A courtroom sketch artist said Donald Trump’s mood changed quite dramatically on Tuesday during testimony about former Playboy model Karen McDougal at his hush money trial.
David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, has been testifying for the prosecution about a “catch and kill” scheme that he allegedly helped Trump carry out before the 2016 election to find and bury potentially damaging stories.
In 2016, McDougal signed a $150,000 (£120,000) agreement with American Media Inc., which owned the Enquirer, for the rights to her story that she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier.
Pecker discussed some of the events leading up to that payment on Tuesday, describing how Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-attorney, had asked him to look into the story.
Elizabeth Williams, who has a decades-long career in creating court artwork, told CNN on Tuesday that Trump started out the day with his eyes often closed.
“But then when they start talking about McDougal ... the eyes are open, the arms start folding,” she said.
Williams said she has drawn the former president several times now and has observed a theme.
“When he folds his arms ... that means something is not right with Donald Trump,” she commented, noting that he did so several times during the E Jean Carroll defamation trial and when he was arraigned on federal charges in Miami.
“He’s now laser-focused on David Pecker,” she continued. “Prior to that, I looked at him quite a bit, and he was somewhat paying attention. But the McDougal testimony — that, that seemed to really get to him.”
McDougal claims she had a sexual relationship with Trump for about 10 months between 2006 and 2007, when he was married to his current wife, Melania Trump.
Trump has denied her allegations.
Prosecutors say Cohen was supposed to reimburse AMI, on Trump’s behalf, for the money McDougal was paid, but the deal fell through.
The McDougal payment is not part of the indictment against Trump, but it is relevant to the charges, which centre on a hush money payment from Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case.
Prosecutors say Trump falsified business records when he reimbursed Cohen for that expenditure, in an attempt to obscure the true nature of the payments.