एस् ए एन् एन् न्यूजMax Azzarello, a 37-year-old man from Florida, was arrested in three cases and served 180-day probation last year before being released from custody. On Friday, he set himself on fire outside a New York courthouse where former president Donald Trump’s hush-money trial is taking place. Azzarello had been protesting in front of the courthouse, slamming Democrat and Republican leaders. He was active on social media and called himself an ‘investigative researcher’. His constant rants and controversial posts earned him the moniker, ‘conspiracy theorist’.
Before setting himself on fire, Azzarello wrote a 2,700-word manifesto on Substack, an American email newsletter platform, saying, “My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan.” The extreme act of protest aimed to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: 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.”
Azzarello’s trouble began on August 19, 2023, when he was arrested for tossing a glass of wine at former president Bill Clinton’s autograph framed and hanged on a wall in the lobby of Casa Monica Hotel in his hometown of Saint Augustine, Florida. On August 21, he was again arrested for stripping off his clothes and yelling at customers outside the Casa Monica Hotel. An officer saw him allegedly getting into a fountain on a nearby property and yelling at people “in an intimidating matter.”
Azzarello was sentenced to 180 days of probation and remained in the St Johns County jail until October 3, last year.
