Veteran Courtroom Artist Surprised By 1 Donald Trump Behavior In Trial
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Elizabeth Williams, a courtroom sketch artist who is covering Donald Trump’s hush money trial, on Monday highlighted what she considered was the former president’s unusual demeanor when he was listening to his case in court.
When Judge Juan Merchan was explaining one ruling, Williams told CNN’s Erin Burnett that Trump “had his eyes closed, his head would sort of tilt back and forth” and then “all of a sudden he would hear something, he would snap to attention, take a piece of paper, write something down and hand it to [his attorney] Todd Blanche.”
“So, he really wasn’t asleep but he had his eyes closed and he did the same thing through the opening statement of the prosecutor, he closed his eyes the entire time,” she recalled.
It was in stark contrast to when Trump’s opening statement was put forward by his attorney, she noted. Then, Trump “sits back, he looks towards the jury, he has a very different body language at that point in time.”
Williams said it was “very typical” for defendants not to “want to look at the prosecutor when they make an opening statement” and then look up when their own attorney is addressing the court.
“But this was just so dramatic, I’ve never seen anybody close their eyes for all this period of time, ever, and I’ve been doing this so long,” she added.
Watch the interview here:
Courtroom sketch Artist Elizabeth Williams reveals what she called the oddest moment of the Trump trial today pic.twitter.com/L4JfMP0hUk
— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) April 23, 2024
