Courtroom Sketch Artist Who Drew Rudy Giuliani Says He’s Losing It

Recently released, beautifully drawn courtroom sketches are giving us a vivid depiction of just how out of control Rudy Giuliani is right now.

Artist Jane Rosenberg, who has sketched the likes of Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein while they were on trial, appeared on CNN Tuesday to discuss her experience sketching Donald Trump’s embattled crony.

“His decorum has certainly changed from when I sketched him 44 years ago as a prosecutor,” Rosenberg said. “He’s losing it. He was wild. I feel bad for anyone who represents him. He blurts out orders at his lawyers who are at the podium, and he’s interrupting all the time.”

Rosenberg’s sketches show Giuliani looking absolutely incensed—brow furrowed and arms crossed in one; finger pointing sharply at someone in another.

Rosenberg’s sketch captures Giuliani’s  outburst about how broke he is right now. The former New York City mayor was ordered to pay $148 million to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers he defamed after Donald Trump lost the state  in 2020. He’s already handed over his luxury watches, a diamond ring, and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz, and claims he has no cash left to fulfill the judgment.

Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health has a long history of criticism of the agency.

The Washington Post reports that Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist at Stanford University, was described as “fringe” by the head of the NIH in October 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic for being one of the authors of the “Great Barrington Declaration,” which stated that it was time for coronavirus lockdowns to end.

Trump announced Bhattacharya as his choice to lead the agency Tuesday night, drawing on the suggestion from his adviser and pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy. The department oversees the NIH.

Bhattacharya is a favorite of many Covid-skeptical Republicans, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis taking his advice during the pandemic. The Stanford academic also has the support of powerful figures among Trump supporters, including Silicon Valley billionaire and conservative megadonor Peter Thiel; Elon Musk, who claims Twitter suppressed Bhattacharya’s views before the tech CEO bought the platform; and podcaster Joe Rogan.

Bhattacharya claims that the NIH is shutting down alternative perspectives, saying figures in the agency such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years, were too powerful.

“I would restructure the NIH to allow there to be many more centers of power, so that you couldn’t have a small number of scientific bureaucrats, dominating a field for a very long time,” Bhattacharya said in a January interview.

Trump’s choice of Bhattacharya seems to be a nod not only toward Covid and lockdown skeptics but also to those who might place economic concerns over public health. This, coupled with the appointments of people like Kennedy, suggests that if a second pandemic breaks out (which is increasingly likely), the Trump administration may handle it even worse than last time.

Donald Trump is shirking decades-old norms intended to make the transfer of power smoother, according to The New York Times.

After weeks of delays, the president-elect’s team has finally signed a standard transition agreement with the White House to start briefing staff members. But they are still refusing to sign two other key documents. One is a Justice Department agreement to let the FBI perform security clearances for transition team members. This means that the Biden administration still isn’t able to share classified information with anyone from Trump’s transition team. The Trump team also won’t sign the General Services Administration agreement, which provides secure office space and government email accounts.

Top Trump aide Susan Wiles explained the reasoning behind this refusal, stating that Trump wants his team to “operate as a self-sufficient organization. This organizational autonomy means a streamlined process that guarantees the Trump Administration is ready on Day 1.

“The transition already has existing security and information protections built in, which means we will not require additional government and bureaucratic oversight,” Wiles continued.

But Biden officials say this refusal will just make information sharing harder, as they will have to find other ways to share important, unclassified information with the incoming administration—meaning in-person-only briefings and more restrictions on how said information will be shared. The Trump team has not commented on whether it does intend to sign the agreement sometime in the near future.

One of Canada’s leading right-wing politicians was taken aback by Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on America’s northern neighbor. 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a member of Canada’s Conservative Party, said to the press Tuesday that Trump’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States is “like a family member stabbing you right in the heart.”

“It’s the biggest threat we’ve ever seen.… It’s unfortunate, it’s very, very hurtful to Canadians and Americans on both sides,” Ford said. 

Like Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Tuesday, Ford said that Canada would have “no choice” but to retaliate with tariffs of its own, pointing out that such a move would hurt the $500 billion in annual trade between the United States and the province of Ontario, as well as the country’s entire economy. Trump attacked Canada, Mexico, and China in Truth Social posts on Monday, accusing the North American countries of not doing enough to restrict migrants and drugs from crossing U.S. borders. 

If the province of Ontario was a country, it would be America’s third-largest trading partner, serving as the top destination for exports for 17 states, and the second-largest for 11 others, so Ford is understandably worried. But right-wing politicians have a lot in common, and Ford said he heard the president-elect’s border comments “loud and clear.”

“The threat is serious. We need to do better on our borders. We need to give resources to [the Canada Border Services Agency],” he said, but pointed out that drugs, guns, and migrants arrive in Canada from the United States. “We have to tighten our borders on both sides.” 

Ford has also attacked Mexico in recent weeks, proposing a new trade deal between Canada and the U.S. that would exclude Mexico, and seemed particularly upset that Trump would lump the two countries together. 

“I want to emphasize, to compare us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I have ever heard from our friends and closest allies, the United States of America,” Ford said.  

The leader of the Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre, has often been compared to Trump, insulting his opponents and the media. But that didn’t stop him from criticizing Trump as well, calling the proposed tariff  “an unjustified threat.”  

“Our economy is teetering on the brink of collapse, and now we face this renewed threat,” Poilievre said. “We need a plan to put Canada first.”

A cadre of progressive Democrats is urging President Biden to change federal marijuana laws before his lame-duck presidency ends. 

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden, as well as Representatives Ilhan Omar, Barbara Lee, and Earl Blumenauer all helped write a letter to Biden on Tuesday asking him to deschedule marijuana and restrict federal marijuana prosecutions before his term ends. 

The letter, also signed by Senator Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and others, notes that the mere descheduling of marijuana “will not end federal criminalization, resolve its harms, or meaningfully address the gap between federal and state cannabis policy. Possession and use of recreational marijuana—and much state-legal medical marijuana—will continue to be a violation of federal law.”  

Marijuana deregulation has been caught in limbo for some time now. While many progressive Democrats have pushed for full decriminalization of the popular recreational and medicinal drug, the letter asked Biden to reschedule the drug from Schedule 1—where heroin is at—to Schedule 3 alongside ketamine. 

And while Biden’s 2022 federal marijuana conviction pardons were notable, the letter points out that at least 3,000 people are still locked up. The letter also points out that “of the almost 700,000 drug possession arrests each year, one-third are for marijuana possession, and Black Americans are almost four times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession.”

This letter comes as confusion arises regarding where exactly the Trump administration stands on marijuana. People like Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are extremely pro-weed, while people like attorney general nominee Pam Bondi and Food and Drug Administration nominee Marty Makary are much less open-minded.