January 9, 2023 Breakfast - Bagel with lax, cream cheese, and red onion Lunch - Tabouli Salad with goat cheese Dinner - Roast Stuffed Pork its Mashed Potatoes and Sauerkraut for Suzette and Calabacitas for me.

January 9, 2023 Breakfast - Bagel with lax, cream cheese, and red onion Lunch - Tabouli Salad with goat cheese Dinner - Roast Stuffed Pork its Mashed Potatoes and Sauerkraut for Suzette and Calabacitas for me.

I woke up at 7:00 and made Suzette and me a bagel and lax with the freshly cured Gravad lax, cream cheese, red onion for me and tomato for Suzette, both with capers.

The plasterers came at 8:30 and the Washington Court of Appeals argument on Trump’s motion to dismiss the federal criminal trial because he was immune from prosecution began at 8:00.

I listened to most of Trump’s argument a some of the Department of Justice argument.  Trump’s new argument made no sense that the only way he could be tried in a criminal was if he first was impeached and found guilty for several reasons. First, no,President has ever been convicted of  impeachment and Trump already rigged the vote to avoid impeachment the last time, so that would never happen. Judge Pan asked the great question, “If you ordered Seal Team 6 to assassinate your political opponent and avoided conviction of impeachment could there be no trial for murder.”

The real issue that probably will be decided is the traditional fact issue in such cases and that is whether the activity of the President lies within the scope of his duties as President.  The Supreme Court held in the case against Richard Nixon that evidence that he ordered the CIA  to burglarize the Democratic office was not within the scope of his duties, so Trump will not win on the claim that the actions he took to overturn the election were within the scope of his duties as President and protected by executive immunity.

The second reason his argument fails because he can not have absolute immunity as he argues for everything he did because that would make him a monarch and no,person can be above the law in America.

The final reason why Trump’s argument should lose was during his second impeachment Mitch McConnell and Trump’s attorneys argued that Trump should not be impeached because his term as President had ended and he was now subject to criminal prosecution like any other private citizen.  Today, Trump’s attorney turned that argument on its head by arguing that he can only be tried criminally if he has first been impeached and convicted.  In law changing one’s position from an earlier position is called judicial estoppel and is not allowed.

I can’t imagine what Trump must have been thinking during the hearing, but if was that his arguments were rational and succeeding, he was the only one in the courtroom thinking that.

At 10:45 I drove to Smith’s to buy milk and ended up buying 8 jars of oysters reduce 50% in price, 1 1/2 lb. of sugar cured smoked bacon, several Roma tomatoes, a loaf of bread to make BLT sandwiches, and a marked down wedge of Port Salud, another small round of Affinois, and a loaf of pate.

I then went to the Post Office and returned the ring the boys bought for Suzette because it was too small to fit on her finger.

When a got home at 1:00 I made a tabouli salad for lunch with romaine lettuce, arugula, 1/2 tomato, 1/4 cucumber, two slices of red onion diced, tabouli, goat cheese, olives, pickles, olive oil, and lemon. I toasted a pita and ate that with the salad with water.

Then I went to sleep in front of the TV until 3:00.  I got several calls after 3:00 and did not get to walk until 5:00.

When I returned from a 10 minute walk, I made a cup of tea and then meditated at 5:30 to 6:15.

As soon as I finished meditating, Suzette called me dinner.

Dinner - Suzette had made mashed potatoes, which she ate with slices of heated fruit stuffed pork roast and sauerkraut.  Instead of sauerkraut I ate my pork and mashed potatoes with Calabacitas. Both were delicious.

We then watched the news, mostly legal commentary on Trump’s federal court hearing, then Finding Your Roots and at 9:00 a chilling documentary about fleeing North Korea. 

I did not do much work today but had a lot of fun listing to a historic legal proceeding that will ultimately define the boundaries of Presidential immunity.

Bon Appetit