When Doug Johnson received a text that his friend of over a decade, Maxwell Azzarello, had died after setting himself on fire in New York City, he didn’t believe it.
“I was like, ‘No, you got the wrong person. I don’t know anybody that would do that,’” Johnson told NBC News.
Johnson did some research online out of curiosity, and that’s when he saw Azzarello’s face pop up in an article.
Maxwell Azzarello.via Instagram
“Just immediately, chills up my spine, like, in total disbelief,” he said.
Azzarello set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial was taking place on Friday.
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According to police, he walked into the center of the park where protesters were allowed across the street from the courthouse, opened a backpack and threw numerous pamphlets on the ground. He then pulled out a canister, poured a liquid accelerant on himself, lit himself on fire and then fell to the ground.
Azzarello, 37, later died of his injuries, leaving friends and strangers alike wondering what drove him to his actions.
Johnson, who was part of the same friend group as Azzarello in North Carolina, describes him as smart, funny, charismatic and the most intelligent human being he had ever met.
“I keep hearing on the news, you know, how he was a conspiracy theorist, an extremist — and obviously, you have to be extreme to do something like he did,” Johnson said. “But as far as the way the picture’s been painted of him so far, I feel like it’s a really inaccurate depiction of him.”
Selfless, but troubled
A glimpse at social media gives a small window into Azzarello’s thoughts. Multiple pictures of pamphlets entitled “Dips— Secrets of our Rotten World” and “The True History of the World,” were posted to his Facebook and Instagram, expressing anti-government views. In his pamphlets, he accused powerful people of running Ponzi schemes and warned of an imminent economic collapse and coup.
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Max Azzarello outside of Manhattan criminal court in New York City, on April 18. David Dee Delgado / Getty Images
On Friday, a user on Substack going by the name M. Crosby — Crosby is Azzarello’s middle name — published a blog post where he wrote that he set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in New York City. The writer said that this “extreme act of protest is to draw attention to … an apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
Mary Pat Cooney, who worked with Azzarello nine years ago at the Liberty Hill Foundation, an L.A.-based social justice nonprofit, described him as a selfless person who was “always happy to help people” if they had a problem.
“He was highly intelligent, thoroughly dedicated, funny and kind — that’s the person that I remember,” Cooney said.
Azzarello attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 2009 with a B.A. in public policy and anthropology, according to a university spokesperson. He also earned his master’s degree in city and regional planning, with a major in urban planning and policy development from Rutgers University in New Brunswick in 2012.
“I swear, as far as history and politics and, you know, social studies, social matters, stuff like that, there wasn’t a topic that he wasn’t knowledgeable in,” Johnson, Azzarello’s friend from North Carolina, said. “And it was like the equivalent of me typing something into Google and then Max is spitting out the information to me, and he was accurate with it.”
But beyond Azzarello’s brilliance, he seemed to be troubled, according to his friends. Both Johnson and Cooney said Azzarello appeared to change after the death of his mother in April 2022.
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Cooney, who kept in touch with Azzarello through Facebook, said the character of his posts became less good-natured after his mother’s death.
“In his previous posts, and all our communication — (he was) concerned, righteous, knowledgeable, a good-spirited guy,” Cooney said. “The guy that came a little later was a bit more of a ranter, had a different level of anger, and was expressing it in a — I don’t know what the right word is, but it was kind of like he was yelling at us to pay attention to him, rather than pleading his case and sharing it for the world.”
In August of last year, Azzarello posted a picture of grippy socks to his Facebook with the caption, “Three days in the psych ward and all I got were my new favorite socks.”
“I was handcuffed, shoved, and put into a psych ward,” Azzarello wrote toward the end of the caption. “I was given no information about why I was there until after my discharge. Though I committed no crime and was released upon my first evaluation, all background checks (like the ones for jobs) will show an incident with police officers that cannot be expunged (until we abolish the government, of course).”
It’s not clear what events took place before Azzarello said he was committed to the psych ward.
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A string of arrests
Azzarello’s alleged stint in a psych ward seemed to precede a string of arrests in St. Augustine, Florida, where he lived before his death.
On Aug. 19, 2023, Azzarello was charged with criminal mischief when he allegedly threw a glass of wine at an autograph by former President Bill Clinton that was on a wall at the lobby of the Casa Monica Resort & Spa, according to a warrant affidavit from the St. Augustine Police Department.
Two days later, Azzarello allegedly returned to the resort and stood outside, where he stripped down to his underwear, yelled and cursed at customers, and was blasting music from a speaker, per an arrest report.
An officer who attempted to make contact with Azzarello said “he just began yelling and was not making any sense.” He was arrested for disturbing the peace. Azzarello was put on probation for this incident, which ended earlier this month.
Three days after that, Azzarello was arrested again for criminal mischief after he was seen on surveillance video allegedly vandalizing property belonging to a nonprofit in St. Johns County, including writing with permanent marker on one of their signs, court documents state. He was also seen climbing into the bed of someone’s pickup truck and going through their belongings, as well as removing a sign placed at a home by pest control warning them to keep pets and children off the lawn.
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“Azzarello was misinterpreting the sign and was telling me that the pest control company was there to exterminate children and dogs,” an officer with the St. Augustine Police Department wrote in the arrest report.
Azzarello was also put on probation in connection with these incidents, which ended earlier this month.
His final moments
Two years after the death of his mother, Azzarello made his way to New York City where he self-immolated. It’s not clear why or when Azzarello came to the city, but NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said he arrived early last week and that family members were unaware that he was there.
When asked if he felt there was a reason Azzarello would self-immolate outside of the Trump trial, Johnson said Azzarello wasn’t specifically concerned about Trump, but would speak generally about the corruption of all politicians.
While struggling to understand why his friend would do this, Johnson hopes people don’t remember Azzarello just for his final moments.
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“He deserves at least to be remembered for the good person that he was, the selfless person that he was, the charismatic, loving, giving person,” Johnson said. “All he wanted was better for people and it didn’t matter if he knew you or not. He wanted better for everyone.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Donald Trump’s former campaign press secretary described the “crisis” caused by the release of the infamous Access Hollywood video during the 2016 presidential race, as she took the stand to testify in the Manhattan “hush money” trial against the former US president.
Hope Hicks, who worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign and followed him to the White House, described how the tape — in which the then-candidate was heard to brag about grabbing women’s genitals — was a “damaging development” for the Republican nominee’s election bid, which was “going to be hard to overcome”.
Trump’s team believed “this was a crisis”, said Hicks, who previously worked for Fox Corp and is now a communications consultant.
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However Trump himself considered the recorded comments, published just days before the November 2016 vote, to be “pretty standard stuff”, she said.
“Mr Trump felt like this wasn’t good, but was also just two guys talking privately,” Hicks testified, while Trump looked on from the defence table. “He felt like this was pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting with each other.”
The longtime Trump aide’s testimony came at the end of the third week of the trial in which the former president stands accused of covering up payments made to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, a porn actor who alleged she had an extramarital affair with him.
The prosecution called Hicks in an attempt to prove its theory that Trump was desperate to prevent further bad publicity from emerging in the aftermath of the Access Hollywood tape when he agreed to pay Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case, claims these transactions therefore amounted to an attempt to “corrupt” the election.
The judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, has banned prosecutors from playing the tape to the jury, but allowed a transcript of Trump’s comments to be read in court.
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Earlier in the day, Merchan directly addressed Trump to contradict comments from the presumptive Republican nominee in November’s election claiming a court-imposed gag order would prevent him from taking the stand in his own defence.
“You have an absolute right to testify at trial, if that is what you decide to do,” Merchan said. “That is a constitutional right”.
Trump was fined $9,000 on Tuesday for repeatedly violating the gag order, which bars him from attacking witnesses or jurors in the case. Merchan warned that he could jail Trump if he continued to flout the order.
On his way into the courtroom on Friday morning, Trump told reporters he would be “filing a lawsuit on the constitutionality of [the gag order]” but provided no further details.
Katie Ledecky reacts after setting a world record and winning the Woman’s 1500m Final at the FINA Swimming World Cup in 2022.
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Katie Ledecky reacts after setting a world record and winning the Woman’s 1500m Final at the FINA Swimming World Cup in 2022.
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Katie Ledecky is used to getting medals.
She has 10 Olympic medals — seven of which are gold — and she has 26 world championship medals — 21 of those are gold.
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All of that hardware has helped her earn the undisputed title as the greatest female swimmer of all time.
But on Friday, she will receive a different kind of medal: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award a civilian can get from the U.S. government.
Ledecky spoke to All Things Considered host Juana Summers about what the medal means to her, how she is thinking about the Paris Olympics in July-August, and why she has no plans to retire after this summer.
Juana Summers will be in Paris covering the Olympics for NPR. You can follow all her reporting on All Things Considered.
Ledecky with two gold and two silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
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This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Juana Summers: Alright Katie, so this medal — does this one go in the same trophy cases as your Olympic medals? What do you think you’re going to do with it?
Katie Ledecky: Oh, I have not even thought of that yet! This is definitely one that’s very meaningful and very unique. And never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I would be receiving this recognition. So I’m very, very honored.
Summers: Let’s look ahead if we can, because this could be another incredibly big year for you. The Summer Olympics start in just a few months in Paris — how are you feeling in the pool these days? Do you feel like you’re ready?
Ledecky: I’m ready. We have our Olympic trials in about a month now. So that’s what I’m gearing up for, I have one more meet before then. So everything is tracking well, my training is going well. And I’m really excited for hopefully the opportunity to represent the U.S. at a fourth Olympics. I can’t believe that I get this opportunity and it’s gonna be a great summer and I’m excited.
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Summers: If the trials go your way, and you do indeed get to represent the U.S. at your fourth Olympic Games, do you know which event you will be most excited for?
Ledecky: Oh, well, I hope I’ll be competing in multiple events. And each one is special in a different way. The 800 free has always been my favorite and the event that I swam at my first Olympics in 2012, which I won gold at at age 15. So that’s one that I hold a special place for in my heart. But I love all my events. And I’m looking forward to each of the challenges that I’ll have with each of the races.
Summers: If you head to Paris, do you think they will be your last? Do you think we’ll see you come back for the 2028 games in Los Angeles?
Ledecky: I take things year by year, but right now, I definitely could see myself competing in 2028, with it being a home Olympics. It’s something that’s very unique. It’s something that not every Olympic athlete gets. And so I definitely know I’m not retiring after this summer and 2028 is very appealing. So I think, at this point, I want to be there, I want to compete in at least one event, maybe more. But again, plans can change. It’s a long ways away, my focus is solely on this summer in Paris at this moment.
Ledecky in the Women’s 800m Freestyle Final in Tokyo in 2021.
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Summers: You know, I have to say you have been such an inspiration for so many young women athletes, whether they are swimmers or competitors in other sports, just due to your dominance, the number of medals you’ve amassed, your longevity in your sport, and now receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is one of the highest awards a civilian can get in the United States. How do you think about your career, what you represent, what you show to a new generation of athletes, particularly women athletes?
Ledecky: Oh, thank you for the kind words. I tried to give as much as I can. And I hope that young girls look up to me and can see the work that I’ve put in and the results that I’ve had and what I’ve tried to accomplish in and out of the pool. I hope they see that and are inspired by it, whether they’re a swimmer or not.
I think, you know, I’ve learned a lot through the sport. And through this over a decade-long journey I’ve had at the international level, I’ve learned a lot about goal setting and dedication and resilience.
Summers: Is there a lesson or a story about resilience you would share for the folks who look to you as a role model?
Ledecky: Sure, I think one story that I think a lot of Olympic athletes would tell you is about our experience in 2020 and 2021 and the Olympics being postponed a year. In swimming, the Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and we build four-year plans to peak at the Olympics and to be our very best. And so to have that pushed a year and to be kind of living under uncertain circumstances, and not knowing whether the Olympics would actually happen, I think took a lot of resilience for all of us, and we all had to adapt and train in backyard pools and do weightlifting in our homes or apartments and all those things.
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So I learned a lot about myself during that time, learned that you can adapt and you can adjust to change. And certainly, we weren’t going through the worst of it during that time — I felt very lucky and fortunate to have a goal and something to work towards with the Olympics. I know that so many people during that time were suffering a lot more than we were. I think having those experiences have made me tougher, and really taught me that I’m able to adapt when things don’t go the way that I anticipate they’ll go.
Summers: Katie, whether Paris is your last Olympics, or you go to L.A., or even beyond, eventually, you will stop swimming competitively. What do you think about when you think about that future? Is that something you don’t even consider right now?
Ledecky: I haven’t thought about it too much. But for me, when I think of swimming, and I think of this career that I’ve had, I think of all the joy that I’ve had in the sport, and everything that I’ve been able to learn through the sport, all the people that I’ve gotten to meet through the sport, all the places that I’ve gotten to go through competitive swimming. And I think because of all that joy that I’ve experienced in the sport, it’s something that I’m never going to stop doing.
Of course, some day my competitive career will come to an end and I’m not going to be looking at the clock or having a coach get my times every every set. But I think I’ll always find myself going back to the pool and swimming some laps or splashing around. And it’s a place that I find so much joy.
As we get into the summer months, I hope that a lot of other people can find that joy and learn how to swim. It’s such an important life skill. And, in my view, the greatest sport on earth, and something that you can do for the rest of your life. I hope that I’ll be swimming into my 90s — I have a 98-year-old grandma, so I’m lucky to have some good genes there, and I hope that I’ll be able to stay healthy and happy, and happy in the pool and happy in the water. It’s definitely my happy place.
