WSD Drawings

Breaking News!  Friday, Sept 29 -- one of the 19 Rico co-defendants has pleaded guilty to the charges against him, according to CNBC .  He gets 5 years probation and has agreed to "testify truthfully in this case and all further proceedings." h Scott Hall is a bail bondsman and you can look at his own autobio here . He had built up quite the professional reputation in the bail bonding profession and may have quickly realized that he had better get on the right side as soon as possible after falling under the sway of this foolish ragtag group of Vote-Finders. Ahhh -- this news so satisfying! For so many years, we have become numb to people in power at all levels of government blatantly lie, cheat and steal without any impunity. So much like those Watergate days gone by and yet unlike them -- the MAGA power base is far-reaching and more dangerous than Nixon's Silent Majority. It is also satisfying because I have been working on a bunch of the Atlanta #TrumpTrials defendants...

Judge Cannon is a US District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, nominated by Donald John Trump .  You can read about her undistinguished career here . You might remember that she was the presiding judge in the initial court hearings regarding the classified documents case in Florida. She granted Trump's request for a "Special Master" to review the documents. After much delay and upon appeal, the 11th Circuit found that Cannon wrongly exercised jurisdiction over the case.  Now she has returned to oversee the federal criminal case against Trump for his mishandling of the documents. She has not recused herself, although some legal scholars have called for her to do so. I say, leave her on! Let her try to up the drama -- let's see what happens then! In her official photographic portrait, the judge has every hair in place, every stroke of make-up is perfection. She is pleased to be a judge.  Let us hope that she has the wisdom to listen to her elders in the 11th ...

We will be seeing the most of this judge over the next year of trials, as he is leading the proceedings in the only trial that is being televised/streamed. He was a Bush era appointee but does not appear to be crazily conservative. My sense of him so far is that he is quite aware of the gravity of the proceedings and is not going to be leaning on one side or the other. He put up a lot from Sydney Powell's and Ken Chesebro's attorneys in the one session I watched. But in the end, it felt like he knew they were making their objections and motions on behalf of clients who are in deep trouble.  These are all my speculations based upon fleeting moments of character study as well as deep observation of photographs of the subjects' faces. It will be interesting to record how my reactions might change as the trials move forward.  

She has been very tough on all the Jan 6 defendants who hav landed in her court. Could this be the reason team Trump is calling for Judge Tanya Chutkan to recuse herself? Daughter of a professional dancer and a doctor, Tanya's Wiki bio is well worth the read. I loved drawing this face, and indeed did several versions!  One looked way too much like Rachel Maddow for my tastes. I think this one has the proper solemnity and self-confidence necessary to deal with Donald John Trump in court. Unfortunately, this one will not be televised, but we will look forward to the pool reports and the court room drawings. Is it proper to make sketches based on other artist's sketches?  Seems like a sketchy move!  

  Sydney Powell is what we used to call a wack job. She started life as a lawyer and a prosecuting attorney but took hard veers to the right when she began defending Enron executives, and went full tilt boogie in fighting the Mueller investigation.  If you don't have the time or inclination to read her full Wikipedia entry, this section should suffice: Powell claimed that Flynn was framed by a covert " deep state " operation, [6] [11]  and has promoted personalities and slogans associated with the  QAnon conspiracy theory. She alleged that a secret international cabal involving communists, " globalists ",  George Soros ,  Hugo Chávez  (who died in 2013), the  Clinton Foundation , the  CIA , and thousands of Democratic and Republican officials—including then-Trump ally and  Georgia governor   Brian Kemp —used voting machines to transfer millions of votes away from Trump in the  2020 presidential election . [12] [13] [14]  ...

  John Eastman clerked for Clarence Thomas, need I say more? As I do for each of these characters, I scan Wikipedia for a summary of their lives and careers. I want to figure out how they got to this point of supporting a disgraced president through criminal activities. John Eastman’s resume lists lots of conservative jurisprudence experience. Just reflect on this one little bullet point:  “For the 2020–2021 academic year he was the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy at the Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder . [32]” Wikipedia Can you imagine taking a class from him?  What would they be studying specifically in Western Culture? Perhaps the fall of Julius Caesar? The rise of fascism in 20th century Europe and Asia?  If anyone has taken a class from Prof Eastman, please feel free to share your class syllabus with us!

Judge Juan Merchan refused to recuse himself when the defense accused him of donating $15 to Biden's campaign. (Yes, that is correct a mere fifteen smackeroos!)  He also had encouraged Trump associate  Allen H. Weisselberg in a previous trial to testify against Trump (which sounds like a positive rather than a negative, unless you are Trump.)  Born in Boghata, Colombia, Juan immigrated with his family to the US when he was 6. He is the first member of his family to graduate from college. He is also the cutest of all the judges so far!  Check out his Wiki bio here . Highlights include presiding over the Trump organization's criminal trial along with Weisselberg, and in November this year, Steve Bannon will be facing him in court for fraud and money-laundering.

  Mark Meadows was just denied a move of trial in the Atlanta, GA RICO case. His argument was essentially that he was just following orders. Judge Steve C Jones ruled that Meadows was NOT acting in his federal position as chief of staff when he made various arrangements for Trump and his Racketeers to upend the 2020 election process. Check out his full Wikipedia entry HERE .   Reading his bio, we can track a career path from son of working poor family to a young man who earned an associate's degree (later claiming it was a full 4 year degree until found out) and then opened a restaurant, followed by real estate which lead to involvement in the Republican Party. Here's a particularly revealing highlight of the type of intellect displayed by Mark Meadows in his business ventures:     "In 2014, Meadows sold 134  acres  (54  hectares ) of land in  Dinosaur, Colorado , to a  young earth creationist  group. He appeared in the controv...

  So glad you asked!   We all know that Donald John Trump loves having his image on display everywhere. I’m sure he would love a pencil sketch drawing by me, but what he is getting isn’t what he expects.   It is, however, all that he deserves.  I put as much time into it as he is worth.  I know we are all sick of seeing him, hearing about him, worrying that he will be around and in power once again. I suppose this may be a case of magical thinking on my part -- that by documenting #TrumpTrials, I am willing his downfall as I draw!  

There is some controversy on how to pronounce Ken Chesebro's last name.  So far, he is my nominee for saddest fall from a steady career path.   His background is boringly liberal, having clerked for Lawrence Tribe and worked as a lawyer on behalf of Al Gore’s election battle, and other liberal causes for many years. And then, in 2014, two things happened. He invested in bitcoin and made millions and he and his wife were divorced. By 2016 he was supporting Republicans including Donald Trump. He is now in a lot of hot water for his plans to overthrow the election via the plan for Pence to turn away Biden electors and replace them with illegal Trump electors. The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington has it all for you here . He applied for his right to a speedy trial as did Sydney Powell. He tried to separate his case from Powell's, but failed in that pursuit and both are scheduled to appear before Judge Scott McAfee on October 23. Reminder -- this trial will be televised and should give us ...

Giuliani, a wasted husk of his former self, a pathetic leech attached to the enormous presence of former president Donald John Trump. Who he once was will not matter in the state of Georgia. What mattered is that he made up dreadful lies about two election workers, using dogwhistles and coded language to make them appear criminals. In Giuliani's mug shot, his left eye looks defiant while his right eye appears to be on the verge of tears. One has to wonder if his brain has been diminished from Covid? How could he possibly believe in any of his conspiracies and the lawfulness of his tactics? 

The #TrumpTrials Prosecutors: Fani Willis Fani Willis is fierce and unlikely to show much empathy when dealing with the 19 defendants in her courtroom. Some people have made tut tut remarks about her Rico trial of the 12 teachers in Atlanta, convicted of cheating for their students on standardized testing. Those teachers had choices to make in the face of the oppressive testing policies mandated by the US Dept of Ed.  They chose cheating over quitting and Fani had to take them to court.  I found inner strength and determination in her official portrait. I know she will bring that to the  #TrumpTrials I look forward to seeing her on TV in action once the GA trials get going! Jack Smith Jack Smith's face is idealized here. Check out his many impressive career highlights here . Perhaps I am trying to manifest a face that will strike fear into the accused.  How did they think they could get away with interfering with election officials and equipment? I am convinced th...

50 years ago, in the summer of 1973, I was glued to the televised coverage of the Watergate Hearings. Day after day, observing the faces and demeanor of the conspirators from the lowly plumbers to the top dogs Haldeman and Ehrlichman to the surprise starring role of Alexander P. Butterfield. I began sketching the characters who were about to bring down the president of the United States, Richard M Nixon.  Now in the summer of 2023, a former president is about to face the music -- finally!  More characters for me to observe and draw, this time I will be using official mug shots for the indicted, and official portraits for the prosecution and the presiding judges.  A much bigger cast of characters. As I work on the renderings, I am trying to find the moment of inhalation as the picture was snapped and in that moment, what emotions were swirling around?  Of note, I have spent far more time the past 50 years doing theatre rather than drawing. Now that I am officially ret...