Bringing Trump's Trial to Life

Sketch artist Isabelle Brourman tells Newsweek what it was like covering the former president's court case

- KATHERINE FUNG

THERE WAS A NONSTOP PARADE of recognizable faces at former President Donald Trump's criminal trial. On the witness stand, in the audience and in the overflow room, high-profile figures, Trump allies and even primetime news anchors made an appearance at 100 Centre Street in New York City.

But the best-dressed person in the courtroom was not among that crowd. Instead, she was one of three court sketch artists who spent their days scribbling on large canvases, documenting the historic criminal trial-and eventual conviction-of a former U.S. president. Isabelle Brourman who often sported a large, bedazzled headband and tights that made her legs look like they were covered in tattoos-spent five weeks inside the courtroom, diligently caricaturing the ex-president and the rotating cast of characters.

From star witness Michael Cohen to members of Trump's entourage including Lara Trump and Representative Lauren Boebert-Brourman not only tried to capture who was in the courtroom, but also the feeling of being in that room on the 15th floor of the Manhattan Criminal Court.

"People ask me, 'What's it like? How are you doing?"

And those are things that we don't really consider when we're looking back on historic documents. What were people feeling in the room?" she told Newsweek during a live interview at her studio, before the trial ended.

Her vibrant, collage-like images are unconventional. Unlike the other court sketch artists who paint snapshots of the trial, Brourman fills her canvases with overlapping images of the defendant, witnesses, exhibits of evidence, quotes from the attorneys and, in one work, even the plastic bag that her lunch came in.