THE WEST WING TRANSCRIPT: Access (S5E18)

THE WEST WING
5x18 - “ACCESS”
WRITTEN BY LAUREN SCHMIDT
DIRECTED BY ALEX GRAVES

Transcribed by Walking, Talking, And Yelling At Clouds
(kegofglory.blogspot.com)

TEASER

FADE IN: TITLE CARD

On the screen appears what seems to be a public television introductory title card, with the word “ACCESS” repeated in the background and the call letters WRQE at the bottom left. As the voiceover reads the list of donors responsible for the program, we see them listed on this screen.

VOICEOVER:
The following program was made possible by a grant from the Kenneth C. and Mary E. Blackburn Foundation, the Samuel Jones Charitable Trust, and individual viewer donations.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

CJ is talking to the interviewer with the documentary crew. We can see her through a camera viewfinder as she is looking through some papers at her desk.

CJ:
Why? That’s the right question. Your bread and butter, huh, having the right questions?

INTERVIEWER
Like having the right answers is yours.

CJ
Did we start?

INTERVIEWER
Nope. Don’t mind them.

The camera moves erratically about CJ’s office, focusing on different areas as the camera operator prepares for the interview to start. We can see a sound man holding a microphone next to her desk.

CJ
Right, right. Why am I letting you tail me, is that what you’re asking me?

INTERVIEWER
Yeah. I mean, I pitch, but I’m always surprised when people accept.

White balance boards and color adjustment panels are seen as the crew continues to prepare to film. CJ starts moving about her office.

CJ
Well, I’ve seen your work …

INTERVIEWER
Well, exactly.

CJ
And, um, you know, I’m not expecting a free ride, I just … I guess I thought your, your concept – a day in the life, a day in my life – is, uh … you know what, before we get into it, I want to reiterate the ground rules.

INTERVIEWER
Um-hmm.

CJ
You want to document this, Chad? Can I have that?

A hand delivers a coffee mug to CJ. She stands in front of the main camera talking to the unseen INTERVIEWER.

CJ
I want to be clear between you and me.

INTERVIEWER
Of course.

CJ
Your access is to me -

INTERVIEWER
And your staff and your co-workers.

CJ
Yes, but if you’re secretly hoping to have lots of time with senior staff or in the Oval, you picked the wrong gal because that’s not what I do all day. I can’t let this project in any way compromise my obligations to the President of the United States. ... That was bragging.

CJ is now sitting in a chair in front of her desk as the interview is about to start. The camera view moves around her office, showing a doughnut on her desk, and then moves back to a side view of CJ.

INTERVIEWER
Let’s get back to why.

CJ
Well, I think, and -

The video rewinds with a squiggly backwards-audio sound.

CUT TO BLACK.

ACCESS

FADE IN: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

The interview has begun. CJ sits in front of her desk.

CJ
After President Bartlet, my face is the one most associated with this administration, yet for all its visibility, it’s not well understood. The public is, is used to seeing me at the podium -

Footage of CJ in the press briefing room is seen, along with background footage of CJ on the phone reacting to something she’s seeing on the TV. We then see her in the press room reporter cubicles talking over something with Greg Brock.

CJ
- confronting an adversarial press, and there’s a, a misconception that I’m here to stymie reporters, or to mislead the public, to -

The visual shifts back to CJ being interviewed.

CJ
- spin, or even hide the truth, when in fact, any good press secretary aims to do just the opposite. (CUT: CJ laughs) This is a terrible idea. I don’t know what I was thinking, this is – let’s, let’s call this off. (CUT) The breakneck pace we live at, the 24-hour news cycle, is this good for the country? Is it inescapable? How do we reflect, get perspective?

CUT TO: FILE FOOTAGE

As the NARRATOR speaks, we begin with newsreel film of President Kennedy speaking to reporters. Next we see a cabinet meeting with President Lyndon Johnson. Then President Nixon signing an agreement with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

NARRATOR
Since the advent of television in the middle of the twentieth century, the White House press secretary has been no stranger to Americans. But what about the private aspects of this office? In the current media explosion -

The visuals shift to modern day, with press photographers taking pictures in the Oval Office as CJ speaks to President Bartlet. We also see images of CJ entering the press briefing room and working on files in her office.

NARRATOR
- how is this important job changing? And to what extent does the individual serving as press secretary at any given moment define America’s relationship with the White House? To answer these questions, Access spent a day with White House Press Secretary CJ Cregg.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS ROOM – DAY

CJ walks through the press room peppered with questions from reporters.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM – DAY

CJ is sitting in one of the press chairs in the briefing room as another part of the interview continues.

CJ
I see my job as making sure the press and, through them, the public, is well-informed. I tell them the truth. (long pause) That’s my goal. 

More background footage of President Bartlet speaking on TV and CJ walking through the press room is seen as the NARRATOR continues. We also see a meeting (including JOSH) in the Oval Office breaking up, more photographers, CJ with President Bartlet as he meets a group of Scouts. There’s a closeup of an online article about President Bartlet’s MS revelation and news footage from some kind of government standoff, as well as more footage of CJ and the press in the White House.

NARRATOR
But our cameras captured a day that was anything but ordinary. In the corridors of the West Wing, Access became part of the modern-day media machine that witnessed a harrowing and historic day for the entire Bartlet administration. Tonight, Access goes behind the podium, and we invite you to come with us.

SMASH CUT TO: MAIN TITLES.
END TEASER.
***

ACT ONE

An establishing shot of the White House appears first. We next see images from an empty press briefing room, the podium, the nameplates, the microphones, as the NARRATOR continues.

NARRATOR
This program was shot over a two-day period, a year into President Josiah Bartlet’s second term in office. On the first day, Access conducted interviews with press secretary CJ Cregg, her staff, and her co-workers. The following day, we spent over twelve hours backstage in the White House on the heels of the country’s most visible spokesperson. However, for national security purposes, the release of this documentary was prohibited until the administration left office. 

CUT TO: HISTORICAL FILE FOOTAGE

We see a title card reading:

BEHIND THE
SCENES IN THE
WHITE HOUSE
-
PATHE NEWS

This is followed by black-and-white newsreel footage of the White House.

NARRATOR
Before 24-hour cable news and the internet, the White House Press Secretary had a more controlled set of deadlines.

CUT TO: EXT. - WHITE HOUSE – DAY

A group of reporters and photographers are gathered outside the White House entrance.

NARRATOR
Today, the press office feeds a media machine with a round-the-clock appetite.

CUT TO: INT. - WEST WING PRESS OFFICE – DAY

We see a staffer on the phone. A caption reads:

Eric Schaeffer
Staff Assistant
White House Press Office

SCHAEFFER (into phone)
The following is the press schedule for the President for Wednesday, March 31st. Note, this is for news planning only, not for publication or release.

CUT TO: FILE FOOTAGE

We see shots of newspaper front pages and online news articles about President Bartlet. After a short montage, we are back to the exterior of the White House where the President is about to give a briefing to gathered reporters and photographers.

NARRATOR
Sixty-six million Americans subscribe to daily newspapers. An average news website clocks 200 hits a second. And from a camera positioned outside the northwest gate, CNN’s Channel 53 offers constant coverage of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

Another segment of the interview is seen.

CJ
I don’t think it was ever a laid-back job (chuckling), but, um, I like to think that Jim Hagerty, who was Eisenhower’s press secretary, kind of knew what they were getting into when they, they started allowing press conferences to be recorded and edited for broadcast for the first time.

We see file footage of President Eisenhower, with Jim Hagerty, and appearing before the press.

CJ
Giving up control of your message, putting that in the hands of news producers, for those 33 minutes Hagerty stood in the wings of the Indian Treaty Room, I can only imagine what he was feeling.

CUT TO: FILE NEWSREEL FOOTAGE OF PRESIDENT EISENHOWER

EISENHOWER
I see we’re trying a new experiment this morning, I hope it doesn’t prove to be a disturbing influence. 

NARRATOR
Before Eisenhower, the White House press corps was a controllable entity, tucked in the President’s pocket. But in 1955, the whir of cameras leveled the playing field -

More newsreel footage of President Kennedy’s press secretary, Pierre Salinger, appears, followed by President Nixon’s press secretary Ron Ziegler.

NARRATOR
- between the press and the administration. It represented a fundamental shift in power, one still deeply felt by today’s press secretary.

CUT TO: EXT. - WHITE HOUSE GATE – DAY

CJ drives up to the gate to have her credentials checked.

GATE GUARD
Good morning, Ms. Cregg. ID, please.

CJ
Good morning, Lance. How are you doing?

GATE GUARD
Can I get IDs from your crew?

CJ
Sure.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

The recorded interview continues.

CJ
My day starts at home before 5:00, actually. 

There’s a shot of CAROL turning on the light in her office.

CJ
I scan all the major news outlets online before I get dressed, on my way in I try to stay off the phone … um, my commute’s the one time I can be by myself, gather my thoughts.

CUT TO: EXT. - WHITE HOUSE GATE – DAY

CJ
How’s Eden?

GATE GUARD
Oh, she’s great. Thanks for asking.

CJ
Good.

GATE GUARD
Clear. Thank you, have a great day.

A car horn honks behind CJ.

CJ
Thank you, stay dry.

GATE GUARD (gesturing to car behind CJ)
Relax.

More footage of CAROL opening up CJ’s office and CJ walking up to the West Wing entrance.

CJ (voiceover)
I, I arrive usually around 7:00, 7:30 depending, and, it is no cliché, walking through those doors, walking -

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

CJ
- to go to work in the White House … it never gets old.

More background footage of CJ picking up some newspapers, CAROL bringing her coffee mug, press office staffers coordinating.

CJ (voiceover)
Anyway, uh, the, the morning starts with senior staff, and then I have an informal gaggle with the press, and then I meet with my staff and deputies about the events of the day.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS OFFICE – DAY

The staffer Eric Schaeffer is still on the phone.

SCHAEFFER (into phone)
8:30 am, the President meets with House and Senate leadership, Cabinet Room, the White House, pool at top.

CUT TO: INT. - WHITE HOUSE HALLWAY – DAY

CJ is walking down the hallway followed by a camera crew. She is met by CAROL.

CJ
Ia anybody waiting for me?

CAROL
Steve and Chris.

CJ
Is she chatty?

CAROL
Um-hmm.

CJ
That’s trouble. (CJ sees someone in the foyer) Is he on the President’s schedule?

CAROL
Who?

The camera moves to show FBI Director GEORGE ARNOLD.

CJ
The FBI director.

CAROL
I don’t think so.

CUT TO: INT. - CAROL’S OFFICE – DAY

A reporter, STEVE, is in a chair waiting for CJ.

CAROL
Steve’s looking for a quote on tech sector growth. 

CJ
Steve, I beg mercy, don’t make me talk tech growth before coffee.

STEVE
Morning.

CJ
I will say this, though, the tech sector represents six million American jobs.

STEVE
That I can look up.

CJ
Hey, did your daughter hear anything?

STEVE
Accepted at the Annenberg School at Penn.

CJ
That’s wonderful.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

Another reporter, CHRIS, is talking to CJ at her desk and showing her a piece of paper.

CHRIS
Isn’t that great?

CJ
That’s fantastic.

CHRIS
Thank you.

CJ
Waddaya got?

CHRIS
Well, you’re not gonna like it.

CJ
I never expect to.

CHRIS
At last year’s inaugural, the First Lady wore a burgundy Richard Tyler gown, satin, off the shoulder. I have a source that says she accepted that gown as a gift from the, uh, designer, the ethics rules are pretty clear.

CJ
Looks like I’ll be rifling through the First Lady’s closet this afternoon.

CHRIS
Ah, you could get fired for that.

CJ
If I’m lucky.

CAROL brings something in as CHRIS leaves.

CAROL
Today’s schedule, and, it’s time.

CAROL and CJ walk through a press office hallway crowded with desks and computer monitors.

CJ (voiceover)
You can’t afford to ignore what even seems trivial.

CAROL
… and I have a call into the First Lady’s office.

CAROL and CJ walk past SCHAEFFER, who is still relaying the day’s schedule on the phone. Another staffer, JACK SOSA, meets them in the hallway.

SOSA
The minister’s wife has a cold and she can’t make it onto the podium.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

The interview continues.

CJ
Remember the, uh, Bartlet the dog-hater?

INTERVIEWER
Um-hmm.

CJ
That was, that was entirely, my fault. I, I made light of some question about why the Bartlets had never owned a dog, and there were stories for weeks.

CUT TO: FILE FOOTAGE

We see a past C-SPAN image of CJ, with a different hairstyle, in the press briefing room dealing with a crowd of reporters shouting questions.

CJ (on video)
It was a joke, folks, it was my joke and it wasn’t even funny. The President does not dislike dogs, in fact the entire First Family have been longtime supporters of the Humane Society, the ASPCA, to name a few …

CUT TO: INT. - LEO’S OFFICE – DAY

Senior staff, including CJ, JOSH, DONNA, and TOBY, are gathering for a meeting. The onscreen caption reads:

White House Senior Staff Meeting
7:32 AM

NARRATOR
Each morning, the Press Secretary meets with White House senior staff, the President’s closest advisers. Scheduled at 7:30 am, this is the staff’s first opportunity to sift through the day’s impending events and issues. 

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

Back to the interview.

CJ
Your day takes off, you try to keep all the balls in the air, you hope you don’t drop the wrong one.

CUT TO: INT. - LEO’S OFFICE – DAY

Back to the staff meeting.

LEO
What else?

TOBY
Well, while the President’s – greeting the Ugandan delegation, which I guess is gonna happen later, I’ll be, um, briefed by the Surgeon General and the, um, AIDS policy office, they want to make modifications on PAAP.

CJ
Pan-African …?

TOBY
Uh, AIDS prevention policy, uh, then I’m in with the, uh …

CUT TO: INT. - MURAL ROOM – DAY

TOBY is being interviewed for the documentary. The caption reads: 

Toby Ziegler
Communications Director

TOBY
CJ was someone I found during a Senatorial campaign, in New York. Uh, she was doing PR with a New York firm. And, uh, we were, probably, 36 points behind when we got CJ. And, uh, with her help I think we gained two or three points before we lost.

CUT TO: INT. - LEO’S OFFICE – DAY

Back to the staff meeting.

LEO
Anything else?

CJ
Any, uh, progress on the D-Day anniversary?

NARRATOR
The accelerated release of information is a concern of everyone in today’s White House. They all have to consider how the message will play in the press.

CJ
Did the FBI put something on the President’s schedule?

LEO
Who’s asking?

CJ
So far just me.

LEO
No. Thank you.

CUT TO: INT. - MURAL ROOM – DAY

JOSH is being interviewed for the documentary. The caption reads: 

Josh Lyman
Deputy Chief of Staff

JOSH
There have been times where for her own sake in order to do her job, and for her to remain an honest source for reporters -

CUT TO: INT. - LEO’S OFFICE – DAY

CJ is still asking Leo about the FBI director’s visit. 

CJ
Well, you know, if the reporters see the director here they’re going to assume -

LEO
Yeah, he’s just stopping by.

CJ
Okay.

CUT TO: INT. - MURAL ROOM – DAY

Back to Josh.

JOSH
If she were to have information, she would be ethically bound to share it. And I don’t want to put her in that position.

CUT TO : INT. - OFFICE – DAY

An interview with MARTIN SHEFFIELD. The caption reads: 

Martin Sheffield
Former White House Press Secretary

SHEFFIELD
It is a tough job. And it only gets tougher. Now, we have a fraternity of former press secretaries, and we get together as like a sort of a club. Like there’s maybe eight or so guys still kicking, 

We see video of the senior staff meeting breaking up, most people leaving Leo’s office, with a shot of only JOSH and LEO left behind.

SHEFFIELD
But we all know what it’s like to stand out there, taking those bullets, the shrapnel’s flying – while the rest of the President’s staff is back in the bunker, safe and sound, where they should be. You see, there’s a, there’s a loneliness in this job, a certain frontline mentality, that your colleagues in the rear echelon never completely understand.

We see video of CJ and TOBY walking through a door in the hallway.

CUT TO: INT. - CABINET ROOM – DAY
Cabinet Room Pool Spray
8:37 AM

SOSA is ushering photographers into the room as a Cabinet meeting appears to be underway. As the NARRATOR speaks, we see the photographers snapping away in the Cabinet Room; we also get a look at reporters and photographers outside the White House entrance being kept in line by press office staffers.

SOSA
We got stills first, you have thirty seconds -

NARRATOR
The majority of the President’s daily exposure to the press is in photos-only pools; still photographers and news correspondents wait their turn for a prized thirty seconds in the presence of the President. The organized chaos of this flashbulb frenzy is carefully wrangled by the Press Office, a staff of 14 young aides and assistants under CJ Cregg.

As the Cabinet Room footage continues with CJ conferring with the President, we hear the INTERVIEWER asking a question.

INTERVIEWER (voiceover)
So how did you end up working at the White House?

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS OFFICE – DAY

A young staffer, ANDREW WELTZMAN, is being interviewed. The caption reads: 

Andrew Weltzman
Asst. Press Secretary for Foreign Policy
White House Press Office

WELTZMAN
I was going to NYU, I was a journalism major, and, uh, I was interested in politics, and, um, opportunity came up through, uh, some, uh, friends of the family, my father was in the military.

Footage of SOSA working with reporters outside is seen. We then cut to SOSA in the press office being interviewed for the documentary. Eventually the caption reads: 

Jack Sosa
Asst. Press Secretary for Domestic Policy
White House Press Office

SOSA
I actually went to Howard University here, in DC. I wrote for the paper, the student paper there, um, and I was writing articles basically, uh, criticizing the administration really about their issues on gay issues and racial issues, and I, on a lark, kinda wrote this letter to CJ asking if she’d see me because I wasn’t getting really a response from them and I just thought I’d give it a shot, and at the meeting she actually offered me this position that opened up.

We have returned to footage of the press office assistants working with the press outside and at the Cabinet meeting.

SOSA (to photographers)
Thank you very much. All right, that’s it. I’m serious.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS OFFICE – DAY

ERIC SCHAEFFER is seen again, still delivering the schedule on his phone.

SCHAEFFER (into phone)
10:30 am, the President meets with Minister of Health Dr. Fabius – (long pause) M-A-K-A-B-U-A …

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY
White House Communication Meeting
9:00 AM

CJ and CAROL are preparing for the meeting as the rest of the staffers enter.

NARRATOR
Then it’s time for the Press Secretary’s daily meeting with her communications staff, who finalize the day’s press events, and try to anticipate the direction of the news.

WELTZMAN
The Ugandans are on schedule, setup’s begun. It’s a little windy out there, but I spoke to audio and they said the mics on the podiums will be fine.

CJ
The President is not taking questions at that, it’s just a prepared statement.

CAROL
They know that.

CJ
Let’s hope he does.

WELTZMAN
Oh, they might ask you something about Congresswoman Wyatt getting chummy with the Palestinians.

CJ
Okay.

SOSA
And, we’ve had a change in the schedule.

The room erupts in humorous false surprise.

CJ (voiceover, in interview)
You begin every day juggling a very precise schedule, which completely, completely falls apart mid-morning. Guaranteed.

SOSA
You know those Eagle Rangers … they , um, apparently got lost. So we’re gonna have to postpone until 2:00.

CAROL
And there might be a weather thing.

CJ
We like the Rose Garden for this?

SOSA
Yeah, but the satellite service says there’s still only a 30 percent chance of rain, so we might be fine.

CAROL
Have you looked out the window?

CJ
Well, just keep an eye on it and make sure there’s a backup plan. What else?

WELTZMAN
If you’re looking for me, I’ll be with Vatican advance all day, discussing His Eminence’s imminent arrival.

CAROL
I think it’s His Holiness.

CJ
Good thing, Eminence’s imminent, say that three times fast.

The staffers all start repeating the words ‘Eminence’ and ‘imminent.’

CJ
All right, everybody, back to work.

The meeting begins to break up.

CJ
Oh, who’s following breaking crime news for me?

SCHAEFFER
Uh, me, nothing coming in that suggests FBI involvement.

CJ
He’s just keeping Eric on his toes, everybody get back to work, go on.

CAROL is on the phone as CJ comes to the office door.

CAROL
Okay, hold on one second. CJ -

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

Back to CJ’s interview with the filmmakers.

CJ
I am here to articulate the President’s message and to honestly inform the press and, through them, the public, about what is happening on any given day.

Back to CJ and CAROL in the doorway, as DONNA joins them.

DONNA
They need you, in Leo’s, now.

CJ
All of us?

DONNA
Uh … they didn’t say.

CJ
Okay, no big deal. Okay.

DONNA
I’m so sorry.

CJ
It’s all right.

Next we see CJ waiting outside LEO’s office.

INTERVIEWER
You think the, uh, Director of the FBI will let us in this?

CJ
Hard to tell.

INTERVIEWER
I gather he’s a pretty independent guy.

CJ
He is.

INTERVIEWER
And not afraid of the limelight. (pause, as CJ gives the INTERVIEWER a look) So, typical morning so far?

CJ
Yes and no.

INTERVIEWER
Because we’re here?

CJ
I don’t have to tell you about the Heisenberg Principle.

INTERVIEWER
The act of observing a phenomena changes it.

CJ
Yes.

The door opens behind CJ and MARGARET comes out. We see FBI Director ARNOLD inside LEO’s office waving the camera crew in.

CJ
Margaret -

MARGARET
Uh, they, they signed the waivers.

CJ 
They what?

The INTERVIEWER goes past the camera and CJ to greet ARNOLD.

INTERVIEWER
Excuse me.

CJ
Oh, uh, wait a minute -

ARNOLD (to INTERVIEWER)
Good work.

INTERVIEWER (to ARNOLD)
Thank you. It’s nice to meet you.

CJ
Uh, Director Arnold, this is Todd Schumaker, and, um, Agent Casper.

FBI Special Agent MIKE CASPER is in the meeting along with JOSH and LEO.

LEO
Director Arnold has a, a situation unfolding. It’s not for White House comment at this time, in fact we don’t believe you’ll be asked about it, but the Director thought you should be made aware.

CJ
Oh, well, I appreciate that.

ARNOLD
We have, um, six federal agents surrounding a remote cabin on Shaw Island, in the San Juans 20 miles off the coast of Washington state. A man named Jamal Othman, a naturalized Yemeni-American, is inside with his family.

CJ
I’m sorry, is he being brought up on charges, or -?

ARNOLD
Othman was under investigation for arms trafficking. Our agents tracked him to his current location where gunfire was exchanged ninety minutes ago.

CJ
Gunfire?

LEO
The President has been notified, we’ll let you know when it resolves. 

CJ
I’m sorry, but I wa – why do you think I’m not going to be asked questions about this?

JOSH
Shaw Island is only accessible by ferry and by float plane. If the, if this story breaks it’ll take news crews about, you know, 45 minutes, an hour and a half - 

CJ
I’ve got a briefing in half an hour -

ARNOLD
Our Seattle field office media rep is already setting up on site, if it comes to it he’s prepared to handle the press from there.

CJ
But when you say gunfire, I mean -

LEO
Thank you, CJ, we’ll -

CJ
All right.

LEO
Thank you.

CJ
I’m just -

LEO
Thank you.

We see CJ leaving LEO’s office as we hear (and then see) her give the quote we saw her deliver earlier.

CJ
I am here to articulate the President’s message and to honestly inform the press and, through them, the public, about what is happening on any given day.

As the NARRATOR leads us into break, we see SOSA telling CJ, “CJ, they have it;” reporters asking questions in the press briefing room; and a TV screen showing footage of a government standoff with “CASEY CREEK, KY” as the chyron as we hear a news anchor saying, “Is this another Casey Creek?”

NARRATOR
When we return, breaking news turns the White House upside down.

FADE OUT.
END ACT ONE.
* * *

ACT TWO

FADE IN: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY
White House Press Gaggle
9:46 AM

Reporters are talking and laughing with CJ as she sits behind her desk.

CJ (laughing)
You have to calm down, lady!

NARRATOR
Early in the day, before the televised briefing, reporters from the major outlets meet for an informal gaggle with the Press Secretary.

GREG BROCK
Why was the FBI director here today?

CJ
He briefs the President twice a week.

BROCK
Which he did yesterday, so I thought maybe something was up.

CJ
Let me find out.

BROCK
But as far as you know -

CJ
He was briefing the President.

MARK
Is there a danger that the President’s meeting with Dr. Makabula this morning - 

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM – DAY

CJ continues her interview in the briefing room.

CJ
Do I ever have to lie to the press? Sometimes – lots of times – I withhold information for valid reasons but you can’t lie. You run the risk of damaging your credibility in front of a bunch of really smart people. If they stop trusting you, the system’s broken.

CUT TO: INT. - CAROL’S OFFICE – DAY

CAROL is being interviewed for the film. The caption reads: 

Carol Fitzpatrick
Senior Assistant
White House Press Office

INTERVIEWER
Do you think she ever has to lie to the press?

CAROL
Gosh, that’s a tough question to answer, in front of the camera. (she laughs) Um, no, I don’t think CJ lies, I think that the press secretary must present what’s best for the White House and what’s best for the country, and sometimes those are hard decisions to make.

We see a few more scenes from the press gaggle in CJ’s office.

CJ
- is not over, speaking of which, we need to wrap up -

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM – DAY

GREG BROCK is being interviewed. The caption reads: 

Greg Brock
White House Correspondent
The New York Times

BROCK
Am I skeptical of what she tells me? Absolutely. It’s my job to be skeptical. Listen, the public relies on me to question their White House. We get to do that in a free society, you could say that’s at the core of our freedom. We get to question power.

CUT TO: INT. - MURAL ROOM – DAY

Back to TOBY’S interview.

TOBY
Yeah, I don’t, uh, I don’t buy into that. I mean, the, the, the truth I know is an elusive idea. But, uh, there is a time and a place for, for when certain facts can be dispensed to the press and to the public.

CUT TO: HOME MOVIE OF CJ AS A CHILD AND HER FAMILY

NARRATOR
What prepares a young girl born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, for a position as spokesperson for the White House and President of the United States? 

CJ (voiceover)
I, well, I got a lot of drive from my father. But, uh, it’s actually my mother who I think about almost every single day I’m here. She was, uh, like a lot of women for better or for worse the communicator in our family.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

CJ continues her thoughts during the interview.

CJ
The go-between … she, um, she told us what, what my dad and grandpa had said, or, or she’d soften what they’d meant to say, she was a natural, she would have understood this job.

CUT TO: INT. - ROOSEVELT ROOM – DAY
Vatican Advance Planning Session
11:14 AM

WELTZMAN and some other aides are meeting with representatives from the Vatican.

WELTZMAN
Uh, the Pope will have the chair that we agreed upon -

CJ (voiceover)
One of the hardest things to learn – there are so many true crises, so many lurking situations that could be dangerous for the President, it’s hard not to get caught up in the adrenaline and make everything lethal.

CJ steps into the Roosevelt Room to watch the negotiations.

VATICAN AIDE
- His Holiness has expressed interest in allowing the President’s audience to be shared with the public.

WELTZMAN
Uh, what does that involve? Uh, shots of the President kissing his ring?

VATICAN AIDE
Are you uncomfortable asking for this adjustment?

WELTZMAN
Well, is the Pope Catholic?

VATICAN AIDE
I’m afraid I don’t -

CJ
Uh, excuse us – I’m sorry, would you excuse us for just a moment, please?

She gestures for WELTZMAN to follow her out of the room. They meet in the hall.

WELTZMAN
He’s gonna chastise the President on birth control, in front of members of -

CJ
Okay, now you’re not listening to me, you need to go back in there and apologize. If President Bartlet doesn’t want his private audience with the Pope to be public, it won’t be, if he doea, that’s a headache way over your pay grade. Okay?

WELTZMAN
Okay.

We hear CJ’s interview continue as WELTZMAN goes back into the Roosevelt Room and apologizes.

CJ (voiceover)
It’s more than, er, picking your battles. Marshalling your energy – uh, it’s about grace under fire. All war metaphors. I guess that’s it – being able to tell when it’s a matter of life or death.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

The interview continues.

INTERVIEWER
Where’s your mother now?

CJ
She died.

INTERVIEWER
Oh, I’m sorry.

CJ
That’s okay.

INTERVIEWER
How about your father?

CJ
He’s, uh, he’s, uh, in Dayton, Ohio. Just -

INTERVIEWER
And how’s he?

CJ
He’s, uh, um, actually, uh, he’s suffering from Alzheimer’s and -

CUT TO: INT. - MURAL ROOM – DAY

Back to the interview with JOSH. His speech is interspersed with video of CJ moving through the West Wing, in her office, talking with TOBY, etc.

JOSH
I know that her, her dad is struggling and I think that’s a perfect example, I mean in any other profession she would have the time, she, she is knowingly not doing what she needs to do to be with her father who is elderly and, uh, struggling, because she has this particular opportunity and, and position, that’s a very difficult choice to make. Uh, I don’t think she has – I think she understands the choice she’s making, and I think it’s also the choice that her father would want her to make. And I think she knows that. But it makes it very difficult.

CUT TO: DONNA’S interview in the Mural Room. For a part of her speech we see a clip of CJ engaging in a bit of physical horseplay with some reporters. The caption reads: 

Donna Moss
Asst. to the Deputy Chief of Staff 

DONNA
I think that she has such great instincts, I think that she is so, um, agile, and her, um, her wit and her charm and, and I think that, the, the people, the press really respect her. And, um, and so that she can keep a very strong but friendly, um, relationship with the press and I think that that’s important, I mean, what do I know, but this is my opinion, you are interviewing me. (she laughs)

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – DAY

CAROL is working out a scheduling issue with CHARLIE.

CAROL
Three o’clock?

CHARLIE
No.

CAROL
Three fifteen.

CHARLIE
No.

CAROL
Three thirty.

CHARLIE
No.

CAROL
Three forty-five.

CHARLIE
He has a conference call.

CAROL
Four o’clock.

CHARLIE
He has an NEC thing at four o’clock, that can’t push.

CAROL
Well, if the Eagle Troops make it back to civilization, we can move it to the Mural Room and make it a spray.

CHARLIE
What time?

CAROL
Four thirty?

CHARLIE
No.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

CJ is on the phone, watching the upcoming outdoor appearance of President Bartlet and the Ugandan delegation on a TV monitor. This is scene is interspersed with SCHAEFFER outside at the podiums for the appearance.

CJ (into phone)
You hear any buzz out of Seattle? The P-I, the Times, anyone?

CUT TO: EXT. - WHITE HOUSE ENTRANCE – DAY
Ugandan State Visit
10:30 AM

SCHAEFFER (to a technician at a podium)
Are, are you the sound guy? I’m supposed to make sure that the levels aren’t too … high, because last time there was some feedback, and, and, it’s, um … do you need help with that?

Back to CJ at her desk on the phone.

CJ (into phone)
You know why I’m asking? ‘Cause he’s about to head out, and – correction, he is heading out. I told them to wait until – ai, yi, yi, yi, yi, of course I’m nervous, I’ve got him in front of cameras and, and, and, you’re not -

The camera shows us JOSH down the hallway; he’s on the other end of the line with CJ.

JOSH (through phone)
What do you want to hear from me? That, that I’m panicked, too?

CJ (into phone)
You know what? The director said th, this was gonna be settled an hour ago. 

We see on a TV monitor a reporter asking President Bartlet a question about foreign aid.

CJ (into phone)
Are you watching this, he’s, he’s taking – the Ugandans are thinking he’s taking -

CAROL (offscreen)
He’s taking questions!

CJ (into phone)
He’s taking – I know, I’m watching – he’s taking questions.

BARTLET is seen on TV responding to the reporter.

BARTLET (on TV)
Both Secretary Berryhill and myself are deeply troubled by the repeated jailings of political dissidents in Cuba, especially as -

CJ (into phone) 
Oh, boy.

BARTLET (on TV)
- fifteen thousand desperate Cuban citizens -

CJ (into phone)
Oh …

BARTLET
- continue to risk life and limb to reach our shores every year. America looks forward to the day when aid to Cuban citizens will no longer be necessary.

CJ (into phone)
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. Damn, he never says it exactly the way I would, but, uh, that’s the fun part.

SOSA appears at the door.

SOSA
CJ?

CJ (into phone)
Hold on.

SOSA
They have it.

CJ (into phone)
Wait, I, I, I gotta go. (hangs up phone, to SOSA) Who has what?

SOSA
Someone just called in to a radio drive time from Shaw Island, said federal agents set up a perimeter on the property adjoining his.

CJ
Was gunfire mentioned?

SOSA
Yeah.

CJ
Okay. Umm …

SOSA
What do we do?

CUT TO: SOSA’S press office interview.

SOSA
She’s a great teacher, is what she is. And I think my job, really, is to protect her, to help her protect the President.

CUT TO: CJ’S OFFICE

SOSA
Uh, I, I pulled the records you asked for from Casey Creek, the investigation and the commission report, they’re on your desk, it’s that blue binder.

CJ
The FBI is predicting 45 minutes for cameras to be on the scene, I’m betting there’s aerial coverage in 20.

CJ walks down the hallway outside the communications bullpen and calls out to SOSA.

CJ
Hey, poker face, when it breaks, try to look surprised.

SOSA
Yeah.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS ROOM – DAY

We first see various TV images of coverage from Shaw Island, from MSNBC, from local channels, from CNN and other cable news.

TV NEWSCASTER (voiceover)
We’re showing you live images from Shaw Island, Washington, where …

NARRATOR
Twenty-three minutes later, MSNBC carried the first live helicopter coverage of Shaw Island.

TV NEWSCASTER (voiceover)
… a suspected arms trafficker appears to have sequestered himself in a small cabin in the northwest corner of the island. There has been no official comment on whether Mr. Othman is alone, or whether he has hostages. But, you can see the cabin now where gunfire was exchanged two hours ago. Federal agents have cordoned off the area and -

CUT TO: CJ’S interview. We see repeated a quote from earlier in the episode.

CJ
There’s a, a misconception that I’m here to stymie reporters, or to mislead the public, to, to spin or even hide the truth when in fact any good press secretary aims to do just the opposite.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS CUBICLE ROOM – DAY

CJ is watching TV coverage along with several reporters.

BROCK
So the FBI director?

CJ
I still don’t have it, Greg.

Another reporter, MARK, calls from outside the room.

MARK
CJ?

CJ exits to talk with MARK.

CJ
Mark, I, I don’t have anything yet.

MARK
No comment on the dog? My guy’s got a vet on Shaw Island says the Othman family dog is in his office with an FBI agent’s bullet in her. Is this gonna be another Casey Creek?

CJ
Off the record? I hope not.

CUT TO: MONTAGE

On screen there is a montage of coverage from the Casey Creek standoff from early in President Bartlet’s first term; front pages, TV news coverage, eventually CJ briefing the press.

NARRATOR
Five years earlier, the FBI’s mishandling of a standoff in Casey Creek, Kentucky, which resulted in the shooting death of the suspect’s wife, was a tragedy that haunted the new President’s first term. But if the incident at Casey Creek was a tragedy, the investigation that followed was considered by many to be an extended farce.

ARNOLD (on TV before Congress, in file footage from November 2001)
- instead the FBI will strictly adhere to the guidelines of the department -

TV NEWSCASTER (in file footage)
- the FBI director is still failing to cooperate, and impeding their progress.

NARRATOR
There were calls for the director to step down, and calls for the President to fire him.

CJ (in file footage)
- the FBI has confirmed the tragic loss of Brian Amulletti -

NARRATOR
Casey Creek also haunted President Bartlet’s young press secretary. CJ Cregg’s naivete about the power of her podium led many to question her abilities to deliver the news of the nation. It would be months before she regained the confidence of the White House press corps, and the Bartlet administration.

CHRIS (in file footage)
CJ, did the agent mistake Pamela Chung for her husband when they shot her in the doorway of her home?

CJ (in file footage)
I can’t speak to specifics, I can tell you the Director and the President were in constant contact during the siege.

REPORTER (in file footage)
CJ, when you say constant contact, is that -?

CJ (in file footage)
The President was briefed daily, several times a day, by the Attorney General and the Director of the FBI. 

REPORTER (in file footage)
So the President was aware that snipers were given the green light to use deadly force?

CJ (in file footage)
I, I have no idea.

STEVE (in file footage)
CJ, the FBI rules of engagement specify that no action may be taken unless innocents are in imminent danger, did the Director discuss a suspension of those rules with the President?

CJ (in file footage)
No, though apparently some of the agents on the ground thought the rules had been suspended.

The room erupts. CJ looks taken aback.

REPORTER (in file footage)
So, so, so, CJ, so, there was, there’s a breakdown in communication?

CJ (in file footage)
No, I didn’t say that.

STEVE (in file footage)
CJ, the rules are predicated on the Constitution, are you saying the Director of the FBI suspended the Constitution?

CJ (in file footage)
No, I’m not saying that either -

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM – DAY

It’s CJ’s interview set in the briefing room. We hear a quote that came earlier in the episode.

CJ
I see my job as making sure the press, and through them the public, is well informed. I tell them the truth. (long pause) That’s my goal.

As the NARRATOR sets up another break, video shows CJ dealing with a chaotic and noisy press corps.

NARRATOR
When we return, will mistakes of the past create a new crisis for the Bartlet administration?

FADE OUT.
END ACT TWO.
* * *

ACT THREE

FADE IN: Live TV news coverage from Shaw Island.

TV NEWS REPORTER
We are about 200 yards from the cabin. Now, we have no answer yet from the FBI about who fired the first shot. The FBI has cleared the airspace here above Shaw Island, and we are told that this is standard procedure -

TV NEWS ANCHOR
- and with reports of a family dog allegedly shot by federal agents, the question on everyone’s mind today is, is this another Casey Creek?

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

JOSH and CJ are watching the TV news coverage, which includes clips of CJ from her Casey Creek briefing five years earlier.

JOSH
Wow. Look how young you look.

CJ
I wonder how old I’m gonna look by this time tomorrow. (pause) Don’t answer that.

JOSH
I’m sorry, uh, we didn’t brief you about the dog, but it wasn’t for comment anyway. The Director wanted to keep you in the loop to extend a show of faith, but -

CJ
It was sure as hell a show of something, but if I’d been truly briefed instead of a PR gesture I could’ve told you this morning this thing wasn’t going away.

JOSH
Well, the Director was confident that this situation was - 

CJ
The Director’s confidence is starting to – okay, did you need me?

JOSH
Before you go to the podium Leo wanted me to remind you -

CJ
Oh, yeah. I know my line.

CJ walks out of her office. JOSH calls after her.

JOSH
I think you look better now.

CJ
I do, too.

JOSH
You do.

CUT TO: PRESS BRIEFING ROOM

A time-lapse of the room shows it slowly filling with reporters.

NARRATOR
Even in the midst of brewing storms, the press briefing is a constant centerpiece of the day; normally the press secretary’s chance to combat speculation, and set the record straight.

CUT TO: INT. - OFFICE – DAY

An interview with an elderly man, HERB MORRIS. During his speech, there’s footage of lines of people outside the White House, reporters moving through the building, President Truman speaking to the press. We also see modern day scenes of reporters working in their cubicles and TV cameramen setting up. The caption reads: 

Herb Morris
Retired Washington Evening Star Reporter 

MORRIS
Up until W W two, even the general public could walk right up to the door of the White House. And the press office, that was born under Teddy Roosevelt. We knew our way around the West Wing. We knew the staff, the President – there was no, uh, press room. So we’d, um, hang out in the lobby and just wait for the news of the day. If Jim had anything for us, we’d gather round with our notebooks. And sometimes he’d just come out and say, “Nothing more today, fellas, go on home.” Hmm. That couldn’t happen now.

CUT TO: INT. - WEST WING HALLWAY – DAY

CJ is moving towards the press briefing room, with staff members and GREG BROCK following along.

BROCK
CJ, did the FBI fire the first shot?

CJ
Oh, just wait til the briefing, okay, give me a break. (she turns to SOSA and WELTZMAN) Is it AWTH-man or OATH-man?

SOSA
OATH-man.

WELTZMAN (simultaneously)
It’s AWTH-man.

CJ
Which one is it?

SOSA
It’s OATH-man.

WELTZMAN
It’s AWTH-man. It’s AWTH-man, I double-checked.

CUT TO: More of the MARTIN SHEFFIELD interview. During his speech, more video of the press briefing room is seen as the staff and reporters prepare for CJ to arrive.

SHEFFIELD
You know, from time to time I look in on the midday briefing … and it all comes back. My heart starts to race. My stomach churns. Then I mix myself a martini, and I thank God it is not me anymore.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM – DAY

CJ steps up to the podium, and the reporters shout to be recognized.

CJ
Yeah, Steve.

STEVE
With the current standoff on Shaw Island, what would the President say to those who fear a repeat of Casey Creek?

CJ
The President is aware of the situation and, like all of us, is hopeful there will be a peaceful resolution soon.

MARK
CJ? 

CJ
Yes.

MARK
Have you asked for an explanation of why a dog was shot by agents at the scene?

CJ
The White House is tracking the situation but we do not interfere with ongoing law enforcement efforts.

KATIE
CJ?

CJ
Katie.

KATIE
I’m just following up, there are reports that federal agents fired the first shots, is this true?

CJ
I won’t engage in speculation.

KATIE
But can’t we safely say that Jamal Othman didn’t shoot his own dog?

CJ
Again, the White House doesn’t comment on an ongoing operation.

BROCK
CJ, was the FBI director called to the White House today by the President or did he come on his own?

SOSA rushes in with a message and gives it to CAROL, as cell phones and beepers begin to ring around the room. CAROL passes the message to CJ.

CJ
The Director meets with the President twice a week, as you -

BROCK
So you don’t know if they discussed the standoff at that meeting?

CJ (leaving the podium)
I’m sorry -

CHRIS
CJ, we’re getting word that the FBI is issuing a statement -

CJ
Yeah, I’m just getting that now.

CJ and the reporters gather in front of a bank of televisions, watching the live coverage. An FBI press agent is speaking to reporters on MSNBC.

FBI AGENT (on TV)
I have a statement to read. Our negotiator established telephone contact with Mr. Othman inside the residence, and has learned that one of the Othman children was injured in the initial exchange of gunfire. I have no particulars about the extent of the injuries. Mr. Othman has agreed to allow an ambulance to approach the cabin, and to let at least one other family member help evacuate the injured child to receive medical treatment. I have nothing further at this time.

The reporters shout questions at CJ as she leaves the briefing room and heads back towards JOSH’s office. We hear more TV news coverage as she walks.

TV REPORTER
- the FBI has cleared the airspace here above Shaw Island, and we are told that this is standard procedure.

DONNA stops CJ by her desk.

DONNA
He’s in with Leo.

CJ turns and starts towards LEO’s office.

TV REPORTER 2
- an ambulance passed by us moments ago, and as you can see, has stopped at the turnoff to the lane -

CJ arrives at LEO’s office.

MARGARET
They’re in the Oval.

CJ heads to the outer Oval Office.

CUT TO: More of CJ’s interview in her office.

CJ
The breakneck pace we live at, the 24-hour news cycle, is this good for the country? Is it inescapable? How do we reflect, get perspective?

CUT TO: CJ arrives at the door to the Oval Office, where she is stopped by CHARLIE.

CHARLIE
They’re on a call.

CJ
Where’s the Director?

CHARLIE
I can’t interrupt.

We see JOSH, LEO, ARNOLD, CASPER, and BARTLET inside the Oval. CHARLIE closes the door. CJ paces, waiting.

CJ (softly, to herself)
Okay.

CJ leaves.

CUT TO: MURAL ROOM - TOBY’s interview.

TOBY
Well, there are times when, uh, it’s what’s called a closed hold, when, uh, certain members of the staff, uh, until again all the information is, uh, is ready to go out, some people aren’t included. I mean, that’s happened to me, it’s happened to everybody on the staff at one point or another.

We see footage of CAROL and SOSA working together, then the camera pans to CJ walking down the hallway. She answers a call on her cell phone. As the conversation continues, the camera films her from a distance, but the audio is listening in to her end of the call.

CJ (into phone)
Hello? … What do you mean? … It’s, it’s Claudia Jean, it’s, uh … I, I’m at, I’m at work, I’m at the White House, Daddy … 

More home movies of a young CJ are seen.

CJ (into phone)
Is there a nurse there? … I’m sorry you don’t like it there but I can’t come back right now. … I can’t be there right now, I’m very, very sorry, like, I love you so much but I can’t be there, and I, I … I will be there as soon as I can, hopefully next weekend like we talked about. … All, uh, all right, Daddy. 

CJ hangs up the phone. She takes a moment to compose herself, obviously near tears. She walks out of her office, and the scene shifts to ongoing live TV coverage of the Shaw Island standoff. An overlapping cacophony of reporters and news anchors is hard to understand, but eventually we hear this.

TV HOST DAN BANNON
Now he’s got cowboy Arnold out there shooting up dogs and children. Listen, nobody respects the job our federal agents on the ground do every day more than me, but tell me, where is the leadership?

FEMALE PANELIST (voiceover)
Oh, sure, it’s racial profiling.

CUT TO: MEETING INSIDE THE OVAL OFFICE

President Bartlet is seen in a meeting in the Oval, but the camera is filming from the outside, through windows.

NARRATOR
As tensions mounted in the West Wing, the press secretary was kept at arms-length about the negotiations, and about the condition of the wounded child on Shaw Island.

CUT TO: MARTIN SHEFFIELD INTERVIEW

SHEFFIELD
Of course we’ve got that tradition of the flak jacket, you’ve heard about that. 

INTERVIEWER
No, tell me.

SHEFFIELD
Oh, we got this flak jacket, it goes from one press secretary to the next, we all put little notes in the pockets -

The scene cuts to a bulletproof vest hanging on the back of CJ’s door. The camera zooms in on what appears to be a note in one of the pockets.

SHEFFIELD (voiceover)
- You know, words of wisdom to the next guy on the job.

The scene cuts back to SHEFFIELD.

INTERVIEWER
Like what?

SHEFFIELD
I couldn’t tell you that. Part of the tradition is it remains private.

CUT TO: a quick shot of SCHAEFFER on his phone coordinating schedule changes. The caption reads: 

2:31 PM.

SCHAEFFER (into phone)
The Roadless Rules Conservation Area announcement originally scheduled for 12:00 pm has been moved to 3:00 pm.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

CAROL comes to the door.

CAROL
CJ?

CJ
Mm-hmm?

CAROL
Agent Casper’s here.

CJ’s brow furrows with confusion. CASPER enters.

CJ
Agent, um …

CASPER
Hi.

CJ
What? I’m sorry, I’m not sure this is a, a really good idea, the entire fourth estate is camped outside. I, I, seriously, I’m gonna have to kick you out.

CASPER
Well, the President, the Attorney General, and the Director all asked me to stop by, so … I wouldn’t say that’s a good idea.

CJ
You were in the, you were in the Oval.

CASPER
Just left. It’s okay. And, uh, first off, I want to, on behalf of the Director, I want to apologize. The, uh, media rep on Shaw screwed up. He never should have issued a statement without giving you a heads-up.

CJ
Yeah, I’d just appreciate him not doing it while I’m on the air.

CASPER
Agreed. Bad move. Won’t happen again.

CJ
What makes you say that?

CASPER
That I’m not gonna answer until you close that.

CASPER gestures towards CJ’s office door.

CJ
You want the cameras off?

CASPER
Yes, please, I want them out.

CJ
Okay.

CJ closes the door. As the NARRATOR takes us to break, we see more images of reporters frantically calling out or working the phones as CJ runs through the press area.

NARRATOR
When we return, an explosion on Shaw Island threatens the worst for the Bartlet administration.

As the scene fades out, we hear a shouted “No comment! No comment!”

FADE OUT.
END ACT THREE.
* * *

ACT FOUR

FADE IN: INT. - OUTSIDE CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

We begin just before the previous act ends, with CASPER in CJ’s office.

CJ
You want the cameras off?

CASPER
Yes, please, I want them out.

CJ
Okay.

CJ closes the door. We see her office from the outside, blinds drawn, then more footage of TV coverage from Shaw Island.

NARRATOR
CJ Cregg’s closed door was a vivid reminder to the press corps that the press secretary was in control of their feeding time. Their hunger for updated information was only intensified by the continued lull in action on Shaw Island.

We hear a couple of White House reporters on phones working the story.

REPORTER ONE (into phone)
It’s a clear breach of policy -

REPORTER TWO (into phone)
- quote from the vet is, he doesn’t have the bullet, or that the FBI confiscated the bullet?

CHRIS catches CAROL as she is walking down the hallway.

CHRIS
Carol – Um, we know Agent Casper’s in there. Is she being briefed?

CUT TO: CJ’S INTERVIEW IN HER OFFICE

CJ
It’s like being on a debate team. You don’t argue for the other side. There’s, there’s an inherent aspect of spin that’s just human nature. You try to strengthen and clarify your point of view. If you choose not to advertise your vulnerabilities, is that a cover up?

CUT TO: OUTSIDE CJ’S OFFICE

CASPER walks out of the office and departs. CAROL goes inside.

CJ
You know what, could you, just, make sure people don’t walk in and out of here?

CAROL
Yeah, I’m really sorry about that, I just spoke with Eric about it -

CJ
And I don’t, this morning at the gaggle, don’t ever let the press have free rein back here, I want to -

CUT TO: CJ’S INTERVIEW IN HER OFFICE

CJ
This is the answer that’s too long-winded for you to use, but I think my job is public, and yet for all its visibility, it’s not. (cut) There’s a, a, a misconception that I’m here to stymie reporters, or to mislead the public, to, to spin or, or even hide the truth. (cut) Better way to put it – I am here to articulate the President’s message, and to honestly inform the press, and through them the public, about what is happening on any given day.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

CJ is watching the TV news coverage from Shaw Island.

NEWSCASTER 
… the ATF have surrounded a cabin located deep in the woods on Shaw Island, a remote location off the Washington state coast. What we know is that there was an initial exchange of gunfire -

INTERVIEWER
Yuo waiting for something?

NEWCASTER
- whose last name we only have as Othman. A family member -

CJ
You wanted to see my day, this is my day.

NEWSCASTER
- reportedly a child, was injured. The extent of those injuries is yet to be determined.

CUT TO: OUTSIDE CJ’S OFFICE

We see CJ at her desk, but in the foreground we see CAROL talking with SOSA.

CAROL
I just got a call from Jill at the Times, and she told me that you went on the record with her.

SOSA
I di – I didn’t go on the record with her about anything. I was rescheduling an appointment for CJ, I was just -

CAROL
That is not your job, your job is “no comment.”

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS OFFICE – DAY

CAROL, SCHAEFFER, SOSA, and other staffers are working.

SCHAEFFER (to CAROL)
I have to talk to you.

CAROL (to someone off camera)
- reporters, okay?

OFFSCREEN VOICE
Understood. Understood, I’ll take care of it.

CAROL (to the person offscreen)
All right. (to SCHAEFFER) What’s up?

SCHAEFFER leads CAROL to the end of the room, away from the other staffers.

SCHAEFFER
Research has it that Mrs. Othman isn’t Yemeni-American, she’s the daughter of a, a schoolteacher and autoworker. Born in Detroit.

CAROL
Has it gotten out yet?

SCHAEFFER
Um, no. Not yet.

CAROL
All right, I want you to stay on it. Okay, and be discreet.

SOSA runs through the press office.

SOSA
Hey, hey, they’re moving!

We cut between TV news footage at Shaw Island and CJ and staffers running through the halls of the West Wing.

REPORTER (voiceover)
- have an emergency vehicle on the scene, I’m near the lane, yes, okay, now, now it appears we have the ambulance doors opening -

CJ dashes through the bullpen outside JOSH’S office, calling out, “Carol!”

REPORTER (voiceover)
- and they are, yes, we have a, a stretcher rolling out of the ambulance, I see two EMTs, and they have removed a stretcher and they are heading in the direction of the cabin.

Another REPORTER is heard as CJ enters her office and dials the phone.

REPORTER 2 (on TV)
As a reminder, the new SOP does specify that snipers are not to fire when children are in  harm’s way.

REPORTER 3 (voiceover)
Yes, I, I can see the EMTs approaching. They don’t appear to be going all the way – oh, the door’s opening.

NEWS ANCHOR (on TV)
The door of the cabin is?

REPORTER 3 is seen on camera as a a bang is heard behind him, and he flinches.

REPORTER 3 (on TV)
Okay, we have an explosion, or a flash of some kind near the cabin.

REPORTER 2 (voiceover)
Okay, we do have gunfire coming from the direction of the cabin.

NEWS ANCHOR (voiceover)
What are you seeing now - ?

In her office, CJ turns to CAROL.

CJ
Get me ten minutes in the Oval Office, call over there now.

CAROL
Okay!

REPORTER (voiceover)
It was some kind of an explosion. I can no longer see the EMTs or the children. There’s -  there’s some, someone may be down.

REPORTER 3 (voiceover)
Gunshots are continuing. We see agents now on the move, I see five, six members of SWAT storming towards the cabin.

CAROL is seen in the press office, calling out, “Andrew. Andrew!”

NEWS ANCHOR (voiceover)
A neighbor with a visual on the cabin is reporting that he lost sight of the children as they came out of the cabin. They may be down.

REPORTER 2 (on TV)
We do have more gunfire coming from the direction of the cabin, and from the surrounding woods.

CAROL and the other staffers usher CJ down the hallway past a group of shouting reporters. As they call out, “CJ! CJ!” she stops at a doorway.

CJ
No comment!

CJ walks away. We are left with a silent shot of smoke rising from the woods on Shaw Island.

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – DAY

CHARLIE is working at his desk. The phone rings. He answers.

CHARLIE
This is Charlie. … Okay. Thanks.

CHARLIE gets up from his desk and exits. Behind him CJ and BARTLET come out of the Oval Office.

CJ
We’ll reschedule the announcement for tomorrow. I know you’ve got the NEC waiting.

BARTLET
Naw, I’ll stick my head in.

CJ
All right, I’ll get on your schedule in the morning for a final prep for questions you might get.

BARTLET
I think we can guess what those questions are going to be.

CJ
Yes, sir.

In the hallway CJ and BARTLET encounter a group of young men in scouting gear heading for the Mural Room.

CJ
They should be – here they are.

BARTLET
Are these our young, wayward adventurers?

CJ
The Eagle Rangers.

BARTLET
Welcome to the White House, fellas.

In the background we see LEO and ARNOLD deep in discussion. A security guard closes the door.

CJ
Hi, come on in.

BARTLET
How you doing? It’s good to see you. Good, good – I’ll have a word with you later. 

CJ and BARTLET are now in the Mural Room with the Rangers.

BARTLET
So, uh, who among you -

CJ (to film crew)
We’re in here.

BARTLET
- objects to staying another night at the Marriott?

NARRATOR
And while the airwaves were filled with conflicting reports of what had just happened on Shaw Island, the Bartlet administration quietly dropped away from the breaking news, and resumed its day. Was there contention within the administration?

As BARTLET continues to visit with the Rangers, in the background we see LEO and ARNOLD come out of the office, still talking.

NARRATOR
Would further departures from standard procedure be revealed? From inside the West Wing, we could only speculate, along with the rest of the country.

BARTLET
Really?

RANGER
That’s right, sir.

BARTLET
Thank you, fellas.

CJ
Thank you all very much, we’ll see you tomorrow at 10 am in the Rose Garden, have a good night. (to BARTLET) Yes, sir?

BARTLET and CJ have a quick private conversation.

BARTLET
You holding up?

CJ
Oh, yes, sir.

CUT TO: CJ’S INTERVIEW IN HER OFFICE

CJ
Yes, I guess I, I, there’s an inherent tension there, I won’t deny it. Conventional wisdom says you can’t serve two masters. I do.

INTERVIEWER
But your first is -

CJ
Or I tell myself I do.

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM – EVENING
White House Press Briefing
4:51 PM

CJ is at the podium as the reporters gather.

CJ
We’re gonna try to move this along, some of you are up against evening news deadlines, so without further ado we’d like to bring Agent Mike Casper to the podium, he’ll have a statement and then take your questions. Mike?

CASPER
Approximately one hour ago, federal agents apprehended Jamal Othman, who had been holed up with his family in a seven-hour standoff on Shaw Island in Washington state. ATF officials recovered two cases of explosives which had been wired throughout the cabin. Mr. Othman was in control of their detonation. Mr. Othman received a gunshot wound to the left shoulder, his condition is stable. The standoff was initiated when Mr. Othman opened fire this morning and released an attack dog on federal agents who were attempting to serve him with an arrest warrant. 

The scene in the briefing room is intercut with shots of CJ in her office, going to the flak jacket hanging on her door and reading a note left inside a pocket.

CASPER
One agent sustained severe bites to the face and throat. His condition is critical at this time. His name is being withheld until his family can be notified. Uh, the youngest Othman child also sustained injuries in the initial exchange of gunfire. Hoda Othman, age six, was struck by flying glass and went into shock. She and the other five children, as well as Mrs. Othman, have been safely evacuated. The daughter is in stable condition. I’ll take your questions now.

REPORTER
Mr. Casper, Mr. Casper – what are the charges against Mr. Othman?

CASPER
Un, I don’t have all the -

NARRATOR
On the evening news on that March day three years ago, speculations of impropriety were initially overtaken by relief at the positive outcome.

CUT TO: TV SCREEN WITH NEWS ANCHOR REPORTING

NEWS ANCHOR
In a stunning conclusion, agents from the FBI Hostage Rescue and SWAT, using a flashbang as distraction, stormed the cabin moments after an injured child was safely evacuated -

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY

CJ and CAROL are going over notes from the day.

CJ
Okay, what do you got for me?

CAROL
Lindsey called from the First Lady’s office; the Richard Tyler burgundy gown she wore was donated to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in January -

CJ
Thank you. Did you, uh -

CAROL
- You’re welcome. I already faxed Chris a copy of the receipt.

CJ
Thank you.

CAROL
Vatican advance team was sorry they didn’t get to say goodbye and look forward to seeing you soon.

CJ
They didn’t seem put off?

CAROL
I don’t think so. That Renata guy asked me out to dinner.

CJ
Ooooh! You gotta go.

CAROL
Oh, I don’t know, he seemed kinda -

CJ
Oh, come on, a guy I dated from the Vatican, you can’t pass that up.

NARRATOR
Within a few hours, the action within the West Wing’s corridors slowed to a steady hum. 

Staffers are seen leaving for the evening, as the pace of activity in the Communications office slows. JACK SOSA says his farewells at CJ’s office door.

SOSA
I’m outta here.

CAROL
Good night.

SOSA
Good night.

CJ
Good night, Jack. Thank you, for everything today.

As SOSA walks down the corridor, we hear (but do not see) ANDREW WELTZMAN at the door.

WELTZMAN (voiceover)
I’ll, uh,  be working so if you need anything, uh, I’ll be … here.

CJ
Okay.

WELTZMAN (voiceover)
Working.

CJ
Thanks, Andrew.

WELTZMAN (voiceover)
All right. Good night.

CJ
I appreciate it. Good night.

CAROL
Bye, Andrew.

CUT TO: CAROL’S INTERVIEW.

INTERVIEWER
Is she a, good boss?

CAROL
She’s the best boss. And, I couldn’t have a better job. Um, I really look at CJ as my mentor.

CAROL’s interview continues over a shot of CJ in the press office, talking with CAROL, SCHAEFFER, WELTZMAN, and SOSA.

CAROL (voiceover)
They say that a mentor’s a wise and trusted guide or friend, I would say that CJ is all of those things.

As the NARRATOR continues, we see LEO walking down the hallway and entering CJ’s office.

NARRATOR
It would be weeks before the full scope of the charges against Mr. Othman would become public knowledge. But at the end of our day with CJ Cregg, Access got a preview of what America would later learn.

LEO
Good day.

CJ
Not bad.

LEO
I counted six rounds you went with the rope-a-dope in that briefing room.

CJ (chuckling)
I started to take pride in it. That – sounds sick. Is there anything I should know for tomorrow?

LEO
The Director wants to wait until he’s sure it’s a clean sweep before announcing all the charges.

CJ
That makes sense.

LEO
The confiscated blueprints are the most damning evidence, of course, but Othman’s contacts with the Ba’ji network have already netted a dozen arrests.

CJ
Wow, this is, uh, this was big for the FBI.

LEO
It was big for all of us.

CJ
Big enough to put Casey Creek in the past?

LEO
We’ll see.

LEO helps CJ put on her coat. As he leaves, CJ says good night to CAROL and shakes hands with one of the documentary crew as the NARRATOR continues. She waves at the camera then starts down the hall.

NARRATOR
The next day, most of the media coverage mentioned the adminstration’s previous debacle at Casey Creek. Over the next nine months, 100 charges were handed down in dozens of arrests connected to the Othman conspiracy. In the end, eleven domestic terrorists were sentenced and convicted in federal courts. Last July, Jamal Othman died of complications from kidney failure in federal prison, where he was serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit terrorism.

As the camera follows CJ down the hall toward the exit, she looks back and laughs nervously, holding up her hand and saying, “Stop!”

CUT TO: CJ’s OFFICE.

CJ’s interview continues.

CJ
Sometimes you have to just let yourself get beaten up. But sometimes it’s better to be beaten up for 24 hours than beaten up for the long run. Although the long run’s something I have no sense of. You know, when I’m going home at night I’m thinking about the next day’s schedule.

CUT TO: HALLWAY. 

The camera is behind CJ as she walks down the hall to leave the building. Her cell phone rings, and she answers. 

CJ (into phone)
Rain? That’s what they said for today. Keep it in the Rose Garden for now.

She checks out of the building and exits as the camera focuses on the White House Communications Department seal on a glass partition.

NARRATOR
Director Arnold continues to elicit controversy as head of the FBI. And CJ Cregg, who allowed us to share a day with her in the West Wing, remains the only woman to have served two terms as the White House Press Secretary.

DISSOLVE TO: END TITLES.
FADE TO BLACK.
THE END.
* * * 

THE WEST WING TRANSCRIPT: The Benign Prerogative (S5E11)

THE WEST WING
5x11 - “THE BENIGN PREROGATIVE”
WRITTEN BY CAROL FLINT
DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER MISIANO

Transcribed by Walking, Talking, And Yelling At Clouds
(kegofglory.blogspot.com)

TEASER

FADE IN: INT. - WHITE HOUSE CORRIDOR - NIGHT
JANUARY 20TH

Someone walks down the hallway outside the Communications bullpen carrying a bouquet of flowers. We hear a wolf-whistle as the camera pans to TOBY and CJ approaching. CJ is wearing a red dress.

TOBY
Now I remember why I love this night.

CJ
You love this night because in two hours you’ll have a sour mash in hand and nothing to re-write.

TOBY
Ha. The press conference was a hit.

CJ
The President did well this morning.

TOBY
Are they ranting on cable about that liberal pantywaist gone soft on crime?

CJ
What we expected.

RINA rushes up to meet CJ and TOBY, tucking a package of gum into TOBY’S shirt pocket.

TOBY
What?

RINA
Extra gum. For your big night. It’s okay. We all get oral when we’re nervous.

RINA walks away. CJ and TOBY look at each other.

CJ 
You heading over to pace on the Hill?

TOBY
After I finish pacing here.

TOBY walks away as CJ goes into her office. She speaks to CAROL, who is on the phone.

CJ
Did the special guests arrive?

CAROL holds up a finger as CJ goes behind her desk. CAROL hangs up and stands in CJ’S doorway.

CAROL
It’s Gentle Ben, on hold.

CJ
You put him on hold?

CAROL
That’s what you told me to do!

CAROL walks away. We see DONNA coming down the hallway.

CJ
Carol, maybe you ought to -

DONNA
CJ.

CJ
Donna, my darling, would you pick up line one and tell this guy you can’t find me -

CJ stops and looks at DONNA, who appears stricken as she stands in her office.

CJ
What’s wrong?

DONNA stands silent.

CUT TO: INT. - WHITE HOUSE CORRIDOR – NIGHT

CJ, TOBY, JOSH and DONNA are walking with purpose.

TOBY
Leo won’t want to tell him before the State of the Union, it might throw him off his game. And it doesn’t change anything.

CJ
You want him hit with it leaving the podium?

TOBY
One hour. Guy couldn’t wait one hour.

DONNA
My God, Toby.

TOBY
Yeah, uh … you’re right. Sorry.

They stop outside LEO’S office. CJ speaks to MARGARET, standing behind LEO’S desk.

CJ
Has – he hasn’t left, has he?

MARGARET
They’re having tea.

WILL enters LEO’S office.

WILL
You heard?

CJ
It hit the wires?

WILL
I got a call. Does the President know?

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT

CHARLIE is looking over binders. MEESHELL ANDERS walks up behind him.

MESHELL
Charlie?

CHARLIE
Ms. Anders?

MESHELL
Ms.? You sorry son of a -

MESHELL slaps CHARLIE, just as PRESIDENT BARTLET walks out of the OVAL OFFICE carrying a cup of tea.

BARTLET
Charlie, are we -?

BARTLET stops and stands still. CHARLIE and MEESHELL stand nervously.

BARTLET
I beg your pardon.

CHARLIE
Mr. President, may I have a moment?

BARTLET nods and goes back into the OVAL OFFICE, closing the door. CHARLIE turns and looks at MEESHELL.

SMASH CUT TO: MAIN TITLES.
END TEASER.
***

ACT ONE

FADE IN: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT

We are back at the end of the TEASER, as the OVAL OFFICE door closes behind BARTLET.

MEESHELL (whispers)
Oh my God.

CHARLIE
Yeah.

MEESHELL
I am so sor- What did I just do?

CHARLIE
We can’t do this. He’s got a speech. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Any minute we could get the word and he goes.

MEESHELL
I have never hit anyone, not since my kid brother -

CHARLIE
You’re a natural, then.

MEESHELL
You deserved it.

CHARLIE
We can’t do this now.

MEESHELL
I shouldn’t have come.

CHARLIE
How did you even get in?

MEESHELL
What, without you to wave me in?

CHARLIE
I really can’t do this.

MEESHELL
So a one-night thing would’ve worked better for you?

CHARLIE
I know three weeks was too long.

A Secret Service agent, DONNIE, speaks from offscreen.

DONNIE (voiceover)
Charlie? They’re ready.

CHARLIE and MEESHELL look at each other a moment, then MEESHELL exits.

CUT TO: INT. - ANGELA BLAKE’S HOME – NIGHT
THREE WEEKS EARLIER
NEW YEAR’S EVE

A party is going on. CHARLIE walks up to ANGELA in the kitchen, putting on his coat.

ANGELA
Hey.

CHARLIE
Thanks for having me.

ANGELA
Are you sneaking out? Gonna breakdance at 3:00.

CHARLIE
Happy New Year.

CHARLIE walks away from the kitchen. A group of young people are just arriving, including MEESHELL and two young men. They are having some kind of political discussion.

MAN ONE
Look, I’m not proud, I’ll take my rights on the installment plan.

MAN TWO
A voting delegate for the District?

MAN ONE
Well, they can give Utah their own chamber for all I care.

MEESHELL
Yeah, but if we accept a specially created House seat it could be an obstacle to DC statehood.

CHARLIE is walking by the group, and speaks over MEESHELL’S shoulder.

CHARLIE
I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

MAN ONE
I disagree. A seat for us, balanced by one for Mormon missionaries …

MEESHELL
Got that something-for-everyone feel.

MAN ONE
And it’s coming from Congressman Drake.

CHARLIE
Drake didn’t propose a bill, he floated a notion. Probably because he took heat over sponsoring DC vouchers.

MEESHELL
So you think it’s just talk?

CHARLIE
Folks in the District are no closer to getting the vote than our ancestors were.

MEESHELL
Can I quote you on that?

CHARLIE
You’re a reporter?

MEESHELL
Wannabe. I’m an intern at The Afro-American. Meeshell Anders.

CHARLIE
I read the Afro – every time I’m in a barber shop.

MEESHELL
Well, that’s our market penetration.

CHARLIE
I can’t really give you that for attribution, Meeshell. But if you want to say “White House staffer” …

CHARLIE hands his card to MEESHELL. We can see it reads CHARLES YOUNG, THE WHITE HOUSE.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY
JANUARY 6TH

The camera slowly pushes in down the hall towards CJ’S office doorway.

CJ
Am I mad at you?

CAROL
It’s not my question, it’s Ben’s.

CJ
Ben?

CAROL
Of the husky voice, no last name, and the 907 area code?

CJ
Oh.

CAROL
He said you never return his calls, and are you mad at him?

CJ
What’d you say?

CAROL
That you’d have to get back.

CJ sees TOBY walking past and dashes out to walk with him.

CJ
Toby! Great draft, Shakespeare.

TOBY
Oh, thanks.

CJ
Really, you nailed it. State of the Union’s finished.

TOBY
Okay.

CJ
What are you gonna do the next two weeks? Dot the I’s …

TOBY
I’ve got pollsters waiting.

CJ
They tested this draft?

TOBY
That’s their job.

CJ
I’m sure they’re gonna love it.

CJ walks away.

CUT TO: INT. - JOSH’S OFFICE – DAY

JOSH is talking to DONNA.

JOSH
Really? Joey Lucas stopped by?

DONNA
She was sorry you weren’t in yet. Nice suit.

JOSH
Was it a heads-up, pre-meeting kind of stopping by, or a long-time-no-see kind of stopping by?

DONNA
You know, I couldn’t tell.

JOSH
How’d she look?

DONNA
Great.

They begin walking down the corridor.

JOSH
I heard she was seeing someone.

DONNA
Yeah, I think she is.

JOSH
Did she say she was seeing someone?

DONNA
No.

JOSH
So who knows? Maybe the time is ripe.

DONNA
Maybe not so much.

JOSH
That’s not very supportive. Here at the start of a new year, with clean slates, broad horizons, and anything’s possible -

JOEY LUCAS and her interpreter, KENNY, enter through a door behind JOSH and DONNA.

JOEY
Josh!

JOSH turns to see her. JOEY is very pregnant. She taps her belly. JOSH reacts with exaggerated surprise, his mouth wide open.

CUT TO: INT. - LEO’S OFFICE – DAY

LEO is behind his desk. TOBY and JOSH are sitting in chairs, with JOEY and KENNY on the sofa. KENNY is speaking as JOEY signs.

JOEY (through KENNY)
… and with women, the draft scored even higher. You can see spikes in all your policy priorities. In the 80 percentile in education and job retraining.

JOSH
Where’s the “room to improve” addendum?

JOEY
There isn’t any.

JOEY (through KENNY)
We’ve never seen this before, but two weeks out, it looks like you’ve locked your State of the Union message.

LEO
Well, that’s impressive, Toby.

TOBY (standing)
Come on, the section on anti-terrorism, uh …

JOEY (through KENNY)
It didn’t make people sing “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning,” but -

JOEY gestures toward JOSH and TOBY.

KENNY
She wants you to know that she actually sang that.

TOBY smiles.

JOEY (through KENNY)
But it was well within the “interested” range. We’ll put it out to mall tests next week, get feedback on the key paragraph.

TOBY
Yeah, because we haven’t really found that yet.

JOEY (through KENNY)
It’s not the writing that we’ll examine. Mall tests are about tone, how the President should deliver the speech. We’ll hire a spokesman.

TOBY
An actor?

JOEY (through KENNY)
Not a known actor.

TOBY
Oh, that’s better.

JOEY (through KENNY)
Purchase intent can vary dramatically -

TOBY
Purchase intent? What are we doing, selling corn flakes?

JOEY holds up her hands.

JOEY (through KENNY)
Come out and watch.

LEO
Good idea, Toby. It doesn’t sound like you have anything else to do.

LEO exits.

CUT TO: INT. - WHITE HOUSE CORRIDOR – DAY

LEO walks out of his office and meets ANGELA.

ANGELA
The Freeway Alert bill is on a fast track. The Senate may have something for the President to sign before they recess.

LEO
Grants to track kidnappers? I think the President would welcome that on his desk.

ANGELA
Yeah, well, there’s an amendment.

CUT TO: INT. - COMMUNICATIONS BULLPEN – NIGHT
JANUARY 8TH

The camera pushes in through the bullpen toward TOBY’S office. MARGARET is in the office talking to TOBY.

MARGARET
All your plane tickets are e-tickets, your flights are all confirmed - Buffalo, Grand Rapids, Bradenton – Joey Lucas will meet you at the Michigan Mall, your research assistant has the latest itinerary.

TOBY walks out of his office carrying luggage, MARGARET follows.

TOBY
Then why tell me?

MARGARET
I wasn’t sure she – She’s … new. This position is kind of a jump for her.

TOBY
She compiled clippings at Energy.

MARGARET
I know Leo’s been pressuring you to hire someone and I heard she was helpful during the shutdown, but -

TOBY
I thought I’d give her a shot.

TOBY and MARGARET arrive at the foyer entrance to the West Wing, where RINA is waiting.

MARGARET (whispering)
Just know if she doesn’t work out -

RINA
Cab’s here, Mr. Ziegler. Ready for blastoff?

TOBY
Uh-huh.

TOBY heads out the door with RINA.

MARGARET
Have a good trip.

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT

CHARLIE is reading a copy of The Washington Afro-American. ANGELA comes in the doorway.

ANGELA
Can she write as well as she slow-dances?

CHARLIE
Leo and Josh are already in there.

ANGELA
You always move in so fast, or is she special?

CHARLIE
Not that it’s any of your business, but we hit it off.

ANGELA
And you can find time for a love life?

CHARLIE
I did have to cancel on her Sunday. An attempted coup in Riyadh.

ANGELA
Excuses, excuses.

CHARLIE
Tonight, I thought I was home free with the President at the opera, but he bailed at intermission, and now you’re here.

ANGELA
Don’t cancel. Go late. A demanding job is a strong aphrodisiac.

CHARLIE
Are you the Devil?

ANGELA
It’s folks who act like angels I worry about.

ANGELA heads into the Oval Office.

CUT TO: INT. - OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT

LEO and JOSH are sitting in the OVAL OFFICE as ANGELA enters.

ANGELA
It arrived?

LEO
It did.

ANGELA
Hicks’ amendment wasn’t written in disappearing ink?

JOSH
Unfortunately.

LEO
He can sign this. The body of the bill is right-on. Helps communities mobilize when a child is abducted.

JOSH
But, the amendment isn’t limited to kidnapping. It toughens federal sentencing guidelines for all offenses.

ANGELA
No Congressman ever lost re-election for looking tough on crime.

JOSH
Any President who vetoes a crime bill risks becoming the Pillsbury Doughboy.

ANGELA
Well, at least he’s got ten working days to decide. If he does veto, it can wait until after the State of the Union.

A door opens from the Portico and PRESIDENT BARTLET and ABBEY enter.

LEO
Mr. President, Abbey. Turandot wasn’t all you hoped for.

BARTLET
Yeah, I’m becoming a cultural wimp, can’t even sit through Puccini without banking a good night’s sleep.

ABBEY
You certainly haven’t done that lately.

BARTLET
So, Congress launched another assault on judicial discretion?

LEO
I think they were aiming at kidnappers.

BARTLET
And slipped in the amendment hoping we wouldn’t notice. 

JOSH
Indiana’s in a budget crunch. They had to mothball a new state prison. Hicks’d probably like to reassure voters that the Federal Bureau of Prisons will take up the slack.

BARTLET
This is what we were talking about, I should’ve issued those pardons.

ABBEY
You found a few things on your plate.

BARTLET
Congress doesn’t know I’m serious about these draconian sentences.

LEO
Sir, I don’t think issuing pardons would have stopped Congress.

ABBEY
No, they’ve been at it for thirty years.

BARTLET
Yeah, war on drugs, war on crime, somehow it turned into a war on judges.

ABBEY
Apparently we no longer need subtle minds on the bench. Is Counsel even working on a list of pardons?

JOSH
Of course. That’s ongoing.

BARTLET
But never gets done. Let’s talk to Justice, get back into it.

LEO
Yes, sir.

LEO exchanges a look with JOSH.

LEO
Of course, with the run-up to the State of the Union, this isn’t the best time. We need to stay focused.

BARTLET
Yeah.

LEO
The fallout over Gabriel Lessieur alone would be -

ANGELA
Someone wants to pardon Gabriel Lessieur?

ABBEY
I think Lessieur’s case merits consideration.

ANGELA
Sorry, ma’am.

BARTLET
Not as sorry as you’ll be if she gets started on what the FBI did or didn’t do on that Indian reservation in 1977.

LEO
Sir – you know I’m only concerned with timing. This bill isn’t perfect. But you sign it now, you arrive for the State of the Union in a spirit of renewed cooperation.

BARTLET
Something to sleep on.

ABBEY
Speaking euphemistically.

BARTLET
There’s always hope. Good night, all.

EVERYONE
Good night, sir, good night, Abbey.

BARTLET and ABBEY head out the Portico door.

BARTLET (calling out as he heads out the door)
Good night, Charlie, go home.

JOSH
Could there be a worse time to consider pardons?

LEO
I don’t want him distracted.

JOSH
Should I drag my feet?

LEO
How about you don’t break your neck.

ANGELA
Is that how it usually works, the First Lady tees him up?

JOSH
Honestly, I’ve never seen her weigh in like that, not on policy.

ANGELA
You missed her homecoming.

LEO
Okay. Enough.

ANGELA
But is this their dynamic?

JOSH
It’s new to me. Leo?

LEO
He’s sleeping on it, that’s all I heard.

LEO exits into his office.

FADE OUT.
END ACT ONE.
* * *

ACT TWO

FADE IN: INT. - WEST WING FOYER – DAY
JANUARY 10TH

CJ and JOSH walk past the camera and continue towards the offices.

CJ
Where’s this coming from?

JOSH
You gotta put a damper on it.

CJ
The President is not considering pardons at this time?

JOSH
Right.

CJ
He’s not considering a commutation of tribal leader Gabriel Lessieur convicted in the deaths of two FBI agents in North Dakota?

JOSH
No.

CJ
He’s not considering clemency for a former Republican governor indicted for fraud and recently diagnosed with liver cancer?

JOSH
No.

CJ
Why does everyone in my press room think he is?

JOSH
Maybe because we called the assistant AG in charge of clemencies and asked the pardon attorney from Justice to meet with the Counsel’s office today.

CJ
So, how about, ‘the ongoing process of reviewing petitions is proceeding but the President is not considering pardons at this time.’

JOSH
That works.

CUT TO: INT. - DONNA’S DESK – DAY

DONNA lifts a comically large stack of papers off her desk and gingerly carries them into JOSH’S OFFICE. As she places them on JOSH’S desk, JOSH enters.

JOSH
What’s all this?

DONNA
Counsel’s office sent these over. The case files for today’s meeting with the pardon attorney.

JOSH
I didn’t think there’d be so many.

DONNA
There are only 36, but they aren’t short stories. Each file has the original trial record, a petition by the prisoner, the Bureau of Prison’s recommendation, the DOJ recommendation, White House Counsel’s preliminary report -

JOSH
Don’t leave them here.

DONNA
They said you wanted to take a look.

JOSH
I said we wanted to take a look, and when I said we -

DONNA
You meant me.

JOSH
I’ll help you -

DONNA
Thanks.

JOSH
- move them.

JOSH picks up part of the stack of papers and walks out, followed by DONNA carrying the rest.

DONNA
Right.

JOSH
You need a space where you can spread out. We need to be familiar with the specifics of each of these petitions.

DONNA
And when you say we …

JOSH
That’s the spirit.

CUT TO: INT. - LARGE ROOM WITH CUBICLES AND COMPUTER MONITORS – DAY
GRAND RAPIDS MALL

KENNY is translating for JOEY as TOBY and RINA listen.

JOEY (through KENNY)
Each participant is paid $10 to answer a battery of questions and then listen to one of three versions of the speech. In booth A, we have execution one.

KENNY sits and starts playing a video on the monitor. We see an actor delivering a speech.

ACTOR (onscreen, speaking in a gentle, friendly tone)
… and we know that the hard work of forming this more perfect union, belongs to us all. The state of our union is strong …

JOEY (through KENNY)
Booth two is version B.

KENNY starts playing a new video. We see the same actor, now a bit more forceful, but still with a smile.

ACTOR (onscreen)
The state of our union is strong. With courage, with faith in our democratic foundation, and the human spirit it fosters …

JOEY (through KENNY)
And booth three.

KENNY clicks a mouse. The actor appears again, with a much firmer delivery punctuated by hand movements.

ACTOR (onscreen)
… that the hard work of forming this more perfect union belongs to us all. The state of our union …

TOBY
So which one are they gonna go for, the Amana fridge, Samsonite luggage, or door number three?

JOEY (through KENNY)
Most of my political clients are reassured to know that these tests work in sales.

TOBY
What about your commercial clients?

JOEY (through KENNY)
They like knowing they work in politics.

RINA
It’s gotta be version B. It’s strong but not mean. That’s the one, right?

JOEY (through KENNY)
It is. B’s showing a significant 26 percent movement in purchase intent.

TOBY
I need some coffee.

RINA
I’ll get it.

TOBY
No. I’d rather, thank you.

RINA
Okay, well, uh, don’t forget we’re a left turn at the Mrs. Fields.

TOBY looks back as he heads down the hallway.

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – DAY

CHARLIE is on the phone with MEESHELL.

CHARLIE
It’s usually slow on weekends, we’ll get takeout. And I’ll give you a tour, if that sounds okay.

MEESHELL (through phone)
Okay.

CHARLIE
E-mail me your date of birth and Social so I can wave you in. I’ll call you later?

CHARLIE hangs up as WILL enters.

WILL
Charlie, any chance of getting five minutes for a meet-and-greet next Friday?

CHARLIE
Friday?

WILL
The Vice President is in Atlanta and the Kaehlers are coming to town unexpectedly.

CHARLIE
They are … ?

WILL
Robert and Jean Kaehler, WestCo Mining, one of our most generous contributors west of the  Rockies.

CHARLIE
I’ll see what I can do.

WILL
Thanks.

WILL starts to leave.

CHARLIE
Don’t promise them.

CUT TO: INT. - OVAL OFFICE – DAY

LEO enters.

LEO
Yes, sir?

BARTLET
Did you know Woodrow Wilson averaged 344 acts of clemency a year? 

LEO
I didn’t.

BARTLET
Calvin Coolidge managed 326. FDR was over 300 yearly, for a grand total of 3,687. Until the last 40 years, Presidents routinely exercised their power as stated in the Constitution, to give relief against harsh sentences. Recent Presidents have averaged 40, 20, and seven pardons a year. Why’d we get so stingy?

LEO
Law and order’s become a national concern.

BARTLET
And the pardon process has become less transparent. No records kept, no rationales given … the ones we do remember, the Eugene Debs, the Jimmy Hoffas, were controversial, if not downright scandals.

LEO
You understand, sir, I’m not against you issuing pardons.

BARTLET
The benign prerogative, that’s what Hamilton called them.

LEO
Benign? It’s a bag of lit dynamite. Yeah, maybe the FBI bungled its investigation on an Indian reservation 30 years ago. 

BARTLET
And maybe we let the wrong guy go from puberty to retirement in a prison cell.

LEO
And sure, maybe it would be a generous act of bipartisanship to forgive an ex-governor who’s battling cancer -

BARTLET
Who never would have gone to trial if a Republican were sitting in this office.

LEO
I know the First Lady has received letters from tribal leaders -

BARTLET
Is Josh sitting in on this meeting with Justice today?

LEO
He’s in and out.

BARTLET
The Attorney General send a deputy with a heartbeat?

LEO
Sir, I don’t believe Fisk sent a deputy AG, just the pardon attorney.

BARTLET
The AG expects White House Counsel to sit down without a -

LEO
Well, actually Counsel isn’t in this either, it’s more preliminary.

BARTLET
Is deputy counsel there?

LEO looks away.

BARTLET
Who is in this meeting, Leo?

CUT TO: INT. - ROOSEVELT ROOM – DAY

DONNA is at the table taking notes with a group of attorneys, including PORTIA COLGRAVE.

PORTIA
So that’s my main concern … if Josh doesn’t return -

DONNA
I’ll get you an answer.

PORTIA
We need guidance. Is the President looking for packing peanuts, or does he want to -

DONNA
Packing peanuts?

We hear a door opening.

PORTIA (rising)
Yeah.

PRESIDENT BARTLET walks in the door.

BARTLET
Please, everyone, sit. (to PORTIA) You’re my pardon attorney?

PORTIA
Yes, Mr. President. Portia Colgrave.

Everyone takes a seat.

BARTLET
You’ve survived three administrations in this job, am I right?

PORTIA
You are, sir.

BARTLET
Well, how do I stack up?

PORTIA
You’re about at par.

BARTLET
Which ain’t saying much, is it? (motioning to the pardon list) May I?

PORTIA
Yes, sir.

BARTLET
This is the list that we’ve been discussing?

PORTIA
These are first-time offenders who’ve served at least five years of a ten-year or longer sentence under the guidelines.

BARTLET
Ten years or longer. All nonviolent?

PORTIA
Oh, yes, Mr. President.

BARTLET
So where were you?

DONNA
We were about to discuss packing peanuts.

CUT TO: INT. - WHITE HOUSE HALLWAY – NIGHT
SUNDAY
JANUARY 11TH

At the end of the hall we see CHARLIE showing MEESHELL around.

CHARLIE
So this is the Roosevelt Room, which was the President’s office until FDR decided he deserved some sunlight, and built the Oval. Here’s the Communications bullpen -

MEESHELL
Whoa, whoa, slow down, Charlie, I’m a little overwhelmed.

CHARLIE
It’s part of my plan to sweep you off your feet.

MEESHELL
You already did that.

CHARLIE
You were pretty easy.

MEESHELL
And boy, was I relieved when you called again. I never do that, I’m actually kind of a prude.

CHARLIE
Fooled me. This is the West Lobby. You should get your bearings for when you come back. 

MEESHELL
What do you mean?

CHARLIE
I talked to CJ about getting you into the -

MEESHELL
CJ Cregg?

CHARLIE
Next week. The President’s meeting with some college editors for Martin Luther King Day, and I asked CJ if it’d be okay for you to join.

MEESHELL 
(stammers) Did you say something after ‘President’?

CHARLIE
It’ll be an intimate group of 60.

MEESHELL
Thank you, I – I’m nervous already.

CHARLIE
I read your piece. You got game.

CHARLIE and MEESHELL walk into the area near DONNA’S desk.

CHARLIE
Hey, Donna.

DONNA
Hey, Charlie.

CHARLIE
Donna Moss, Meeshell Anders.

DONNA
Hi, nice to meet you.

MEESHELL
Nice to meet you.

CHARLIE
I’m giving Meeshell the nickel tour.

DONNA
It’s pretty great, huh? We all forget.

MEESHELL
Yeah, it’s amazing.

CHARLIE
We’ve got food coming, if you want to join us.

DONNA
Oh, you’re too polite. He’s too polite.

CHARLIE
What are you doing here today?

DONNA
Don’t ask. It’s too depressing.

DONNA drops a stack of papers on a desk and sits.

DONNA
It’s nice to meet you.

CHARLIE and MEESHELL walk away. DONNA sighs, then opens a file. We see a page for a Daisy Aimes, with a mug shot and details of her case. The camera pans to a page titled “The personal history of Daisy Aimes,” with a photograph of her and her daughter. DONNA continues reading the file.

CUT TO: INT. - RESIDENCE KITCHEN – NIGHT

PRESIDENT BARTLET and ABBEY are having a discussion next to the stove.

BARTLET
Packing peanuts, that’s what they’re called.

ABBEY
The low-profile cases?

BARTLET
Apparently these nameless offenders can be useful insulation for any cronies I may want to spring.

ABBEY
Are you getting pressured or -

BARTLET
All over my call sheet. I’ve been thinking if I commute a Chippewa and an indicted Republican, they might cancel each other out.

ABBEY
But they’re off the front burner now?

BARTLET
I know how you feel about Lessieur. I’ll consider him in the future, but it’s these packing peanuts, these victims of minimums that are bugging me. That’s what Congress pushed front and center with this amendment. I can’t sign a bill that toughens guidelines and ties judges’ hands then turn around next month and advocate judicial discretion. (As ABBEY hands him a cup) What’s in this?

ABBEY
Just warm milk.

BARTLET
Does this ever work?

ABBEY
It has.

ABBEY thinks as BARTLET takes a sip.

ABBEY
Are you worried this might be another Wallace Turner?

BARTLET
A little, sure.

ABBEY
You were a new Governor. And you listened to the advice of your parole board. 

BARTLET
His victim’s family probably isn’t too comforted by that. Leo’s worried it’s the wrong time for pardons.

ABBEY
Leo hates to see you sleepless and distracted when you’re about to announce your agenda for the year. 

BARTLET
Do you hate to see me sleepless and distracted?

ABBEY
This is just your preamble. You’re about to be inspired. 

CUT TO: INT. - PRESS BRIEFING ROOM – NIGHT

The room is dark as CHARLIE and MEESHELL come in the back door.

MEESHELL (laughing)
Wait! Never mind!

CHARLIE
No, it’s right here. Umm …

CHARLIE looks for a light switch, then flips it on. The room lights up.

MEESHELL
Good finale.

CHARLIE
As seen on TV.

MEESHELL
It’s a little smaller than I thought.

CHARLIE
And dirtier. (He starts to pick up some trash) Why the press can’t clean up after themselves … You enjoy the picnic?

MEESHELL
On a porch outside the Oval Office? It was all right.

CHARLIE
And the President only called once.

MEESHELL
Was that really him?

CHARLIE
No. I faked it. It was weekend protocol.

MEESHELL
Yeah, it was kinda sexy. You were all, “ah, yes, sir, did you look on the bookshelf, Mr. President?”

CHARLIE (chuckling)
Go on. Get up behind the podium. I’ll take your picture.

MEESHELL
You brought a camera?

CHARLIE
Go on. You belong up there.

MEESHELL (hesitating)
Charlie, I started to bring this up before, but I didnt’ want to say on the phone. 

CHARLIE
What?

MEESHELL
I do belong here.

CHARLIE
I know it.

MEESHELL
No, I mean I really do belong here. It wasn’t for certain when we met, but - 

CHARLIE
What?

MEESHELL
I’m coming to work here.

CHARLIE
Here?

MEESHELL
My internship’s ending, and I’ve been offered a really entry-level job in the press corps.

CHARLIE
The White House press corps.

MEESHELL
Uh, I’m gonna be an off-camera reporter for NBC, mostly making sure that the on-camera reporter gets called when something happens.

CHARLIE is taken aback.

CHARLIE
You’re covering the White House … the President … for a network.

MEESHELL
I will be.

CHARLIE
And you let me act like – you didn’t mention this.

MEESHELL
I know, I, I didn’t want to -

CHARLIE
Anything I said today, everything I said was off the record -

MEESHELL
No! Of course!

CHARLIE
He depends on my discretion.

MEESHELL
Charlie, I would never -

CHARLIE
He’s not just the President.

MEESHELL
What do you mean?

CHARLIE
Never mind. 

MEESHELL
I really don’t think this should change anything.

CHARLIE stares uncomfortably at MEESHELL.

FADE OUT.
END ACT TWO.
* * *

ACT THREE

FADE IN: INT. - SHOPPING CENTER – DAY
JANUARY 13TH
BRADENTON, FLORIDA

A group of people are in a room at a shopping center, sitting at small tables filling out forms on clipboards. TOBY and RINA are near the entrance to the room. RINA is on the phone.

RINA
We have seats on the 1:10, Bill – uh, is it Bill? We were hoping you could get us something earlier.

TOBY
Please.

One of the people at the tables stands, irritatedly crumpling the form he’s been writing on.

IRRITATED MAN
This is murder, I’m out of here.

POLLSTER 1
Is something wrong, sir?

IRRITATED MAN
Yeah, keep your ten bucks.

RINA (on phone)
That might work. Is, is that into Dulles? Uh-huh.

TOBY considers the IRRITATED MAN as he walks out of the room. He follows him outside. Another POLLSTER is talking to a shopper outside the room.

POLLSTER 2
Hi, are you a registered voter?

TOBY catches up to the irritated man.

TOBY
Excuse me, sir? I’m, uh, with the polling group inside.

IRRITATED MAN
Yeah, I saw you in there.

TOBY
I was curious, why’d you walk out?

IRRITATED MAN
It’s a waste of time.

TOBY
Why?

IRRITATED MAN
Politics. What, are you guys trying to target me, or trying to find out what makes me, uh, I don’t know … what is it you want, you want me to feel like I’m part of the club? 

TOBY
Uh, maybe.

IRRITATED MAN
Well, you won’t do it with words. Not words that are pre-tested and reworked, sanded down, wrapped in a bow. Hey, you wanna impress me? Do something. Talk’s cheap, pal.

The IRRITATED MAN starts to walk off.

TOBY
You ever listen to the President when he addresses the nation?

IRRITATED MAN
Yeah, sometimes. I usually end up throwing something at the set.

The IRRITATED MAN leaves. RINA comes up to TOBY with the phone.

RINA
Josh is calling. What was that? 

TOBY
That’s my guy. That’s who I write for. (into phone) Yeah.

JOSH (voiceover)
Toby, we need you back. President’s made some decisions that are going to affect the State of the Union.

TOBY
How?

CUT TO: EXT. - WHITE HOUSE ENTRANCE – DAY

TOBY and RINA walk up to the White House, suitcases in tow.

CUT TO: INT. - LEO’S OFFICE – DAY

ANGELA, CJ, and JOSH are meeting with LEO.

ANGELA
I’m saying, if he vetoes the bill tomorrow -

LEO
How many times do I have to tell you, he’s -

CJ
He’s vetoing the amendment, we’ll make that clear.

JOSH
It’s still a veto, it’s not like Congress will forget in a week.

LEO
Could be an icy reception for the State of the Union.

The discussion continues as we see TOBY and RINA arrive at TOBY’S office.

CJ
I’m still not clear about the pardons. 

ANGELA
Maybe the First Lady could explain it.

JOSH
He’s not pardoning Lessieur or any ex-governors, he’s strictly granting commutations where minimums and guidelines have resulted in unfair sentences.

We return to LEO’S office.

CJ
Yeah, I’ve been trying to say that, but -

LEO
When pardons are rumored, lobbying takes on a life of its own.

CJ
There’s no chance he could delay?

TOBY walks into LEO’S office.

JOSH
Hey.

LEO
You’re straight from the airport?

ANGELA
Welcome to hell.

TOBY
So – Congress forced our hand with a crime bill. 

ANGELA
And the President wants to run into the fire and issue pardons.

CJ
Plenty of lemons, we just can’t find a recipe to make anything out of them.

JOSH
Except hemlock.

TOBY
Actually, I think the President’s instinct is right. We don’t run away from this, we … we pack his veto of the Hicks amendment and his policy-based pardons in with the State of the Union, make it more than just an isolated speech.

CJ
Yeah, he can come out for gay marriage in the military at the same time.

TOBY
I’m serious, I say the President announces his veto on the eve of the State of the Union. The next morning, his pardons become act two -

JOSH
Of respect for federal judges.

TOBY
And prelude to his trip to the Hill that night. Which now is more than hat-in-hand begging Congress for a laundry list of priorities, the State of the Union becomes a few words about his agenda from the President, who, as you’ve seen, is a busy guy.

LEO
It’s the closest thing I heard to what the President wants. Can we pull it off?

JOSH
Well, at least we come out swinging. Well, we own the news. Courage of our convictions.

ANGELA
Republicans will still try to demagogue us with these pardons.

CJ
Maybe we focus on the most sympathetic cases. Personal stories will make it less abstract.

TOBY
I gotta keep writing.

TOBY stands, the meeting begins to break up.

LEO
Josh – I need you to hone this list of commutations to a perfect few. I understand Justice has given some 30 names to Counsel?

JOSH
Thirty-six - we’re taking a look, too.

CJ
We need poster kids, former and future altar boys and girls.

ANGELA
Are they all doing time for crack?

JOSH
Not all, but we’re talking mandatory minimums. That means drugs. (to LEO) You want ten names?

LEO
Five or six. Remember how they’re gonna look in the Times photo and let’s spare him any recidivists.

JOSH, CJ and ANGELA exit. MARGARET enters and stands at LEO’S desk.

MARGARET
The First Lady called to remind you of your invitation to New Hampshire for Presidents’ Weekend. She doesn’t want to pressure you, but they won’t take no for an answer.

MARGARET exits. LEO sits at his desk, considering.

CUT TO: INT. - CJ’S OFFICE – DAY
JANUARY 16TH

CAROL and CJ are walking through the hall towards CJ’S office.

CAROL
Do we want to comment on a rumor that FBI agents will picket the White House if the President considers pardoning Gabriel Lessieur?

CJ
We don’t comment on rumors. Did the FBI?

CAROL
Bureau chief said that it would only be off-duty officers.

CJ
Oh, good. Any other calls?

CAROL
Ben of Glacier Bay. Is he really a park ranger? He did this Smokey the Bear riff -

CJ
What are you - ? Don’t talk to him.

CAROL
You want me to hang up?

CJ
I – put him on hold, and find me if he calls again.

CAROL
If?

CAROL exits. CHARLIE comes into the office.

CHARLIE
You were looking for me?

CJ
You never gave me the name of your friend for the MLK college junket.

CHARLIE
Yeah, that’s – forget that. It isn’t gonna happen.

CJ
Are you sure? It’s no problem.

CHARLIE
I’m sure. (pause) CJ, with the press, could you ever trust a reporter?

CJ
Is this the beginning of a joke?

CHARLIE
Never mind.

CHARLIE exits.

CUT TO: INT. - JOSH’S OFFICE - DAY 

JOSH comes out of his office and puts a folder into a rack along the wall. RINA meets him, carrying a sheet of paper.

RINA
Uh, Mr. Ziegler asked if you could give this a read and give him notes ASAP.

JOSH
Was he smiling?

RINA
Does he smile?

JOSH turns back to his office but is interrupted by DONNA.

DONNA
The Kaehlers are in the Mural Room.

JOSH
Who are the Kaehlers?

DONNA
Moneybags from Colorado, the Vice President’s out of town, the President got held up with  the Joint Chiefs.

DONNA walks back to the desk where she’s been working on pardons. JOSH follows her.

JOSH
You don’t have to be pissy.

DONNA
This is not pissy.

JOSH
Donna, it’s a huge risk for the President, we have to cull the list, we have to be brutal.

DONNA
These 36 people haven’t been culled enough, out of thousands of applicants? Forget that they’ve all been in prison for at least five years.

JOSH
For committing crimes.

DONNA
Still, they submitted petitions to Justice that took two years to inch from desk to desk. None of them are violent, although by now I would be, none of them have priors. A lot of them, their judges spoke at their sentencing against the harshness of what they had to impose.

JOSH
Doesn’t mean we stop scrutinizing.

DONNA
Scrutinize away. You tell me, do we toss out Daisy Aimes, mother of three, with two jobs, had a boyfriend who stored a kilo in her closet? She’s done eight years and is facing 11 more, that’s longer than rapists and child molesters get. There’s about 15 Daisys in here. Do we pick three?

JOSH
Donna -

DONNA
You haven’t read these files, or looked at these photos and I don’t blame you, I wish I never had. But I don’t see a list anymore. These are people. If you wanna cull them, jump in. I’m done.

WILL appears in the doorway.

WILL
Sorry, am I - ?

DONNA
No, uh, he’s got the Kaehlers in the Mural Room, we know.

WILL
Actually you may want to skip the Kaehlers, they’re not here by chance.

JOSH
What do you mean?

WILL
Their son petitioned for clemency, they’re here to plead his case.

JOSH
There’s a major party contributor with a family member under pardon consideration?

DONNA
No, there’s no Kaehler on the list.

WILL
He’s the wife’s son, from a former marriage. His name is Morrisey?

DONNA
Donovan Morrisey? Estes Park, high school senior who FedExed LSD.

WILL
I could tell them you’re tied up.

DONNA
No. I will.

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT

CHARLIE is putting on his coat. ANGELA walks up to him.

ANGELA
Charlie …

CHARLIE
He’s gone for the day.

ANGELA
Charlie, she’s gonna be working here, you can’t ignore her.

CHARLIE
Good night, Angela.

CHARLIE walks out of the office, ANGELA follows.

ANGELA
Give her the respect of taking her calls, don’t get mad and write her off the guest list.

CHARLIE
She’s beyond college editors, way beyond. Her family founded the Afro-American.

ANGELA
If you want to know a girl’s entire history and career plan before you get involved, I have two words for you: search engine.

CHARLIE
So you knew she was joining the press corps?

ANGELA
I didn’t. I’m friends with her aunt.

CHARLIE
I should’ve guessed. The sprawling web of District aunts that can’t be avoided.

ANGELA
Unless you date the President’s daughter.

CHARLIE stops and stares at ANGELA.

CHARLIE
Have a nice weekend.

CHARLIE exits.

CUT TO: INT. - OVAL OFFICE – DAY

PRESIDENT BARTLET is meeting with LEO, JOSH, and TOBY.

BARTLET
How did it ever get this far?

JOSH
He has his mother’s name. He fit all our criteria for commutation.

BARTLET
We didn’t put it together, maybe the press won’t, either.

LEO
Sir, if they do -

TOBY
Your message gets stampeded. ‘White House bends justice for big bucks.’

JOSH
Even though we weren’t.

TOBY
And who’s gonna believe that? The kid’s parents practically bankroll the Colorado party not to mention that White House visit.

BARTLET
So this kid gets screwed for having an important family.

TOBY
Sir, you can commute him sometime in the future.

LEO
How’s Counsel doing on the rest of the list?

JOSH
I touched base with them about an idea, I know you and Toby need to work on the new sections of the speech.

LEO
No, we need to settle this.

JOSH
If you want to throw light on how minimums and guidelines conspire to produce disproportionate punishments -

BARTLET
And worse, leave judges impotent. Our judicial system is predicated on an individual’s right to a fair trial. But how individual is that process if a 258-box grid seals your fate before you ever step foot in front of a judge, a federal judge, that my office has invested considerable effort in selecting, who is then constrained from exercising basic common sense while 29-year-old prosecutors, who make their bones on their win-loss record, hold the only discretion in the whole system?

LEO (to TOBY)
Were you taking notes?

TOBY
Got it.

JOSH
Sir, let’s say the list stays at 36 names, or 35 without this Colorado man. We don’t monkey around creating a few poster kids, we say all these cases represent a larger injustice. It’s not just about them. 

LEO and BARTLET exchange looks. BARTLET nods.

BARTLET
Is she waiting outside?

JOSH
She is. But honestly, sir, I -

BARTLET
No – she took the bullet we all managed to dodge, show her in, please.

JOSH goes to the door.

JOSH
Hey. You can come in.

DONNA enters.

DONNA
Mr. President.

BARTLET
I understand you have a message for me.

DONNA
Yes, sir. I promised Mrs. Kaehler I’d do my best.

BARTLET
What did she say?

DONNA
She said her son, Donovan, made a terrible mistake when he was still a teenager. It doesn’t excuse anything, but her divorce was very hard on him. By the time he went to trial, the shock of his arrest had given their family a wake-up call. Donovan had completed a drug treatment program, finished high school and been accepted to college. Unfortunately, the guidelines prevented the judge from considering any of those things. She said after Donovan finished one year in prison – missed one birthday, one Christmas, one fly-fishing season – the other six years he spent in Leavenworth have been a frozen hell. Her words, ‘a frozen hell.’ She wasn’t … she’s … she’s someone who copes. But, she said if it would make a difference, she’d get on her knees. She begged for your mercy. That’s all.

BARTLET
Thank you, Donna.

DONNA exits. There’s a pause as the men consider what they’ve heard.

LEO
Mr. President?

BARTLET
Take him. Take Donovan off the list.

LEO
You can pardon him in the spring, after the dust settles.

BARTLET
Yeah.

BARTLET slowly walks out of the OVAL OFFICE.

FADE OUT.
END ACT THREE.
* * *

ACT FOUR

FADE IN: INT. - OVAL OFFICE – DAY
JANUARY 20TH
MORNING OF THE STATE OF THE UNION

PRESIDENT BARTLET is at his desk, giving a televised address.

BARTLET
… the price tag for our failure to learn this lesson is far too costly. We have to listen to what our federal judges are telling us about the sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums. And Congress has to wean itself from the expensive high they get enacting laws that appear tough on crime, but are ineffective. I will never surrender in the war on drugs, but if you’re consistently getting slaughtered on the battlefield, you’ve probably misjudged your enemy. I don’t offer these pardons today to kingpins or career traffickers who lay waste to our innocent citizens. But I do extend these clemencies like amnesties after a prolonged, bloody war, to some among us who have fallen to a ravaging and confounding enemy. I offer these clemencies confident that if we re-enlist our -

CUT TO: INT. - LEO’S OFFICE – NIGHT
THAT NIGHT; BEFORE STATE OF THE UNION

LEO is watching the tape of BARTLET’S speech from that morning.

BARTLET (voiceover)
- judges’ wisdom, we stand a better chance of prevailing against crime. We have to accept that to be truly tough on crime, we must first understand how to be smart on crime -

ABBEY enters the office behind LEO.

ABBEY
That’s our boy.

BARTLET (voiceover)
… it was not a simple lack of -

LEO
If it was you whispering pardons in his ear – it was the right thing.

ABBEY
I don’t whisper, Leo. That’s not how it works between us. My job is to help Jed be as good a President as he is a man.

LEO
Oh?

ABBEY
I’m not gonna sit back and judge anymore. I’m gonna jump in and get my hands dirty.

LEO
We can use the help. 

ABBEY
Come on in here. Let’s have a cup of tea, Leo.

ABBEY leads LEO into the OVAL OFFICE.

ABBEY
Unless you ignore my invitations on principle these days.

LEO
About Presidents’ Weekend, I’m thrilled. But I thought I’d give you a chance -

ABBEY
To back out? We want to see you, we invited you. It’s been ages since we stayed up late, arguing the proper sequence of hands in Shanghai Rum.

LEO
It’s one set, one run, a run and a set.

ABBEY laughs.

LEO
I thought you might reconsider, you may not have gotten your invitation yet. 

ABBEY
Is this about Jenny’s wedding?

LEO
Yeah.

BARTLET enters the office, holding a few ties.

BARTLET
I can’t dress for this thing without you. Which one screams ‘dominance’?

ABBEY
Do I get to wear it afterwards?

BARTLET
No comment.

ABBEY (offering a cup to LEO)
Darjeeling?

LEO
Thank you.

ABBEY (looking at BARTLET’S ties, then selecting one)
Leo thinks we should reconsider attending his ex-wife’s wedding.

BARTLET
No way.

LEO
You’re old friends. Jenny’d like it.

ABBEY
We plan on sending them something nice, don’t we, Jed?

BARTLET
Something for the kitchen. A juicer, maybe.

ABBEY
Encourage Howard to lose a few pounds. 

BARTLET
Or his-and-hers binoculars. They have these prism optics now.

ABBEY
Mmm, I don’t think Howard actually goes outdoors, he’s more of a Discovery Channel type of birder.

LEO is looking on, smiling at the BARTLETS’ banter.

BARTLET
That’s probably better, with his asthma.

ABBEY
Ah.

BARTLET
A nice book, then. 

ABBEY
Mmm.

BARTLET
Something with large print, of course.

ABBEY
Yeah. Um-hmm.

BARTLET
We’ll think of something.

LEO
You two are evil.

BARTLET
We’ve always loved Jenny.

ABBEY
But you’re the one we want to spend the weekend with. To union.

All three clink their tea cups.

ABBEY
All states of it.

BARTLET
Hear, hear.

CUT TO: INT. - DONNA’S DESK – NIGHT

We are back to the scene from the TEASER, only we see DONNA’S perspective. We hear a wolf whistle as CJ and TOBY walk down the hall. DONNA answers her phone.

DONNA
Josh Lyman’s office.

TOBY
Now I remember why I love this night.

CJ
You love this night ‘cause in two hours you’ll have a sour mash -

DONNA
That’s me. I’m Donna Moss.

TOBY (in background)
The press conference was a hit.

CJ (in background)
The President did well this morning.

TOBY (in background)
Are they ranting on cable about -?

DONNA
Uh-huh.

Whatever she’s hearing is affecting DONNA. We hear the scene continue in the background.

CJ (in background)
About what we expected.

RINA (in background)
Extra gum. For your big night.

CUT TO: INT. - WHITE HOUSE FOYER – NIGHT

ANGELA and MEESHELL are walking into the West Wing.

MEESHELL
Guess this makes it official.

ANGELA
You do your family proud.

MEESHELL
Are you sure I shouldn’t just stick my head in and say ‘hello’?

ANGELA
I wouldn’t.

MEESHELL
I’d keep it professional. You know, just shake hands. I don’t want it to be awkward.

ANGELA
Number one, I don’t believe you. You got broken heart written all over you. Number two, he’s got the State of the Union in less than an hour.

MEESHELL
I just thought -

ANGELA
Don’t be a fool. Stay out of there.

ANGELA walks away. MEESHELL thinks for a moment, then heads in a different direction.

CUT TO: INT. - DONNA’S DESK – NIGHT

DONNA is stricken by what she heard on the phone. She slowly walks down the hallway towards CJ’S office. We hear the discussion from the TEASER in the background.

CAROL (in background)
It’s Gentle Ben on hold.

CJ (in background)
You put him on hold?

CAROL (in background)
That’s what you told me to do!

CJ (in background)
Carol, maybe you ought to -

DONNA has reached CJ’S doorway.

DONNA
CJ.

CJ
Donna, my darling, would you pick up line one and tell this guy you can’t find me? 

CJ sees the look on DONNA’S face.

CJ
What’s wrong?

DONNA
I just had a call from Anne Kaehler, Donovan’s sister. He killed himself.

CJ
Who’s Donovan?

CUT TO: INT. - HALLWAY OUTSIDE ROOSEVELT ROOM – NIGHT

WILL is walking quickly towards LEO’S OFFICE. RINA catches him at a doorway.

RINA
I lost Mr. Ziegler, he was just here -

WILL
Dorry. Can’t help.

WILL continues to LEO’S OFFICE, where TOBY, CJ, JOSH, DONNA, and MARGARET are standing.

WILL
You heard?

CJ
It hit the wires?

WILL
I got a call. Does the President know?

BARTLET calls out from inside the OVAL OFFICE. We see BARTLET, ABBEY and LEO having tea through the open door.

BARTLET
Looks like the gang is hovering.

ABBEY
Come on in, guys.

LEO comes to the doorway.

LEO
What’s up?

DONNA breaks away from the group and escapes down the hall.

CJ (to JOSH)
Go on.

TOBY
We’ve got this.

JOSH chases after DONNA.

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT

CHARLIE is gathering papers at his desk. MEESHELL enters. We saw this scene before as well.

MEESHELL
Charlie?

CHARLIE
Ms. Anders.

MEESHELL
Ms.? You sorry son of a =

MEESHELL slaps CHARLIE. As he recoils, BARTLET steps out of the OVAL OFFICE.

BARTLET
Charlie, are we -

CHARLIE and MEESHELL stand quietly uncomfortable.

BARTLET
I beg your pardon.

CHARLIE
Mr. President, may I have a moment?

BARTLET goes back inside the OVAL OFFICE and closes the door.

CUT TO: EXT. - OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE ENTRANCE – NIGHT

The motorcade is waiting to depart, with Secret Service agents and DC policemen bustling about. JOSH is talking to DONNA.

JOSH
There’s nothing you could have done.

DONNA
It’s stupid. I don’t even know why -

JOSH
It’s not stupid. You met them. They got to you. 

DONNA
I need to learn how to not be so … how to keep things at arm’s length.

JOSH
I hope not.

TOBY comes outside, putting on his coat.

TOBY
We’re heading over. (to DONNA) The President asked if you’d escort the special guests.

JOSH puts his arm around DONNA and they head towards the entrance.

CUT TO: INT. - OUTER OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT

MEESHELL
So a, a one-night thing would’ve worked better for you?

CHARLIE
I know three weeks was too long.

A Secret Service agent, DONNIE, leans through the doorway.

DONNIE
Charlie – they’re ready.

MEESHELL starts to walk out of the office.

CHARLIE
Actually, the first two weeks were pretty great.

MEESHELL
When you thought I was nobody? No threat?

CHARLIE
I protect him! It’s my job!

MEESHELL
And I meant no threat to you. When you said he wasn’t just the President, I understood.

CHARLIE
I’ll see you around, Meeshell.

MEESHELL turns and walks glumly away.

CUT TO: INT. - ROOSEVELT ROOM – NIGHT
TWO HOURS LATER

The ROOSEVELT ROOM is set up for a reception, with waiters carrying trays of food and music playing. As the camera moves through the room and into the hallway, we see TV screens with the news program Capitol Beat and its post-address coverage of the speech.

MODERATOR (on TV)
Were you surprised by the warmth of the reception?

PANELIST (on TV)
I was. When you consider our government was gridlocked two months ago over budget disputes, tonight’s State of the Union had a welcome forward momentum.

MODERATOR (on TV)
Absolutely. Let’s take another look at some of the significant high points.

BARTLET (on TV)
The hard work of forming this more perfect union beongs to us all. We need to be as wise as we are resolute, as smart as we are strong.

The camera moves to the hallway outside the Mural Room, where DONNA is leading a group of some of the special guests. She gestures for them to enter the Mural Room.

DONNA
The President will join us shortly for photos … if anyone would like refreshments?

DONNA follows the guests into the room, where she is greeted by MR. HOLMES, standing next to his sister, KANDY.

MR. HOLMES
That was quite a speech the President made.

DONNA
Quite a day for your organization.

MR. HOLMES
Yes, ma’am. I wish that you could have been in there when we made those 35 phone calls to the families this morning.

The people in the Mural Room begin to applaud as BARTLET enters.

DONNA
President Bartlet. Wonderful speech, sir.

BARTLET
Thank you.

DONNA 
Mr. President, this is Mr. Holmes of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

BARTLET
How are you, sir?

MR. HOLMES
Sir.

DONNA
And his sister, Kandy.

BARTLET
Hi.

KANDY
Hello.

DONNA
She just got home a few hours ago.

MR. HOLMES
Sir, there are no words to express our gratitude. Today has been overwhelming.

KANDY
Thank you, sir.

DONNA
Kandy was saying on the way over she feels like she’s been hit by lightning.

BARTLET
I hope it’s not quite that random.

KANDY
I can never repay you.

BARTLET
Oh, yes, you can. You got the second chance you deserve, but it’s also a heck of a burden. If you screw up again, you don’t just hurt yourself and your family. You damage me, and worse - you hurt all those prisoners still hoping for the fair shake most of them won’t get. Am I right, Donna?

DONNA
Yes, Mr. President.

BARTLET
Miss Holmes, you need to take your life in your hands and make sure that none of those left behind are ever more deserving than you.

KANDY
I will, sir. I promise.

BARTLET
Okay.

KANDY
Thank you.

BARTLET (to MR. HOLMES)
Keep in touch.

MR. HOLMES
Yes, sir.

BARTLET walks away.

MR. HOLMES
Bless you all. It must be an honor to work for him.

DONNA
It is.

A hint of a smile flits across DONNA’S face.

DISSOLVE TO: END TITLES.
FADE TO BLACK.
THE END.
* * *

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The West Wing Transcript 

Episode 5x11 – The Benign Prerogative
Original Airdate: January 14, 2004