Trump will be first New Yorker cover of courtroom sketch

A drawing of former President Donald Trump scowling in court this week will be the first courtroom sketch to grace the cover of The New Yorker.

The storied Condé Nast magazine confirmed the sketch by Jane Rosenberg would be the April 17 cover story — two weeks after Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges in Manhattan Supreme Court.

“Though we often ask artists to reflect on the events of the day for the weekly cover, the magazine has not, until now, turned to a courtroom sketch artist,” art director François Mouly wrote of the decision Wednesday.

Rosenberg, who is also a noted plein air painter, was one of three sketch artists allowed in the 15th-floor courtroom, where TV cameras were banned.

Trump, 76, is pictured looking grouchy with his arms crossed. He spoke only a few words during the hour-long proceedings. 

The New York-based artist is no stranger to high-profile appearances: Her online portfolio includes work from Woody Allen and Mia Farrow’s custody hearing and the trial of John Gotti, among others.

Even so, she told The New Yorker that Trump’s historic arraignment was “my most stressful assignment yet” in 43 years on the job.

In 2015, the veteran courtroom artist went viral for her horrid depiction of retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady — who looked more Neanderthal than hunky athlete.

Trump – who is due back in court on Dec. 4 – has already received The New Yorker’s front-cover treatment several times. In the wake of his controversial brush-off white supremacist violence in Charlottesville in Aug. 2017, artist David Plunkert depicted the then-president powering a sailboat with his own breath in a cheeky piece called “Blowhard.”

Three years later, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, Pulitzer Prize winner Barry Blitt skewered Trump by depicting him as an incompetent surgeon.