He pushed away from the table. “Thank you for your kind attention.”

Ben slowly pushed himself away from the table, still not really knowing what he was going to say. This was a occasion when, like it or not, he was going to have to follow his instincts. In past years he might’ve found that notion laughable, because he knew his instincts were so untrustworthy. Christina used to say that he liked everyone, especially those who deserved it least. Not anymore. His perceptions had become more finely attuned as time passed and he had more experience in the courtroom. And he had learned that the smartest thing a trial lawyer can do is to pay attention to the expressions on the jurors’ faces.

What he saw on the faces of the cabinet members at this time did not fill him with confidence. But they had told him what aspect of the vice president’s case he needed to address most, so he would do his best. He had agreed to take the president’s defense. In fact, come to think of it, he had volunteered.

He would not let the man down now.

Ben made contact with each of the cabinet members in the room, then made contact with those on the other end of the blinking webcam. “Let me make one thing clear up front. I am not going to make excuses for what we have seen today. I’m not going to tell you it’s no big deal. It’s disturbing. Even bizarre. I won’t attempt to sweep that under the rug. All I will tell you is that the Constitution is very strict in its wording. It did not intend to make the removal of a president easy, or something that can be done quickly for political reasons. It can only occur for one reason-because something has rendered the president incapable of performing his duties. And I will respectfully argue that, as disturbing as what we have seen and heard today may be, we have no evidence that the president is incapable of performing his duties.”

Ben took a tiny step to the side. There was precious little room here to maneuver, but he knew that the tiniest change in gesture, expression, or anything else helped maintain the audience’s interest. “I will address the points raised by the prosecutor in reverse order. First, the president’s diabetes. I think we can safely assume that when the Twenty-fifth Amendment was passed in the mid-sixties, Birch Bayh and the other drafters were capable of inserting a clause providing for the removal of the president in the event that he contracts a serious illness. It had happened before. William Henry Harrison caught pneumonia and was incapacitated for a month before dying. Wilson had a stroke and never functioned at full capacity for the remainder of his term. But the framers did not address that. They only provided for removal in the event that something renders the president incapable of performing his duties.

“What evidence do we have that diabetes has left the president incapable? None. Absolutely none. Mr. Swinburne argues maybe this and maybe that, but he has no proof that this disease has impacted the president’s ability to function in any way. So, with respect, not only do I not think you should make this a basis for your decision, but I believe that you cannot. The Constitution simply does not provide for the removal of a president because he has a disease.

“Next.” Ben took a few steps in the other direction. Got to keep it moving…

“Mr. Swinburne alleges that the president should be removed because he is obsessed with Kuraq and Colonel Zuko.” Ben paused and let his eyes run to all those in the audience. “Why is that bad? When we have a dire threat to this nation, I think it should be uppermost in the president’s mind. I would think there was a problem if it were not. Let’s be honest about what we all already know-Secretary Ruiz wants us out of the Middle East.”

Ruiz swiveled around in his chair, a profound frown on his face.

“What Ruiz basically says is, ‘The president has a different opinion from me, and anyone who has a different opinion from me must be crazy. Or dangerously obsessed. So let’s get rid of him.’ Well, that may be how it works in a dictatorship, but last I heard, Americans have the right to hold contrary opinions, and that includes the president of the United States. This is a purely political attack, and the Constitution makes no provision for removing a president because his positions are unpopular with one cabinet member or another-or even all of them. The president has autonomy to think for himself-thank goodness. Whether you agree with him or not, this argument is simply without merit.”

Ben felt as if he was doing an adequate job of carving out a small space for success with what little was available to him. They might not like what they had seen the president do, but if he could bring them back to the high standard set by the Constitution, it was just possible he might be able to bring this trial back around.

At any rate, they weren’t laughing out loud at him.

“Third, we must consider the matter of the president’s son. I wish this had been revealed in a different way. I wish the president had informed the people of this blood relation on his own-especially after his helicopter crash made Mr. Malik a potential chess piece in a geopolitical conflict. But he didn’t. And we are not here to judge whether the president’s decision was right or wrong. Our only inquiry is whether the existence of the son renders the president incapable of performing his duties.

“Have we seen any evidence of incapability? No. All of Mr. Swinburne’s examples are instances of the president not doing what Swinburne thinks he should do, or supposedly not having the ability to do in the future what Swinburne wants to do now. Is that evidence of disability? Only in the jaundiced eyes of the vice president, and probably the eyes of the secretary of state. But again, disagreeing with them is not tantamount to being insane. Let’s hope that’s never the measuring stick. Because frankly, I’ve disagreed with the vice president about forty-two times today, so if that’s the standard, I’ll be committed as soon as this trial is over.”

That got a few small grins, which if nothing else showed Ben they were still listening. But now he was going into the tricky part. This was where he really had to do some work. This was where he really had to be good.

He heard a clicking sound on the other side of the room.

The president was reentering.

Jesus God-why now? Ben tried to hide his dismay from the others. It was the worst possible timing. Kyler seemed calm. Perhaps the episode was over. But his very presence, his return to the room, only reminded everyone of the disturbing sight they had seen only a few minutes before.

Ben took a breath and tried to block all those thoughts from his mind. Focus. Focus! “Finally, we have to consider the matter of the president’s alleged insanity, based upon his unusual behavior both here in the bunker and on a few previous occasions. I think the president did about the best possible job he could of explaining those situations, and I won’t repeat what he said. They were eccentric at best. Disturbing at worst. But ask yourself-was there ever any evidence that these episodes prevented the president from performing his duties?”

He paused, giving everyone a moment to think about it.

“Was there? I don’t remember any such evidence. I don’t think you do, either. Because there wasn’t any. Even after the president had his chat with the presidential portraits, he returned to the garden and handled the Easter egg roll. Even Sarie, whose testimony did him no good, admitted that he always did his job. Agent Zimmer testified that he never saw the president’s behavior interfere with the performance of his duties. And even today, as shocking as these spectacles may have been, the president always snapped out of it and returned to work a few minutes later. Even now he has returned to this room, even though I’m sure there are a million other places he would rather be. He has not been derelict in his duties. Not now. Not ever.”