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A person briefly caused a fire at the State Supreme Court Building in New York, which triggered the fire alarms and led to an emergency evacuation. In the courtroom, the man was found burning papers, according to Al Baker, a court spokesperson.
A small fire broke out at the Lower Manhattan landmark just after 4 p.m., and firefighters quickly arrived to put out the flames. A temporary but noticeable haze spread through the stairwell on floors three and four, MSN reported.
For nearly three months, the historic courthouse—typically seen in shows like “Law & Order” and “Night Court”—has served as the venue for the civil business fraud trial of former President Donald Trump. After the testimony for the day concluded, the evacuation occurred a few hours later.
Firefighters from the New York City Fire Department reported 17 minor injuries, including two patients transported to a downtown hospital. Most of them declined treatment.
The building’s evacuees, including presiding Judge Arthur Engoron, were allowed to return to it not long after. The evacuation of the courthouse did not occur while Trump was there. Final arguments from the trial’s attorneys will be delivered next month.
Earlier this month, Trump’s attorney and spokeswoman, Alina Habba, slammed New York Attorney General Letitia James for filing the $250 million lawsuit against Trump.
James is leading the case after accusing Trump and his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, of inflating and deflating the value of the business to get more favorable loan and interest rates.
“She’s just not that bright. I’m sorry, I have to say it,” Habba told Newsmax TV, adding that she doesn’t believe James has a good case. “I’ve seen their case; I’ve seen their lawyers. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Judge Engoron, who is presiding over the case, has already ruled in September that Trump was guilty of defrauding banks, but he’s been openly hostile to the former president and his legal team throughout the trial thus far.
“Just because a bank who’s giving you a loan says it’s worth what the loan amount is, which is what happens when anybody takes a loan out, they’re never going to say the real value,” she continued, per The Hill. “They’re going to say what they want to say and not a penny more, or what the loan amount is and not a penny more.”
“She needs to educate herself, maybe go to some — I don’t even know how to express how ridiculous this is,” Habba said. “It’s like being in a circus with a bunch of — I mean, what I want to say I can’t say on TV, but it’s crazy. You know, it’s just ridiculous. Anybody with a brain understands that this is just completely insane.”
Trump himself took the stand earlier this week and repeatedly clashed with Engoron during the nearly four hours of testimony. He also took some verbal potshots at James, who was in the courtroom.
While many have predicted that Engoron will eventually find Trump guilty, Habba said earlier this month that the possibility of the former president serving time in prison is “not even something we think about.”
When Carl Higbie of Newsmax asked Habba if Trump could go to jail for breaking one of the gag orders, she said, “He’s protected by Secret Service, period.”
“So, I always tell people when they’re panicked, ‘Listen, he’s protected by Secret Service, number one. Number two, he did nothing wrong.’ So, when people go to jail, it’s because they’ve done something wrong. Do we have crooked situations in and out of court? Absolutely. Could they try? Probably, but it won’t work because there is still a trial process, there is still facts, and unfortunately, they’re not going to win on the facts,” she continued.
She added: “Secret Service will always protect President Trump. That’s the truth, they have to wherever he is, but it’s not even something we think about, to be honest, because this is all political. It’s really not— there’s no criminal acts that he’s done. There’s no civil wrongs that he’s done, unless making money for banks is a civil wrong all of a sudden.”
“Orange man bad,” responded Higbie, to which Habba said, “It’s Trump derangement syndrome at its best. I’m not worried about him, he’s not worried, and the American public shouldn’t be worried.”
