve jurors had been seated. Jury selection for the alternates will continue Friday.

Judge Juan Merchan said he remains hopeful opening statements could begin Monday.

Donald Trump could be held in contempt in the historic hush money trial after prosecutors produced seven more social media posts they claim violate a gag order.

Attorneys for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said the former president should be punished for sharing a New York Post article calling Michael Cohen a 'serial perjurer' and 'embarrassment' to the court system.

Another was Trump resharing a quote from Fox News host Jesse Watters saying the defense team is 'catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge' to get on the jury.

Donald Trump is returning to court in Manhattan for the fourth day of his historic hush money trial.

The full jury of seven men and five women has been selected, with members including an investment banker and a speech therapist who admits he 'doesn't like' his policies.

The court has to select five more alternates, after one was chosen last night.

Trump's legal team has already used all their strikes to get rid of potential jurors.

Here is who is on the jury.