The Newsroom (2012–2014): Season 3, Episode 2 - Run - full transcript
While Rebecca must once again defend ACN during a possible lawsuit, Will tries to protect Neal from the aftermath of the DOD leak; Charlie and Leona deal with a hostile takeover; Sloan worries about Don's involvement with insider information.
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I'll tell you a secret.
We could be more profitable.
Small places here and there,
we could make more money.
You know why we don't?
We choose not to.
It's a hell of a business plan,
Reese.
Have a seat if you want.
There's coffee
and juice over there.
- How did you find out?
- We didn't find out. We figured it out.
That's an important
distinction.
We could have found out
by you telling us.
But Sloan Sabbith
figured it out
when instead of going down
off a weak earnings report,
our stock traded up because someone
was buying 5% of our shares.
- 6%.
- 6%.
Which, when added to the 45%
that vests when you turn 25,
comes out to a total of what,
Randy?
King Arthur's knights could
have jousted on this table.
- 51%, that's right.
- Please don't give my brother a math quiz.
I wasn't testing his math.
I was testing
his attention span.
- Reese. You're a douche.
- Yeah? Yes, I am.
But I'm a douche on
the side of the angels.
And the reason there are areas,
small places here and there
where we choose not
to be more profitable,
is because we define success a
little different than you do.
For instance,
we have a news division.
- Are you nervous?
- No.
Really?
I'm okay.
- I'd be nervous.
- I'm fine.
- Here she comes.
- Yeah.
- Don't be nervous.
- I'm not.
I would love it if you guys
would stop committing
federal crimes.
Listen, we're a team here.
We're a family.
But just to be clear,
he's the one who did it.
Before we start, Neal,
it's very important that you
don't reveal your source to me.
- Yeah, no, I won't.
- If you were to reveal your source,
and then even in the course
of an informal conversation
told me you were planning on continuing
to commit this very serious felony,
attorney-client privilege
wouldn't protect either one of us.
He's been prepped.
By whom?
By a member of the New York
bar who graduated seventh
in his class from the fourth
best law school in America.
Okay.
Well, as a member of the New York,
California, Illinois, and Florida bars
who graduated second in her class from
the third best law school in the world,
you won't mind if I sweep up
after you a little?
Because this is different than prosecuting
an escort service in Greenpoint.
I put away bad guys, Halliday.
I locked up Mafia dons.
And now when you go to work,
you put on makeup just like me.
Say you want another lawyer.
If it's gonna be like this,
I'd honestly prefer to go to jail.
When they were just your age,
my mother's parents
saw a production of
You Can't Take It With You on Broadway.
They thought it was a shame that
you had to live near New York
or be able to afford to come here on
vacation to see a production that good.
So they went to investors
and they put together $42,350
and mounted a touring company.
National Theatricals
became very successful.
And my mother worked in the office
while she was going to City College.
She discovered a small
string of radio stations
that were going
out of business,
and using National
as collateral,
she got a loan and bought
the company that owned them,
which was named after
a mythical city,
Atlantis Media.
She was 22 years old
at the time.
She met our father
and they got married.
And then she had a son who bore a striking
resemblance to the father's brother.
If we're gonna start
at 212 degrees,
we've got no place to go.
In the divorce, she gave him half the
controlling shares of the company,
or 45%.
With another 45% going to you.
- I own no stock in AWM.
- In your mother's will.
I don't know what's in my mother's will.
I don't like to think about it.
You know exactly what's
in your mother's will.
Is this what this is?
Is this a family feud?
'Cause we're not talking
about Elton John's
birthday party now.
Lives are on the line.
Do me a favor and talk to me
with a little more condescension.
Great day in the morning.
- Randy and Blair are in the house.
- Morning.
Did you know I've known these two
since the minute they were born?
Your father's plane
was grounded in the snow
and he called me
from a pay phone and said,
"Charlie,
get yourself to Columbia Presbyterian.
Monica's in labor and I want to
make sure nobody steals my kids."
I wasn't in the delivery room,
'cause, you know, boundaries.
But we're all family
here is my point.
Randy,
you're an absolute knockout.
And, Blair,
you've grown into a fine young man.
I'm Blair.
He's Randy.
All right, well,
that was bound to happen.
Look,
I don't get involved at the corporate level.
I just came in to say hello.
I'm not even sitting down.
But out of curiosity,
if you were to sell
the company,
what would the new owners'
plans be for ACN?
I really don't know, Charlie.
But from what I understand,
you can make more money
selling the cameras than
transmitting images from them.
So,
I imagine that's what they'll do.
Yeah, I'm gonna sit down.
Let's start at the beginning.
Monday night.
- Go ahead.
- You don't have to tell him to go ahead. I just did.
And I was telling him it was
okay to follow your instruction.
Go ahead.
It was the first night
of the Boston story
and I got a message on the site
asking for my encryption key.
I gave it. Then I was asked for a higher
level of encryption and I gave that.
The source instructed me to
buy an air-gapped computer,
a computer that's never been
hooked up to the Internet.
And he told me where he
had hidden the flash drive.
It was hidden Godfather
style in a restaurant bathroom.
- Godfather style?
- The scene where Michael shoots Barzini and the cop.
- McCluskey.
- Right.
- And it was Sollozzo.
- The cop?
The cop was McCluskey.
It was McCluskey and Sollozzo, not Barzini.
- Maybe we can move past this.
- You got the flash drive...
And loaded it onto
the air-gapped computer.
And what was on the drive?
A little more than 27,000
documents belonging to the DOD.
- About half of them classified.
- Tell her about Kundu.
There's a small African country called
the Republic of Equatorial Kundu.
It's a failed state.
The week before last, there were violent riots
that killed 38 people
including three Americans.
We're the ones
who started the riots.
How?
The Pentagon employs a PR firm
in Virginia called BCD.
They do propaganda work
planting positive stories
about the US in local papers.
But this time,
they planted a story in Kundu
about a rebel leader who was about
to attack another rebel group.
The story was false
and now 38 people are dead.
In order to be able to better
convince Charlie to spend the money
on investigators to go
through the 27,000 documents,
I asked the source to get me a couple
of pieces of persuasive evidence.
- And I taught him how to use the NIPRNet...
- Yeah.
...to move it from
the DOD's computer to mine.
- You were aware these were stolen documents?
- Yes.
- And you asked your source to steal some more?
- Yes.
- You even taught him how to do it?
- Yeah.
Well, here's what you've done.
You've committed espionage.
You violated Title 18,
Section 793.
Aside from the Espionage Act,
you can and will be charged
with violating the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act
as well as federal statutes
that punish the theft
or retention of stolen...
I mean,
I know these guys get legal training.
How does this happen?
Isn't this the very first thing
they're taught not to do?
- Once a year.
- Like, is there a sign hanging somewhere...
- It's not like they take a semester of criminal law.
- ...like a choking hazard sign?
"Don't ask sources
to steal things for you."
Title 18, 641,
Title 18, 793-E.
18, 1030-A.
And you violated
the USA Patriot Act.
Seems like the US government
has an awful lot of laws
protecting itself
from its citizens.
That's one way of looking at it.
It's a stupid way.
Is the DOD aware of this yet?
No, but if we were to run the story,
which we obviously won't,
we'd pick up the phone and find someone
at BCD to talk to on a Saturday.
- Once we did that...
- It would take about 10 seconds for BCD
to alert the Defense Department and the
FBI would show up here in an hour.
And they would take you in for questioning and
not let you go until you revealed your source.
- That's not gonna happen.
- Not gonna happen 'cause we're not gonna run the story.
We are gonna run the story
and I will avail myself
of the protection the First Amendment gives
me when it comes to revealing a source.
Neither the First nor any
other amendment protects you
when you conspire
to commit treason.
Don't run the story and you
don't have to call BCD.
Don't call BCD and nobody
knows you have the documents.
Don't ever make contact
with your source again.
A truth that matters
can't stay hidden
and it's no more
complicated than that.
It's a lot more
complicated than that
and I decide
what goes on the air.
So, in point of fact,
we'll be doing exactly what Rebecca just said,
which is to say nothing.
Look at that.
Is that a good enough score
to get me in the FBI?
It's not a good enough
score to get you in the PTA.
I put two shots
right in the torso.
Unfortunately, the other four hit
anyone standing next to the torso.
Hey.
Thanks.
Thank you.
That one's yours?
It belongs to the Bureau,
but, yeah.
Tell me something.
Why don't they allow people to go in there alone?
They don't want to make it
easier to commit suicide.
So these are the good
people with the guns
who are going to stop the
bad people with the guns?
We're the good people with the guns.
How's the wedding coming along?
Be easier if people stopped
detonating bombs in Boston
and factories stopped
blowing up in Texas.
I missed a fitting last week.
Casualty count keeps rising.
I need to ask you about something.
- I figured.
- It'll be hypothetical.
It needs to be.
They give us a polygraph test every five years
and mine's coming up.
In today's climate,
what happens to a reporter
who's made contact with a
government whistle-blower?
- A leaker.
- A whistle-blower.
A leaker of secrets
who has taken it upon himself
to decide what laws to obey.
A reporter might gain
the favor of the government
by reporting such a leak to us
instead of the general public.
That reporter's organization would
never have another source again.
And one might say
they'd abdicated
their responsibility
to a democracy.
Yeah, well,
might be full of shit, too.
- Look, I...
- Nothing.
The answer is nothing happens.
No reporter's ever been prosecuted
under the Espionage Act.
If they don't reveal their source,
they may be charged with contempt.
And if they go to jail,
it's for an average of 10 days.
At the most,
it's been six months.
You sound disappointed, Molly.
Sources come to us with things
they can't come to you with.
Yeah,
we have sources, too, Mac.
We use them to stop violent
crimes before they happen.
You want to protect your sources,
so do we.
'Cause when there's a leak,
our sources get executed.
Oh...
On most every occasion,
Obama refused to side
with the EPA's more
science-based positions.
I don't know, whether...
Whether it's cleaning up the air
or forcing the national
resources industries
to abide by
existing regulations,
ultimately the EPA
is only as good
as the White House
allows us to be.
Okay,
take the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
That was the largest oil spill
the US has experienced...
Excuse me.
Is this seat taken?
No.
- Shh. Don't be alarmed, okay?
- Okay.
I need a favor and I'll be able to
explain why in just a few minutes,
but for now you have
to trust a stranger.
What's the favor?
Hold my iPod
and put in the earbuds.
In your ears?
In your ears like
you're listening to it.
- You still have an iPod?
- I like the way the wheel clicks.
But that's not
important right now.
- Will you do it?
- Yeah, sure.
Well,
I can give it to you on the record...
- Shh.
- ...or I can give it to you off the record.
On the record
is gonna make you laugh.
On the record?
The president continues
to believe in a strong EPA
led by an advocate
for smart pro-growth
environmental policies
that will protect...
Okay, now you're laughing
just as I said you would be.
Off the record...
Hey, hang on.
Off the record, even he'd admit
he couldn't get a law
through this Congress
reaffirming the US
as the name of the country.
So why bother wasting
what little capital he has
with the Republicans on the Hill
trying to get an up or down vote
on his pick to run
a toothless agency?
I was gonna get the buffet.
I don't know why, if given a choice,
anyone wouldn't get the buffet.
Under what circumstance
would you order off the menu?
If the menu had a five-pound lobster
and the buffet was soy-themed.
- All-you-can-eat assorted soy.
- Here's what I need you to do.
Why does there need
to be an assignment?
Hey,
are we in this buffet thing together?
Yeah,
we tell the waiter we're getting the buffet.
I did a Q and A in Shape
about my healthy diet.
- You lied.
- In a big way and I'm really hungry.
So I need you to get food for
me and I'll get food for you.
- Got it.
- Crab claws as far as the eye can see.
Mushroom
and Swiss cheese omelet.
And I can't emphasize this enough...
Waffles.
- And what am I getting?
- Fruit salad.
- Have you decided yet?
- We're gonna have the buffet.
I'm only having something light,
but I'm gonna keep him company at the buffet.
I know it seems like a waste paying
for the buffet and not eating it,
- but that's what I'm gonna do.
- Okay.
Help yourselves.
I don't think he bought it.
I think it was a more detailed
explanation than he's used to getting.
Hey, I didn't tell you.
You made me $125 yesterday.
- How'd I do that?
- I bought $2,500 of Chipotle.
Please tell me you're talking
about the hot sauce.
- The stock, the company.
- You bought CMG?
- You told me to.
- No, I didn't.
You said Chipotle's
gonna have a good day.
Because I got an advance copy of the
earnings report and anticipated an uptick.
- Well, you were right.
- I know I was right.
Wait, you went on TV and told
people to buy the stock.
How was I at a greater
advantage than your viewers?
When did you buy?
Before or after we went on the air?
- Before.
- Before.
- Did you buy at 352.88?
- I bought at 344.91.
You bought it
at its opening price,
which is almost $8 a share lower
than it was when I went on the air.
Congratulations,
we're white-collar criminals.
Okay, first let me say
if you're gonna be a criminal,
- that's probably the best kind to be.
- I don't want to be any kind.
We have to go to the office after this for Neal.
Should we talk to Rebecca?
I think we should.
No.
We're still gonna eat first.
Crab claws, right there.
- And, Don.
- Yeah?
You walked right past
the waffles.
I'm sorry.
No way in the wide fucking
world we're doing this story.
Hey.
What are you doing here?
What are you doing here?
Came in to catch up on the week's worth
of news that happened during Boston.
Jenna Bush had a baby.
I wonder how many great-grandfather
presidents we've had.
I fucked up so bad and it's all
gonna come down in the next hour.
What are you talking about?
Hallie, what are...
Last night...
This morning around 2:00 AM,
we were wrapping up
the Boston coverage
and I was heading home
and I saw that ACN
hadn't posted a tweet
in six and a half hours.
Neal usually does that and he
likes to post every 30 minutes,
but I knew where his head was,
so I posted for him when I got home.
That was 2:37 this morning.
I went to sleep
and then woke up
and deleted it
a half hour later.
- 3:04.
- What was the tweet?
- Nobody's picked it up yet.
- What was it?
- I knew it was wrong the second I...
- Hal.
I hit send and thought,
"Well, that's done" and turned the lights off.
Republicans rejoice"...
"Republicans rejoice that there's
finally a national tragedy
that doesn't involve guns."
- It was up for how long?
- 27 minutes.
In the middle of the night
on a night when everyone
was paying attention
to something else.
Is there any chance
it won't be found?
No.
I came in to get fired.
Reese,
where did our stock close yesterday?
66.
And what's Savannah Capital
offering you per share?
81.
45% of the controlling shares
times 66 equals...
Carry the three.
Times 81.
All right.
Right now your stock
is worth $2.3 billion.
Savannah Capital says
it should be worth
$3.1 billion.
Aren't $2.3 billion
and $3.1 billion
the exact same thing?
- What's the difference?
- 800 million.
Yes, good, Randy.
But I think what Charlie is saying is
what can you buy with 3.1 billion
that you can't buy with 2.3 billion?
You seem to think our plan is
to hit the ATM and go shopping.
- What is your plan?
- My immediate plan
is to ask you why the fuck you
think we need to tell you our plan.
We're not seeking
permission for something.
In 10 days, we turn 25,
inherit 45% of the
controlling shares of AWM,
and sell them
to Savannah Capital,
who was able to buy 6%
of the controlling shares
without any of the geniuses
at this company noticing.
And do you know what I find
so perfectly poetic, Reese?
Is that you would have
been looking out for it
if you remembered
when our birthday was.
Or that we were born.
People like you are the reason
people hate people like me.
Guess that's why you didn't
sit with us at the funeral.
Jesus Christ,
my father had just died.
I wasn't paying a lot of attention
to where my fucking seats were.
- Reese.
- Can we not?
I got to tell you something.
'Cause we're talking
about 141,000 people.
Dad thought you
were an asshole.
All right. All right.
All right.
I want you to sit out a couple of rounds,
all right?
- All right?
- Yeah.
It's me now.
As I understand it,
the criteria for running a story
is one,
are we confident it's accurate,
and two,
is it in the public interest.
And this passes those tests.
You were confident
Genoa was accurate.
I have my own personal
third criteria,
which is will it land
any of my guys in jail?
- That's not...
- This passes that test, too.
By the way,
in order to ascertain its accuracy,
we'd have to pick up
the phone and call BCD,
which is the trip wire
that sends in the FBI.
Now hand over the flash drive so I
can crush it with a meat tenderizer.
What's he crushing
with a meat tenderizer?
Truth. Hope.
Journalistic integrity.
Hey, I've got more journalistic
integrity in my whole body
- than you've got in your...
- You've got that turned around.
You've got more journalistic
integrity in your whole body...
- That's still wrong.
- What the fuck am I trying to say?
- That you're a pussy.
- Watch your mouth, Mandela.
I'd be a pussy if I was
afraid of going to jail.
In fact,
that wouldn't even make me a pussy.
Other people have gone to jail
for refusing to give up a source.
I'd consider it
a badge of honor.
Be sure to show your badge to
your roommates when you get there.
Neal, it is not refusing to give up
a source that we're talking about.
That's a contempt charge.
It is espionage.
- No, it's not.
- Along with a Christmas list of other felonies...
- Why?
- I've just come from talking to a friend.
- She's been with the FBI 15 years.
- Unimpeachable source.
This is her area and she says they'd
never charge him with espionage.
This woman does not know
what she's talking about.
Yeah, she does.
No journalist has ever
been charged with espionage.
She says it'll be contempt.
They would charge him with
kidnapping the Lindbergh baby
if they think
it'll get them to the leak.
- 30 days.
- She says more like 10.
10 days. That's one day for
every three and a half people
we killed by knowingly planting a
false story in a foreign newspaper.
You did the division that fast?
Yeah, cliche buster.
I'm good at math.
Please tell me you're not
softening your position on this.
- My position hasn't softened at all.
- Smartest person in the room.
- There's no question we have to do the story.
- She is an idiot savant.
- When did you change your mind?
- I didn't change my mind.
I've known we had to do the story
the second he showed it to us.
Do you remember last night?
It was last night.
- I do remember last night.
- You went on and on
- about how we have to protect Neal because we're family.
- That was you.
You didn't push back.
I interpreted that as agreeing with me.
You should have interpreted that as we just
finished five days of covering Boston,
it was late, I was tired,
and I was sleeping.
How often are you sleeping when
I'm talking to you at night?
I'd really have no way
of knowing that.
The two lawyers
in the room say no.
The two journalists
in the room say yes.
- There are three journalists.
- Did I count that wrong?
If you think being an ass is gonna
make me less inclined to protect you,
think again, mofo.
I can out-ass anyone in the Tri-State Area.
He's telling the truth, Neal.
It feels like you're on my side,
but just barely.
- Jenna!
- You make that poor girl work on a Saturday?
She's a recent journalism
school graduate.
I'm just completing
her education.
What she's learning from me
can't be found in books.
- Yes?
- I'd like a Dr Pepper, please.
- Sure.
- Billy.
- What?
- Listen to me.
- I am.
- We're doing this because we have to.
All right, me and you.
You want to go?
- You already know you're gonna lose.
- Take the first swing.
The possibility that reporters are
gonna make bad behavior public
is what stops people
from behaving badly.
The possibility of jail is supposed to
be what makes people stop behaving badly.
Well, it hasn't 'cause they're still doing
it and they're gonna keep doing it.
A PR company killed 38 people.
We do nothing,
and the 39th is on us.
Game over.
Let's make the phone call.
Not so fast.
And it'll just mean everybody
gets what they want,
which is a rudderless EPA.
I can't do what Congress
will never do,
which is regulate
climate pollution.
It's why so many Democrats
think he's jaw-droppingly weak.
Yeah. All right.
Yeah.
- Excuse me, Mr. Westbrook?
- Yeah?
Do we know each other?
You're Richard Westbrook,
Deputy Assistant
Administrator of the EPA?
- I am.
- I heard your end of the call.
- You did?
- Yes.
I have more bad news.
I'm a producer with ACN. Maggie Jordan.
How much of the call
did you hear?
I heard you say that
the president's pick
to run the EPA
will never get a vote,
that the EPA
is a toothless agency...
- Jesus.
- ...and that the president's jaw-droppingly weak.
No, I said Democrats
think the president's
jaw-droppingly weak.
Wait.
That's not better.
I was wondering if you'd
like to comment further.
This car is half empty.
I looked around.
I didn't see anyone near me except
that guy with the headphones.
- I was sitting right here.
- Why didn't I see you?
I may have slid down
in my seat.
- What did you say your name was?
- Maggie Jordan.
Well, that sucks,
Maggie Jordan.
You're on a train, Richard.
You don't have a reasonable
expectation of privacy.
What's more,
you were talking to another reporter.
I was talking to a reporter
I know and trust.
- And I was off the record.
- You were off the record to him, not to me.
- You were hiding like...
- Why not make the call from between the cars?
- It's too loud!
- Why not wait till we get back to New York?
Because this guy's
on deadline now
and I wanted to give him
background on a story
that will hopefully
put pressure on...
Look, I work at the EPA, okay?
We're staffed by seven people
and a high school intern.
We don't care
who's in the White House.
We are pro drinkable water
and breathable air.
We are anti the world
coming to an end.
But you're also public officials
and what you have to say
about how a president's overseeing
your agency is relevant.
- My job...
- Your job? Your job.
If I hear one more
gossip columnist
use democracy as a fig leaf,
I'm gonna eat an IBM Selectric.
- It's an old-fashioned...
- I know what an IBM Selectric is.
And I should tell you you've been
on the record this whole time.
- How?
- You didn't say...
I didn't say I was
off the record.
I didn't call time-out.
I took my foot off the base.
Look, Richard,
there's news happening right in front of me.
- It's my job...
- Don't.
It's my responsibility,
okay, to report it.
Yeah, but you're not interested
in the news part of the news.
I'd be happy to give you an interview
about the news part of the news.
You like the unguarded moments,
private behavior that can never
stand up to public scrutiny.
But you didn't tell the truth
until you were off the record
with the guy on the
other end of the phone.
The unguarded moments
are where the truth is.
I don't care.
I get to be guarded if I want.
And you were slumped
down in a chair.
How honest was that?
Yeah.
You're right.
- What?
- You're right.
- What do you mean?
- That part was wrong.
Is this a trick?
No.
I'm deleting my notes.
I apologize, Richard.
And good luck.
Here's my card
if you ever want
to talk on the record,
which I strongly
encourage you to do.
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
I don't understand
what's happening now.
Crab claw.
Keep it low.
It says here in the ACN
employee's guide,
which has some interesting information
I definitely should have read
before drinking beer with Jim, Neal,
and some college kids in my office,
that we'd only be in trouble if I
was a producer of financial news.
I'm not. I produce the 10:00 hour,
which you occasionally host.
- Keep reading.
- Employees are barred from, blah, blah, blah, blah.
In accordance with the SEC,
blah, blah.
Married, engaged to be married,
cohabitating or in what
could reasonably be considered
a relationship
where the two parties...
The SEC will notice
a pattern in your trading.
That you appear to be
front-running news for ACN.
And they will
connect you to me.
- And even if they don't...
- We're a couple?
Hmm?
You consider us a couple?
I don't understand
that question.
Yeah, you do, 'cause this is exactly
how I act in the same situation.
Suddenly I pretend I'm stupid
and hearing impaired.
- Do you consider us a couple?
- Do you consider us a couple?
- I do that, too, Socrates.
- We are...
- Yep.
- Okay, let me say...
- Go ahead.
- Here's what we are.
- Bring it.
- I love spending time with you.
- Oh! Oh, man.
- Wait.
I can't believe
I'm getting Don Keefer'd.
You're not.
I would never Don Keefer you.
We're a couple. Totally.
Of course we're a couple.
Let me remind you, I was the one who had
a problem with you trading Chipotle.
Why?
Because we're a couple.
You're the one buying up
Chipotle hither and yon as if,
"Duh, look,
I don't produce a financial show."
See what I mean?
Okay.
Got to slide me a waffle, man.
I'll address that aggressive
behavior in just a moment.
He looked up, you see?
He saw that the pitcher
wasn't covering first base,
which is what the pitcher is supposed
to do on a ground ball to first.
They've known that
since Little League.
He looked up,
and you can see it on the replay.
He looks up because he knew the
pitcher wasn't covering the bag
and he needed to gauge his
position relative to the base.
What happens when you take
your eye off the ball?
God, Jim, what in the name of
sweet Christ are you talking about?
- Bill Buckner.
- Is this the best time, babe?
- I thought it might be a welcome distraction.
- It's an unwelcome annoyance.
I knew going in
that was a possibility.
Buckner needs to be exonerated.
You make one mistake and ev...
CNN represents
a small fraction
of Time Warner's revenue.
NBC Nightly News
a small fraction of Comcast.
And ACN an even smaller
fraction of Atlantis.
But they are the face and voice
of their parent corporations.
- So what?
- So what?
Yes.
That's a fair question.
I think you're making
good headway.
- As an experienced negotiator...
- Reese Lansing.
As the president
of a news network,
all I do every day
is fight with him.
All I do every day
is fight with Leona.
And the thing of it is this...
I win almost every one
of those battles.
What network president can say
that about their corporate parent?
I win almost every one
of those battles
and the reason is most
of the time they let me.
Your father absolutely did
not think you were an asshole.
They want ACN
to do the news well.
And we're not always
successful at it,
but that's what we try to do,
and they let me win
because they just want us to play our role.
As a public service.
As a patriotic sacrifice.
As a moral imperative,
they do not require
ACN to make money.
Why?
Because they can afford it.
- Charlie.
- Isn't that something you want to be a part of
and not something
you want to end?
Don't you want to be
handed the baton?
We want to strike out
on our own.
Be entrepreneurs.
Maybe get into Bitcoin.
Shut the fuck up, Randy.
Go deal with it.
This is so fucked up,
I don't even know where to begin.
- Yeah.
- Jesus Christ!
She understands it's fucked up.
The RNC wants a public apology
or we can't book
Republicans on any show.
- An entire political party.
- They deserve a public apology.
It's almost six months to the day
since our last public apology.
There is no question
that your anger is founded.
I wasn't questioning it, Jim.
I'm not on the fence about
whether I should be angry.
I'd like to say the
following in Hallie's defense.
Like everybody,
she was incredibly tired last night...
- That's just lame.
- This wasn't something she would normally do.
She deleted it.
She knew it was wrong.
Are you two together?
We met on the Romney campaign.
But that is not
why she got the job.
She has done great work
for ACN Digital.
Read her last 10 columns,
look at her...
I don't care if she wrote the
collective works of Tolstoy.
She also wrote this.
I'm not gonna make
you fire her.
- Thank you.
- No, I'm sorry.
I meant I'm going to do it.
If your mind is made up...
I don't get to make up
my own mind now.
The RNC is doing it for me.
If your mind is made up,
then it's my job to fire her.
What?
Excuse me. Sorry.
I think this is about me.
Come in.
We haven't really met.
I'm Charlie Skinner.
- I know.
- Republicans are rejoicing?
You know 144 people got blown up,
right?
And that three
of those people are dead.
And that one of them
is eight years fucking old.
Yes, sir.
I'm so curious, I have to ask.
At the time when you typed it,
in that moment,
what were you thinking the value of it was?
Retweets.
I appreciate your honesty.
You should know Jim did
everything he could for you.
We'll say it was a low-level
staffer and they were fired,
but we won't reveal your name.
- Thank you.
- That's all.
- Can I...?
- Yeah.
You're a reporter?
I'm sorry?
You're a reporter?
A news producer.
ACN.
You were in Boston
for the bombing?
I was there for the race.
You're okay?
I finished about a half hour
before the explosion.
Good thing you're fast.
Um, before,
with that guy from the EPA,
you were on solid ground.
In Massachusetts it's illegal
to record anybody
without two-party consent.
But two things. One,
you are protected by the First Amendment.
And two,
you were in Connecticut at the time.
Yeah.
I think I was okay
journalistically,
and I'm pretty sure
I was okay legally.
I'm just not sure
I was airtight morally.
How did you hear us?
I wasn't listening to music.
What do you do?
I teach.
Fordham Law School.
You're pretty young for a law professor.
What do you teach?
- Ethics.
- Get out of town.
I'm trying.
I'm on an express train.
Excuse me.
- Hi.
- Hi. Could I...
speak with you a second?
- Sure.
- Yeah.
I spoke to our counsel,
and she says there's nothing
stopping you from running the story.
I'm not doing anything
with the story.
Our counsel says there's
nothing stopping you.
If you want to speak to me on the record,
I'm happy to listen,
but I'm not taking what I
overheard to my senior producer.
I am willing to trade
you another story
for the promise that you won't use
my candid remarks about the president.
I have no intention
of using your candid remarks
or even your
on-the-record remarks
which were meant
for someone else.
I just don't understand.
I don't know how to make it
any clearer than that.
Good luck.
I think you're
freaking him out.
How's your boss gonna feel
about you passing on a story?
And then another story?
Whatever the second story is,
I'm not going to blackmail
him into giving it to me.
You can save your students
a lot of time.
On the first day of class,
tell them they know the difference
between right and wrong.
Do what's right.
They don't need a lawyer
to tell them
their moral absolutes.
And whenever you hear
someone giving a monologue
defending the ethics
of their position,
you can be pretty sure
they know they were wrong.
Can I point something out to you?
You're giving a monologue.
Everyone does where I work.
You know what Vipassana is?
It's a small Italian motorbike.
- Not a Vespa. Vipassana.
- I know what Vipassana is.
It's a meditation retreat in India
where you don't talk for a week.
But feel free
to tell me anyway.
Maybe two weeks.
Think I'm gonna do it.
You should.
You seem tense.
Mm, you got that backwards,
money honey.
No, I'm only a little tense because of
what's happening at the office right now.
- Okay.
- All right.
Hey,
it's my parents' 40th anniversary
and the week after next there's a party.
Do you want to come?
Absolutely, I do,
but here's the thing.
- You might be on Vipassana?
- Or maybe a Yamaha.
Big laugh from the crowd.
All right, let's just...
Now we're meeting parents?
And it all started
with a stock trade.
You see how things spiral out of control?
They spiral.
Just buy mutual funds.
There's nothing wrong with mutual funds.
I feel like I'm being
tested right now.
That's it? You're leaving?
Wait.
I'm hailing a cab.
All right.
Close one.
Yeah.
Yours is an unusual
position for a reporter.
Who decides what's private and
what's information people should know?
In the airspace right around me,
I do.
- Hi.
- I'm not scamming you, Richard.
I know.
Can I have a word?
- Sure.
- Yeah.
This report won't be
released for a week.
The White House got it today,
but they won't show it
to the president
until at least Monday.
It's yours,
along with an exclusive interview.
What's in it?
The level of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere
has passed
a long-feared milestone.
The amount of poison gas in
the air hasn't been this high
in three million years,
since before there were humans.
- We get the report?
- You get the report.
Embargoed until Monday.
And an exclusive interview.
- With who?
- Me.
Any chance we can get
the administrator?
There hasn't been
an administrator
of the Environmental
Protection Agency for a while
because Senate Republicans
won't confirm one
and the president doesn't want
to waste political capital.
Though I'm not sure
what he's saving it up for.
That statement
was on the record.
Nice meeting you.
Richard, be careful when you're
talking out loud in public.
I was careful.
Okay, but you just told
a train car full of people
- that the apocalypse is nigh.
- Damn it.
It's all right.
Nobody's listening.
Tell me about it.
It was nice meeting you, Jack.
I've got to get my bag.
Isn't that your bag?
This is a month's rent for me.
It's my executive producer's.
I don't know your name.
Maggie Jordan.
I'd love to call you.
- Here's my card.
- Great.
And, Jack,
I've got a report here from the EPA
that says you probably
shouldn't wait that long.
And the government's
complicity was covert,
robbing the citizens in a democracy
of the information they need
if they're going to have an intelligent
debate about foreign policy.
Covert ops are why you don't hear
much about the Mafia anymore.
Covert ops are why
your parents are alive.
They're why there are fewer
nuclear scientists alive in Iran.
Covert ops are what's
forcing al-Qaeda...
Covert ops were
behind Iran-Contra
and it was the press
who exposed it.
Covert ops got money
and equipment and training
to the mujahedeen after the
Soviets invaded Afghanistan.
The press not knowing about it
is how Communism fell in Europe.
- I can go all day long.
- God knows.
Excuse me.
- Where are you going?
- The men's room.
Neal, leave behind the drive.
Are you serious?
Well,
you're hotheaded right now.
Leave the flash drive
on the table.
It's locked in a filing
cabinet under my desk.
Are you getting my point?
Yeah, you don't want Neal to go to
jail for 10 days and neither do I.
But these are the rules
of cribbage.
I could swallow this key,
you know.
Yeah, 'cause what criminal
mastermind could open
an Office Depot filing
cabinet without a key?
You're thinking of different ways
to murder me right now.
New York Observer.
How did word get out this fast?
Fast is the speed
at which word travels.
It's been blowing up
for an hour.
Yeah,
but I saw Charlie's statement and apology.
He kept his promise.
He didn't name anyone.
I did.
I outed myself on Twitter.
My account, not the network.
"Just left ACN
for the last time.
Great five weeks.
Honest people.
Sensational experience.
One regret.
I tweeted a terrible joke on the network's account.
No one else involved."
Least I could do was make sure no
one thought it was someone else.
You're gonna get
plenty of job offers.
I'm not worried.
I'm embarrassed.
No one who knows you thinks you have
anything to be embarrassed about.
There's a pretty strong consensus
among people who don't know me
that I'm
"a stupid fucking libtard whore
who should have been
dismembered on Boylston Street
after first getting
sodomized by a jihadist."
Pretty mild for the Internet,
but still.
I appreciate...
Charlie said that you did
everything you could to help me.
Yeah.
And he knew we were dating.
So he said he'd do it himself,
which was merciful.
Are you saying you
volunteered to fire me?
I wasn't volunteering.
It was my job.
Daily Beast.
Some of the offers are gonna be
from people who don't like us very much.
Who doesn't like us?
Not you and me. ACN.
For some of the outlets,
being someone with an ax to grind
against us would be an asset.
I don't have an ax to grind.
Do you think that's
the reason I outed myself?
Do I think... No.
I was trying to do the right thing.
You think I put it out there as bait?
I'm saying don't get played.
Gawker.
I needed a minute to adjust.
That's all that happened.
I'd love to go to your parents'
40th anniversary party.
There is no party.
I was testing you.
Are you for real?
You did the exact same thing I did when
Maggie asked me to meet her parents.
You gave me a little test.
You didn't do well.
Is this something you read in Cosmo
while you were at the dentist?
Yes.
I said I'd go to the party
which doesn't exist
because you're a lying
liar who lies a lot.
It said the next thing
you'd do is deflect.
Don't you like having a gal
pal that you can hang out with
where there are extra
benefits like stock tips?
- I can't use the stock tips.
- Then how about the sex?!
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Hi.
- It would take a long time to explain.
- Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- Yes.
- Yes what?
Yes, I love having a gal pal with
no commitment and tons of sex.
- Great.
- Just not you.
- What's wrong with me?
- Plenty, but I really like you anyway.
I'm not good
at not being alone.
It's what I'm used to.
Let me know if you want
to get good at it.
- The sex is good.
- Thank you.
Invoking Leona Lansing
is gonna get you
nowhere with me.
Our fidelity is to our father's legacy,
not his mother's.
Then I can tell you this is
not what he would have wanted.
- Then fuck him, too, Charlie.
- Hey!
- All right.
- Why didn't our mother get shares?
'Cause she's not the one
that raised $42,350.
She didn't build the company.
She married it.
Yeah,
and like you poured the cement.
As a matter of fact,
with an MBA,
he insisted on starting
in the mail room.
I understand we were born on third base,
but I'm stealing home now.
- So that's about it.
- Shh.
I'm not here.
I don't want to interrupt anything.
Good afternoon, Leona.
I'll tell you what.
Leona is for friends and family.
If you're trying to poach my company,
I'd prefer Mrs. Lansing.
Oh, Blair, you get more
beautiful every time I see you.
How often is that?
As infrequently as possible.
I understand you've been out on
a date with Savannah Capital.
And I let them take turns.
Oh, and, Randy,
you like to watch, right?
What?
You know what happened
last month
without anybody noticing?
This is for real.
Webster's Dictionary expanded the
definition of the word literally
to include the way
it's commonly misused.
So the thing is,
we no longer have a word
in the English language
that means literally.
I mean,
literally doesn't have a synonym.
So we're going to have to find
the Latin word for it and use it.
But, see,
I don't know any Latin.
So when I say that I am
literally gonna set fire
to this building with you in it
before I hand over the keys to it,
you don't know if I'm speaking
figuratively or literally.
Savannah's offering
$81 per share,
so if this is about money,
you'll accept 82 from me, right?
- Mom.
- We're not interested in selling 6%.
I'm not interested
in buying 6%!
I don't want you anywhere
near this company.
I want all of it.
I am offering you one full dollar
per share more than Savannah.
So if this is about the money,
you'll take it.
$2.
That's what I thought.
I'll raise the cash and have an offer sheet
to you before your birthday.
I tend to doubt it, but...
Oh, get the fuck out
of my boardroom, kids.
Hey.
How come we couldn't be friends,
Blair?
It's 'cause I can't stand you,
Mrs. Lansing.
You've got to lose that anger,
honey.
People get the face
they deserve.
See you in 10 days.
Are you out of your mind?
$4 billion for
a $62 billion company?
- It's a steal.
- It's not!
- But even if it were...
- Yeah?
I think he's trying to say
you don't have $4 billion.
How much do I have?
I don't know,
but it's somewhere in the ballpark
of nothing close to $4 billion!
Charlie, did I ever tell you
about the time my parents saw
You Can't Take It With You
on Broadway?
That was $42,000.
No, $42,350.
And it was the last 350
that were the hardest.
Sold my clothes,
dealt a little weed.
- Mom.
- Oh, I'm just kidding. I didn't sell my clothes.
- This is for real.
- You think I don't fucking know that?
I need $4 billion
cash right now.
I don't know who this guy is.
I didn't vote for him.
I don't want him making decisions on
his own about what's best for America.
For all I know, he's one bad day
away from being Ted Kaczynski.
We work with the FBI and the DOD to
determine what needs to be redacted.
They're going to say
everything needs to be redacted.
They know they have to convince me why.
And if I'm not sold...
But just to get that far,
you have to call BCD, right?
- To comment.
- That's it. That's the trip wire.
You call BCD and Neal has to give up
his source or face a contempt charge.
There's no route to the right
thing that doesn't include the possibility...
The certainty
of a contempt charge.
The route to the right thing
is this guy showing his face.
Why is Neal paying the price
for this guy's patriotism?
But we're past that.
And if I could switch places with him,
I would.
And I would tell
you the same thing,
that a contempt charge could be the least...
Too many people...
Look at how many people
are in this room.
They're in this room
'cause they can be trusted.
Too many people already know that a
more serious crime has been committed.
The FBI doesn't know that.
- What if they find out?
- How?
The only other person
who knows is the source,
and he's not showing his face.
- What if he does?
- He won't.
So you completely trust a guy who
the only thing that we know about him
is that he stole classified documents
from the Department of Defense?
We are three exits
past that on the highway.
I don't know why
this is a discussion.
We obviously have
to pursue this story
and we need to start right now.
Wait here a second.
Jenna,
I want you to put some menus on my desk.
Three minutes after they get here,
I want you to come into my office
and ask for the menus back.
And that's it.
You got it?
- After who gets here?
- Trust me.
In the time that
you've been working here,
have you ever asked yourself why
we always walk into the studio
through that door when we could just
walk straight in over that threshold?
I did ask after I noticed it.
What'd they say?
They said it was superstition.
It's my superstition.
Never asked
anyone else to do it.
They just did.
It's a longer walk.
I kind of feel responsible for that.
You feel responsible
for a lot of things.
You already called BCD, right?
A few hours ago when you
went to the bathroom,
you were really calling
BCD for comment.
Yeah.
You can do the story
or not do the story,
but now a decision can't be made
that considers my protection.
I gave them my name.
For a long time
after you started here,
I didn't know your name.
You called me Punjab.
Yeah, you know, I...
I sure know it now.
Thank you.
Do something for me, would you?
- Sure.
- Give me the source.
I need some skin in the game
and they're gonna have a trickier
time of it with my profile.
They'll need a day
to figure out what to do
and negotiate
with me and Rebecca.
- Yeah, all right.
- One more thing.
Do you have anyplace you can
get to for a day or two?
It won't come to that.
Someplace you can get to
without using a credit card.
I can't tell if you're kidding.
Leave your phone
at home by accident.
Greyhound doesn't need
to know your name.
You know what I'm saying.
It's just contempt.
Why don't you go transcribe
your notes from the call to BCD
and distribute them
in the conference room?
Neal Sampat.
- Hello.
- We're on a break in there.
Don and I are a couple.
We've been seeing
each other for a few months.
You can tell anybody you want
and you can use the word couple.
- Don, what's going on?
- Yeah, don't worry about it.
Okay.
I would love to go to
your parents' made-up party.
Are you just saying that
because it's made up?
Because I would love to go on a
made-up hike with your cousins.
No, I'm saying it because
I'm in love with you.
I love you, Don.
You don't have to
say anything back.
- I...
- Ha, ha, ha!
Oh, shit!
You have been tested
and you failed that test.
I did not do well on that test.
- You bit down hard.
- I failed that test.
As long as you know that.
Are you worried about
getting scooped?
- No.
- Yes.
Because now I got to trust
that somebody else
is going to handle
the story responsibly.
What if whoever
the source goes to next
just makes a 27,000-page
document dump?
Nobody elected you either.
I agree there's a kink in the system,
but look at me.
Have you ever seen a more
trustworthy person in your life?
I was born like this.
By the way,
how much money do you have?
In the bank?
Yeah, in an unrelated matter,
Leona's gonna need,
like, $4 billion
or this network's
gonna be liquidated.
What was that?
Don't worry about it right now.
I'm Special Agent Hutchinson
and this is Special Agent Levy.
We're with the FBI and we
need to question Neal Sampat.
We also have a search warrant
under seal for your hard drives.
- Mac.
- I understand you two know each other socially?
I was telling Agent Hutchinson
I think we haven't seen
each other since Christmas.
Yeah, that's right.
It was...
It wasn't Christmas Eve,
it was the night before.
I'm Charlie Skinner.
I'm in charge.
A warrant under seal
means you're prohibited
from disclosing
that you were served.
If you disclose
that you were served...
- Agent Hutchinson, I'm...
- You're Rebecca Halliday.
You're the attorney
for Mr. Sampat.
Yeah.
I represent ACN
in First Amendment matters.
You should answer your phone.
It's going to be
the attorney general.
Rebecca Halliday.
Which of you is Neal Sampat?
Our lawyer has
just stepped away.
I have a warrant,
Mr. Skinner.
- Your lawyer knows...
- I'm Spartacus, sir. Neal's not in the room.
Why don't we go in my
office for a minute?
I want to talk to them alone.
Prepare the search,
but don't start.
You know how many hard
drives we have in this place?
Keep your voices very low.
You didn't tell me it was this.
I don't know what this is, Molly,
and I told you as little as possible.
I have to say, raiding a newsroom has
got to be damn near unprecedented.
We need to find this guy.
This is a bad guy.
We can't take
your word for that.
And as you well know,
bad guys are good sources.
We want to work with you
on this story and we want...
We want to work with you, too,
but we're going to question Neal Sampat.
The attorney general is on the
phone telling your lawyer
we're gonna hold him till
he gives up his source.
And I'll tell you what else.
There are three levels of Internet
systems the government works on.
This guy was working on JWICS
and we don't believe
he has the ability
to transfer content
to the protocol router.
So if we can prove
your guy helped him do it,
he's getting charged
with a full boat.
He's going to Leavenworth.
So if you want to work with us,
let's start.
- Excuse me.
- Yeah?
- I just need your menu.
- Sorry.
We're working
through dinner tonight.
Are we allowed to buy
your guys dinner?
No.
Thanks.
Molly,
I know the name of the source, too.
- You do?
- Yeah.
- Who else?
- That's it.
We need to start searching
your hard drives now.
We won't talk anymore till
your lawyer's in the room.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
- What's going on?
- Welcome back.
Sloan, what's going on?
It's about Neal's story...
Go ahead.
Please step away
from the desks.
Could someone please tell me
where Neal Sampat works?
He works over there.
I'll tell you a secret.
We could be more profitable.
Small places here and there,
we could make more money.
You know why we don't?
We choose not to.
It's a hell of a business plan,
Reese.
Have a seat if you want.
There's coffee
and juice over there.
- How did you find out?
- We didn't find out. We figured it out.
That's an important
distinction.
We could have found out
by you telling us.
But Sloan Sabbith
figured it out
when instead of going down
off a weak earnings report,
our stock traded up because someone
was buying 5% of our shares.
- 6%.
- 6%.
Which, when added to the 45%
that vests when you turn 25,
comes out to a total of what,
Randy?
King Arthur's knights could
have jousted on this table.
- 51%, that's right.
- Please don't give my brother a math quiz.
I wasn't testing his math.
I was testing
his attention span.
- Reese. You're a douche.
- Yeah? Yes, I am.
But I'm a douche on
the side of the angels.
And the reason there are areas,
small places here and there
where we choose not
to be more profitable,
is because we define success a
little different than you do.
For instance,
we have a news division.
- Are you nervous?
- No.
Really?
I'm okay.
- I'd be nervous.
- I'm fine.
- Here she comes.
- Yeah.
- Don't be nervous.
- I'm not.
I would love it if you guys
would stop committing
federal crimes.
Listen, we're a team here.
We're a family.
But just to be clear,
he's the one who did it.
Before we start, Neal,
it's very important that you
don't reveal your source to me.
- Yeah, no, I won't.
- If you were to reveal your source,
and then even in the course
of an informal conversation
told me you were planning on continuing
to commit this very serious felony,
attorney-client privilege
wouldn't protect either one of us.
He's been prepped.
By whom?
By a member of the New York
bar who graduated seventh
in his class from the fourth
best law school in America.
Okay.
Well, as a member of the New York,
California, Illinois, and Florida bars
who graduated second in her class from
the third best law school in the world,
you won't mind if I sweep up
after you a little?
Because this is different than prosecuting
an escort service in Greenpoint.
I put away bad guys, Halliday.
I locked up Mafia dons.
And now when you go to work,
you put on makeup just like me.
Say you want another lawyer.
If it's gonna be like this,
I'd honestly prefer to go to jail.
When they were just your age,
my mother's parents
saw a production of
You Can't Take It With You on Broadway.
They thought it was a shame that
you had to live near New York
or be able to afford to come here on
vacation to see a production that good.
So they went to investors
and they put together $42,350
and mounted a touring company.
National Theatricals
became very successful.
And my mother worked in the office
while she was going to City College.
She discovered a small
string of radio stations
that were going
out of business,
and using National
as collateral,
she got a loan and bought
the company that owned them,
which was named after
a mythical city,
Atlantis Media.
She was 22 years old
at the time.
She met our father
and they got married.
And then she had a son who bore a striking
resemblance to the father's brother.
If we're gonna start
at 212 degrees,
we've got no place to go.
In the divorce, she gave him half the
controlling shares of the company,
or 45%.
With another 45% going to you.
- I own no stock in AWM.
- In your mother's will.
I don't know what's in my mother's will.
I don't like to think about it.
You know exactly what's
in your mother's will.
Is this what this is?
Is this a family feud?
'Cause we're not talking
about Elton John's
birthday party now.
Lives are on the line.
Do me a favor and talk to me
with a little more condescension.
Great day in the morning.
- Randy and Blair are in the house.
- Morning.
Did you know I've known these two
since the minute they were born?
Your father's plane
was grounded in the snow
and he called me
from a pay phone and said,
"Charlie,
get yourself to Columbia Presbyterian.
Monica's in labor and I want to
make sure nobody steals my kids."
I wasn't in the delivery room,
'cause, you know, boundaries.
But we're all family
here is my point.
Randy,
you're an absolute knockout.
And, Blair,
you've grown into a fine young man.
I'm Blair.
He's Randy.
All right, well,
that was bound to happen.
Look,
I don't get involved at the corporate level.
I just came in to say hello.
I'm not even sitting down.
But out of curiosity,
if you were to sell
the company,
what would the new owners'
plans be for ACN?
I really don't know, Charlie.
But from what I understand,
you can make more money
selling the cameras than
transmitting images from them.
So,
I imagine that's what they'll do.
Yeah, I'm gonna sit down.
Let's start at the beginning.
Monday night.
- Go ahead.
- You don't have to tell him to go ahead. I just did.
And I was telling him it was
okay to follow your instruction.
Go ahead.
It was the first night
of the Boston story
and I got a message on the site
asking for my encryption key.
I gave it. Then I was asked for a higher
level of encryption and I gave that.
The source instructed me to
buy an air-gapped computer,
a computer that's never been
hooked up to the Internet.
And he told me where he
had hidden the flash drive.
It was hidden Godfather
style in a restaurant bathroom.
- Godfather style?
- The scene where Michael shoots Barzini and the cop.
- McCluskey.
- Right.
- And it was Sollozzo.
- The cop?
The cop was McCluskey.
It was McCluskey and Sollozzo, not Barzini.
- Maybe we can move past this.
- You got the flash drive...
And loaded it onto
the air-gapped computer.
And what was on the drive?
A little more than 27,000
documents belonging to the DOD.
- About half of them classified.
- Tell her about Kundu.
There's a small African country called
the Republic of Equatorial Kundu.
It's a failed state.
The week before last, there were violent riots
that killed 38 people
including three Americans.
We're the ones
who started the riots.
How?
The Pentagon employs a PR firm
in Virginia called BCD.
They do propaganda work
planting positive stories
about the US in local papers.
But this time,
they planted a story in Kundu
about a rebel leader who was about
to attack another rebel group.
The story was false
and now 38 people are dead.
In order to be able to better
convince Charlie to spend the money
on investigators to go
through the 27,000 documents,
I asked the source to get me a couple
of pieces of persuasive evidence.
- And I taught him how to use the NIPRNet...
- Yeah.
...to move it from
the DOD's computer to mine.
- You were aware these were stolen documents?
- Yes.
- And you asked your source to steal some more?
- Yes.
- You even taught him how to do it?
- Yeah.
Well, here's what you've done.
You've committed espionage.
You violated Title 18,
Section 793.
Aside from the Espionage Act,
you can and will be charged
with violating the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act
as well as federal statutes
that punish the theft
or retention of stolen...
I mean,
I know these guys get legal training.
How does this happen?
Isn't this the very first thing
they're taught not to do?
- Once a year.
- Like, is there a sign hanging somewhere...
- It's not like they take a semester of criminal law.
- ...like a choking hazard sign?
"Don't ask sources
to steal things for you."
Title 18, 641,
Title 18, 793-E.
18, 1030-A.
And you violated
the USA Patriot Act.
Seems like the US government
has an awful lot of laws
protecting itself
from its citizens.
That's one way of looking at it.
It's a stupid way.
Is the DOD aware of this yet?
No, but if we were to run the story,
which we obviously won't,
we'd pick up the phone and find someone
at BCD to talk to on a Saturday.
- Once we did that...
- It would take about 10 seconds for BCD
to alert the Defense Department and the
FBI would show up here in an hour.
And they would take you in for questioning and
not let you go until you revealed your source.
- That's not gonna happen.
- Not gonna happen 'cause we're not gonna run the story.
We are gonna run the story
and I will avail myself
of the protection the First Amendment gives
me when it comes to revealing a source.
Neither the First nor any
other amendment protects you
when you conspire
to commit treason.
Don't run the story and you
don't have to call BCD.
Don't call BCD and nobody
knows you have the documents.
Don't ever make contact
with your source again.
A truth that matters
can't stay hidden
and it's no more
complicated than that.
It's a lot more
complicated than that
and I decide
what goes on the air.
So, in point of fact,
we'll be doing exactly what Rebecca just said,
which is to say nothing.
Look at that.
Is that a good enough score
to get me in the FBI?
It's not a good enough
score to get you in the PTA.
I put two shots
right in the torso.
Unfortunately, the other four hit
anyone standing next to the torso.
Hey.
Thanks.
Thank you.
That one's yours?
It belongs to the Bureau,
but, yeah.
Tell me something.
Why don't they allow people to go in there alone?
They don't want to make it
easier to commit suicide.
So these are the good
people with the guns
who are going to stop the
bad people with the guns?
We're the good people with the guns.
How's the wedding coming along?
Be easier if people stopped
detonating bombs in Boston
and factories stopped
blowing up in Texas.
I missed a fitting last week.
Casualty count keeps rising.
I need to ask you about something.
- I figured.
- It'll be hypothetical.
It needs to be.
They give us a polygraph test every five years
and mine's coming up.
In today's climate,
what happens to a reporter
who's made contact with a
government whistle-blower?
- A leaker.
- A whistle-blower.
A leaker of secrets
who has taken it upon himself
to decide what laws to obey.
A reporter might gain
the favor of the government
by reporting such a leak to us
instead of the general public.
That reporter's organization would
never have another source again.
And one might say
they'd abdicated
their responsibility
to a democracy.
Yeah, well,
might be full of shit, too.
- Look, I...
- Nothing.
The answer is nothing happens.
No reporter's ever been prosecuted
under the Espionage Act.
If they don't reveal their source,
they may be charged with contempt.
And if they go to jail,
it's for an average of 10 days.
At the most,
it's been six months.
You sound disappointed, Molly.
Sources come to us with things
they can't come to you with.
Yeah,
we have sources, too, Mac.
We use them to stop violent
crimes before they happen.
You want to protect your sources,
so do we.
'Cause when there's a leak,
our sources get executed.
Oh...
On most every occasion,
Obama refused to side
with the EPA's more
science-based positions.
I don't know, whether...
Whether it's cleaning up the air
or forcing the national
resources industries
to abide by
existing regulations,
ultimately the EPA
is only as good
as the White House
allows us to be.
Okay,
take the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
That was the largest oil spill
the US has experienced...
Excuse me.
Is this seat taken?
No.
- Shh. Don't be alarmed, okay?
- Okay.
I need a favor and I'll be able to
explain why in just a few minutes,
but for now you have
to trust a stranger.
What's the favor?
Hold my iPod
and put in the earbuds.
In your ears?
In your ears like
you're listening to it.
- You still have an iPod?
- I like the way the wheel clicks.
But that's not
important right now.
- Will you do it?
- Yeah, sure.
Well,
I can give it to you on the record...
- Shh.
- ...or I can give it to you off the record.
On the record
is gonna make you laugh.
On the record?
The president continues
to believe in a strong EPA
led by an advocate
for smart pro-growth
environmental policies
that will protect...
Okay, now you're laughing
just as I said you would be.
Off the record...
Hey, hang on.
Off the record, even he'd admit
he couldn't get a law
through this Congress
reaffirming the US
as the name of the country.
So why bother wasting
what little capital he has
with the Republicans on the Hill
trying to get an up or down vote
on his pick to run
a toothless agency?
I was gonna get the buffet.
I don't know why, if given a choice,
anyone wouldn't get the buffet.
Under what circumstance
would you order off the menu?
If the menu had a five-pound lobster
and the buffet was soy-themed.
- All-you-can-eat assorted soy.
- Here's what I need you to do.
Why does there need
to be an assignment?
Hey,
are we in this buffet thing together?
Yeah,
we tell the waiter we're getting the buffet.
I did a Q and A in Shape
about my healthy diet.
- You lied.
- In a big way and I'm really hungry.
So I need you to get food for
me and I'll get food for you.
- Got it.
- Crab claws as far as the eye can see.
Mushroom
and Swiss cheese omelet.
And I can't emphasize this enough...
Waffles.
- And what am I getting?
- Fruit salad.
- Have you decided yet?
- We're gonna have the buffet.
I'm only having something light,
but I'm gonna keep him company at the buffet.
I know it seems like a waste paying
for the buffet and not eating it,
- but that's what I'm gonna do.
- Okay.
Help yourselves.
I don't think he bought it.
I think it was a more detailed
explanation than he's used to getting.
Hey, I didn't tell you.
You made me $125 yesterday.
- How'd I do that?
- I bought $2,500 of Chipotle.
Please tell me you're talking
about the hot sauce.
- The stock, the company.
- You bought CMG?
- You told me to.
- No, I didn't.
You said Chipotle's
gonna have a good day.
Because I got an advance copy of the
earnings report and anticipated an uptick.
- Well, you were right.
- I know I was right.
Wait, you went on TV and told
people to buy the stock.
How was I at a greater
advantage than your viewers?
When did you buy?
Before or after we went on the air?
- Before.
- Before.
- Did you buy at 352.88?
- I bought at 344.91.
You bought it
at its opening price,
which is almost $8 a share lower
than it was when I went on the air.
Congratulations,
we're white-collar criminals.
Okay, first let me say
if you're gonna be a criminal,
- that's probably the best kind to be.
- I don't want to be any kind.
We have to go to the office after this for Neal.
Should we talk to Rebecca?
I think we should.
No.
We're still gonna eat first.
Crab claws, right there.
- And, Don.
- Yeah?
You walked right past
the waffles.
I'm sorry.
No way in the wide fucking
world we're doing this story.
Hey.
What are you doing here?
What are you doing here?
Came in to catch up on the week's worth
of news that happened during Boston.
Jenna Bush had a baby.
I wonder how many great-grandfather
presidents we've had.
I fucked up so bad and it's all
gonna come down in the next hour.
What are you talking about?
Hallie, what are...
Last night...
This morning around 2:00 AM,
we were wrapping up
the Boston coverage
and I was heading home
and I saw that ACN
hadn't posted a tweet
in six and a half hours.
Neal usually does that and he
likes to post every 30 minutes,
but I knew where his head was,
so I posted for him when I got home.
That was 2:37 this morning.
I went to sleep
and then woke up
and deleted it
a half hour later.
- 3:04.
- What was the tweet?
- Nobody's picked it up yet.
- What was it?
- I knew it was wrong the second I...
- Hal.
I hit send and thought,
"Well, that's done" and turned the lights off.
Republicans rejoice"...
"Republicans rejoice that there's
finally a national tragedy
that doesn't involve guns."
- It was up for how long?
- 27 minutes.
In the middle of the night
on a night when everyone
was paying attention
to something else.
Is there any chance
it won't be found?
No.
I came in to get fired.
Reese,
where did our stock close yesterday?
66.
And what's Savannah Capital
offering you per share?
81.
45% of the controlling shares
times 66 equals...
Carry the three.
Times 81.
All right.
Right now your stock
is worth $2.3 billion.
Savannah Capital says
it should be worth
$3.1 billion.
Aren't $2.3 billion
and $3.1 billion
the exact same thing?
- What's the difference?
- 800 million.
Yes, good, Randy.
But I think what Charlie is saying is
what can you buy with 3.1 billion
that you can't buy with 2.3 billion?
You seem to think our plan is
to hit the ATM and go shopping.
- What is your plan?
- My immediate plan
is to ask you why the fuck you
think we need to tell you our plan.
We're not seeking
permission for something.
In 10 days, we turn 25,
inherit 45% of the
controlling shares of AWM,
and sell them
to Savannah Capital,
who was able to buy 6%
of the controlling shares
without any of the geniuses
at this company noticing.
And do you know what I find
so perfectly poetic, Reese?
Is that you would have
been looking out for it
if you remembered
when our birthday was.
Or that we were born.
People like you are the reason
people hate people like me.
Guess that's why you didn't
sit with us at the funeral.
Jesus Christ,
my father had just died.
I wasn't paying a lot of attention
to where my fucking seats were.
- Reese.
- Can we not?
I got to tell you something.
'Cause we're talking
about 141,000 people.
Dad thought you
were an asshole.
All right. All right.
All right.
I want you to sit out a couple of rounds,
all right?
- All right?
- Yeah.
It's me now.
As I understand it,
the criteria for running a story
is one,
are we confident it's accurate,
and two,
is it in the public interest.
And this passes those tests.
You were confident
Genoa was accurate.
I have my own personal
third criteria,
which is will it land
any of my guys in jail?
- That's not...
- This passes that test, too.
By the way,
in order to ascertain its accuracy,
we'd have to pick up
the phone and call BCD,
which is the trip wire
that sends in the FBI.
Now hand over the flash drive so I
can crush it with a meat tenderizer.
What's he crushing
with a meat tenderizer?
Truth. Hope.
Journalistic integrity.
Hey, I've got more journalistic
integrity in my whole body
- than you've got in your...
- You've got that turned around.
You've got more journalistic
integrity in your whole body...
- That's still wrong.
- What the fuck am I trying to say?
- That you're a pussy.
- Watch your mouth, Mandela.
I'd be a pussy if I was
afraid of going to jail.
In fact,
that wouldn't even make me a pussy.
Other people have gone to jail
for refusing to give up a source.
I'd consider it
a badge of honor.
Be sure to show your badge to
your roommates when you get there.
Neal, it is not refusing to give up
a source that we're talking about.
That's a contempt charge.
It is espionage.
- No, it's not.
- Along with a Christmas list of other felonies...
- Why?
- I've just come from talking to a friend.
- She's been with the FBI 15 years.
- Unimpeachable source.
This is her area and she says they'd
never charge him with espionage.
This woman does not know
what she's talking about.
Yeah, she does.
No journalist has ever
been charged with espionage.
She says it'll be contempt.
They would charge him with
kidnapping the Lindbergh baby
if they think
it'll get them to the leak.
- 30 days.
- She says more like 10.
10 days. That's one day for
every three and a half people
we killed by knowingly planting a
false story in a foreign newspaper.
You did the division that fast?
Yeah, cliche buster.
I'm good at math.
Please tell me you're not
softening your position on this.
- My position hasn't softened at all.
- Smartest person in the room.
- There's no question we have to do the story.
- She is an idiot savant.
- When did you change your mind?
- I didn't change my mind.
I've known we had to do the story
the second he showed it to us.
Do you remember last night?
It was last night.
- I do remember last night.
- You went on and on
- about how we have to protect Neal because we're family.
- That was you.
You didn't push back.
I interpreted that as agreeing with me.
You should have interpreted that as we just
finished five days of covering Boston,
it was late, I was tired,
and I was sleeping.
How often are you sleeping when
I'm talking to you at night?
I'd really have no way
of knowing that.
The two lawyers
in the room say no.
The two journalists
in the room say yes.
- There are three journalists.
- Did I count that wrong?
If you think being an ass is gonna
make me less inclined to protect you,
think again, mofo.
I can out-ass anyone in the Tri-State Area.
He's telling the truth, Neal.
It feels like you're on my side,
but just barely.
- Jenna!
- You make that poor girl work on a Saturday?
She's a recent journalism
school graduate.
I'm just completing
her education.
What she's learning from me
can't be found in books.
- Yes?
- I'd like a Dr Pepper, please.
- Sure.
- Billy.
- What?
- Listen to me.
- I am.
- We're doing this because we have to.
All right, me and you.
You want to go?
- You already know you're gonna lose.
- Take the first swing.
The possibility that reporters are
gonna make bad behavior public
is what stops people
from behaving badly.
The possibility of jail is supposed to
be what makes people stop behaving badly.
Well, it hasn't 'cause they're still doing
it and they're gonna keep doing it.
A PR company killed 38 people.
We do nothing,
and the 39th is on us.
Game over.
Let's make the phone call.
Not so fast.
And it'll just mean everybody
gets what they want,
which is a rudderless EPA.
I can't do what Congress
will never do,
which is regulate
climate pollution.
It's why so many Democrats
think he's jaw-droppingly weak.
Yeah. All right.
Yeah.
- Excuse me, Mr. Westbrook?
- Yeah?
Do we know each other?
You're Richard Westbrook,
Deputy Assistant
Administrator of the EPA?
- I am.
- I heard your end of the call.
- You did?
- Yes.
I have more bad news.
I'm a producer with ACN. Maggie Jordan.
How much of the call
did you hear?
I heard you say that
the president's pick
to run the EPA
will never get a vote,
that the EPA
is a toothless agency...
- Jesus.
- ...and that the president's jaw-droppingly weak.
No, I said Democrats
think the president's
jaw-droppingly weak.
Wait.
That's not better.
I was wondering if you'd
like to comment further.
This car is half empty.
I looked around.
I didn't see anyone near me except
that guy with the headphones.
- I was sitting right here.
- Why didn't I see you?
I may have slid down
in my seat.
- What did you say your name was?
- Maggie Jordan.
Well, that sucks,
Maggie Jordan.
You're on a train, Richard.
You don't have a reasonable
expectation of privacy.
What's more,
you were talking to another reporter.
I was talking to a reporter
I know and trust.
- And I was off the record.
- You were off the record to him, not to me.
- You were hiding like...
- Why not make the call from between the cars?
- It's too loud!
- Why not wait till we get back to New York?
Because this guy's
on deadline now
and I wanted to give him
background on a story
that will hopefully
put pressure on...
Look, I work at the EPA, okay?
We're staffed by seven people
and a high school intern.
We don't care
who's in the White House.
We are pro drinkable water
and breathable air.
We are anti the world
coming to an end.
But you're also public officials
and what you have to say
about how a president's overseeing
your agency is relevant.
- My job...
- Your job? Your job.
If I hear one more
gossip columnist
use democracy as a fig leaf,
I'm gonna eat an IBM Selectric.
- It's an old-fashioned...
- I know what an IBM Selectric is.
And I should tell you you've been
on the record this whole time.
- How?
- You didn't say...
I didn't say I was
off the record.
I didn't call time-out.
I took my foot off the base.
Look, Richard,
there's news happening right in front of me.
- It's my job...
- Don't.
It's my responsibility,
okay, to report it.
Yeah, but you're not interested
in the news part of the news.
I'd be happy to give you an interview
about the news part of the news.
You like the unguarded moments,
private behavior that can never
stand up to public scrutiny.
But you didn't tell the truth
until you were off the record
with the guy on the
other end of the phone.
The unguarded moments
are where the truth is.
I don't care.
I get to be guarded if I want.
And you were slumped
down in a chair.
How honest was that?
Yeah.
You're right.
- What?
- You're right.
- What do you mean?
- That part was wrong.
Is this a trick?
No.
I'm deleting my notes.
I apologize, Richard.
And good luck.
Here's my card
if you ever want
to talk on the record,
which I strongly
encourage you to do.
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
I don't understand
what's happening now.
Crab claw.
Keep it low.
It says here in the ACN
employee's guide,
which has some interesting information
I definitely should have read
before drinking beer with Jim, Neal,
and some college kids in my office,
that we'd only be in trouble if I
was a producer of financial news.
I'm not. I produce the 10:00 hour,
which you occasionally host.
- Keep reading.
- Employees are barred from, blah, blah, blah, blah.
In accordance with the SEC,
blah, blah.
Married, engaged to be married,
cohabitating or in what
could reasonably be considered
a relationship
where the two parties...
The SEC will notice
a pattern in your trading.
That you appear to be
front-running news for ACN.
And they will
connect you to me.
- And even if they don't...
- We're a couple?
Hmm?
You consider us a couple?
I don't understand
that question.
Yeah, you do, 'cause this is exactly
how I act in the same situation.
Suddenly I pretend I'm stupid
and hearing impaired.
- Do you consider us a couple?
- Do you consider us a couple?
- I do that, too, Socrates.
- We are...
- Yep.
- Okay, let me say...
- Go ahead.
- Here's what we are.
- Bring it.
- I love spending time with you.
- Oh! Oh, man.
- Wait.
I can't believe
I'm getting Don Keefer'd.
You're not.
I would never Don Keefer you.
We're a couple. Totally.
Of course we're a couple.
Let me remind you, I was the one who had
a problem with you trading Chipotle.
Why?
Because we're a couple.
You're the one buying up
Chipotle hither and yon as if,
"Duh, look,
I don't produce a financial show."
See what I mean?
Okay.
Got to slide me a waffle, man.
I'll address that aggressive
behavior in just a moment.
He looked up, you see?
He saw that the pitcher
wasn't covering first base,
which is what the pitcher is supposed
to do on a ground ball to first.
They've known that
since Little League.
He looked up,
and you can see it on the replay.
He looks up because he knew the
pitcher wasn't covering the bag
and he needed to gauge his
position relative to the base.
What happens when you take
your eye off the ball?
God, Jim, what in the name of
sweet Christ are you talking about?
- Bill Buckner.
- Is this the best time, babe?
- I thought it might be a welcome distraction.
- It's an unwelcome annoyance.
I knew going in
that was a possibility.
Buckner needs to be exonerated.
You make one mistake and ev...
CNN represents
a small fraction
of Time Warner's revenue.
NBC Nightly News
a small fraction of Comcast.
And ACN an even smaller
fraction of Atlantis.
But they are the face and voice
of their parent corporations.
- So what?
- So what?
Yes.
That's a fair question.
I think you're making
good headway.
- As an experienced negotiator...
- Reese Lansing.
As the president
of a news network,
all I do every day
is fight with him.
All I do every day
is fight with Leona.
And the thing of it is this...
I win almost every one
of those battles.
What network president can say
that about their corporate parent?
I win almost every one
of those battles
and the reason is most
of the time they let me.
Your father absolutely did
not think you were an asshole.
They want ACN
to do the news well.
And we're not always
successful at it,
but that's what we try to do,
and they let me win
because they just want us to play our role.
As a public service.
As a patriotic sacrifice.
As a moral imperative,
they do not require
ACN to make money.
Why?
Because they can afford it.
- Charlie.
- Isn't that something you want to be a part of
and not something
you want to end?
Don't you want to be
handed the baton?
We want to strike out
on our own.
Be entrepreneurs.
Maybe get into Bitcoin.
Shut the fuck up, Randy.
Go deal with it.
This is so fucked up,
I don't even know where to begin.
- Yeah.
- Jesus Christ!
She understands it's fucked up.
The RNC wants a public apology
or we can't book
Republicans on any show.
- An entire political party.
- They deserve a public apology.
It's almost six months to the day
since our last public apology.
There is no question
that your anger is founded.
I wasn't questioning it, Jim.
I'm not on the fence about
whether I should be angry.
I'd like to say the
following in Hallie's defense.
Like everybody,
she was incredibly tired last night...
- That's just lame.
- This wasn't something she would normally do.
She deleted it.
She knew it was wrong.
Are you two together?
We met on the Romney campaign.
But that is not
why she got the job.
She has done great work
for ACN Digital.
Read her last 10 columns,
look at her...
I don't care if she wrote the
collective works of Tolstoy.
She also wrote this.
I'm not gonna make
you fire her.
- Thank you.
- No, I'm sorry.
I meant I'm going to do it.
If your mind is made up...
I don't get to make up
my own mind now.
The RNC is doing it for me.
If your mind is made up,
then it's my job to fire her.
What?
Excuse me. Sorry.
I think this is about me.
Come in.
We haven't really met.
I'm Charlie Skinner.
- I know.
- Republicans are rejoicing?
You know 144 people got blown up,
right?
And that three
of those people are dead.
And that one of them
is eight years fucking old.
Yes, sir.
I'm so curious, I have to ask.
At the time when you typed it,
in that moment,
what were you thinking the value of it was?
Retweets.
I appreciate your honesty.
You should know Jim did
everything he could for you.
We'll say it was a low-level
staffer and they were fired,
but we won't reveal your name.
- Thank you.
- That's all.
- Can I...?
- Yeah.
You're a reporter?
I'm sorry?
You're a reporter?
A news producer.
ACN.
You were in Boston
for the bombing?
I was there for the race.
You're okay?
I finished about a half hour
before the explosion.
Good thing you're fast.
Um, before,
with that guy from the EPA,
you were on solid ground.
In Massachusetts it's illegal
to record anybody
without two-party consent.
But two things. One,
you are protected by the First Amendment.
And two,
you were in Connecticut at the time.
Yeah.
I think I was okay
journalistically,
and I'm pretty sure
I was okay legally.
I'm just not sure
I was airtight morally.
How did you hear us?
I wasn't listening to music.
What do you do?
I teach.
Fordham Law School.
You're pretty young for a law professor.
What do you teach?
- Ethics.
- Get out of town.
I'm trying.
I'm on an express train.
Excuse me.
- Hi.
- Hi. Could I...
speak with you a second?
- Sure.
- Yeah.
I spoke to our counsel,
and she says there's nothing
stopping you from running the story.
I'm not doing anything
with the story.
Our counsel says there's
nothing stopping you.
If you want to speak to me on the record,
I'm happy to listen,
but I'm not taking what I
overheard to my senior producer.
I am willing to trade
you another story
for the promise that you won't use
my candid remarks about the president.
I have no intention
of using your candid remarks
or even your
on-the-record remarks
which were meant
for someone else.
I just don't understand.
I don't know how to make it
any clearer than that.
Good luck.
I think you're
freaking him out.
How's your boss gonna feel
about you passing on a story?
And then another story?
Whatever the second story is,
I'm not going to blackmail
him into giving it to me.
You can save your students
a lot of time.
On the first day of class,
tell them they know the difference
between right and wrong.
Do what's right.
They don't need a lawyer
to tell them
their moral absolutes.
And whenever you hear
someone giving a monologue
defending the ethics
of their position,
you can be pretty sure
they know they were wrong.
Can I point something out to you?
You're giving a monologue.
Everyone does where I work.
You know what Vipassana is?
It's a small Italian motorbike.
- Not a Vespa. Vipassana.
- I know what Vipassana is.
It's a meditation retreat in India
where you don't talk for a week.
But feel free
to tell me anyway.
Maybe two weeks.
Think I'm gonna do it.
You should.
You seem tense.
Mm, you got that backwards,
money honey.
No, I'm only a little tense because of
what's happening at the office right now.
- Okay.
- All right.
Hey,
it's my parents' 40th anniversary
and the week after next there's a party.
Do you want to come?
Absolutely, I do,
but here's the thing.
- You might be on Vipassana?
- Or maybe a Yamaha.
Big laugh from the crowd.
All right, let's just...
Now we're meeting parents?
And it all started
with a stock trade.
You see how things spiral out of control?
They spiral.
Just buy mutual funds.
There's nothing wrong with mutual funds.
I feel like I'm being
tested right now.
That's it? You're leaving?
Wait.
I'm hailing a cab.
All right.
Close one.
Yeah.
Yours is an unusual
position for a reporter.
Who decides what's private and
what's information people should know?
In the airspace right around me,
I do.
- Hi.
- I'm not scamming you, Richard.
I know.
Can I have a word?
- Sure.
- Yeah.
This report won't be
released for a week.
The White House got it today,
but they won't show it
to the president
until at least Monday.
It's yours,
along with an exclusive interview.
What's in it?
The level of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere
has passed
a long-feared milestone.
The amount of poison gas in
the air hasn't been this high
in three million years,
since before there were humans.
- We get the report?
- You get the report.
Embargoed until Monday.
And an exclusive interview.
- With who?
- Me.
Any chance we can get
the administrator?
There hasn't been
an administrator
of the Environmental
Protection Agency for a while
because Senate Republicans
won't confirm one
and the president doesn't want
to waste political capital.
Though I'm not sure
what he's saving it up for.
That statement
was on the record.
Nice meeting you.
Richard, be careful when you're
talking out loud in public.
I was careful.
Okay, but you just told
a train car full of people
- that the apocalypse is nigh.
- Damn it.
It's all right.
Nobody's listening.
Tell me about it.
It was nice meeting you, Jack.
I've got to get my bag.
Isn't that your bag?
This is a month's rent for me.
It's my executive producer's.
I don't know your name.
Maggie Jordan.
I'd love to call you.
- Here's my card.
- Great.
And, Jack,
I've got a report here from the EPA
that says you probably
shouldn't wait that long.
And the government's
complicity was covert,
robbing the citizens in a democracy
of the information they need
if they're going to have an intelligent
debate about foreign policy.
Covert ops are why you don't hear
much about the Mafia anymore.
Covert ops are why
your parents are alive.
They're why there are fewer
nuclear scientists alive in Iran.
Covert ops are what's
forcing al-Qaeda...
Covert ops were
behind Iran-Contra
and it was the press
who exposed it.
Covert ops got money
and equipment and training
to the mujahedeen after the
Soviets invaded Afghanistan.
The press not knowing about it
is how Communism fell in Europe.
- I can go all day long.
- God knows.
Excuse me.
- Where are you going?
- The men's room.
Neal, leave behind the drive.
Are you serious?
Well,
you're hotheaded right now.
Leave the flash drive
on the table.
It's locked in a filing
cabinet under my desk.
Are you getting my point?
Yeah, you don't want Neal to go to
jail for 10 days and neither do I.
But these are the rules
of cribbage.
I could swallow this key,
you know.
Yeah, 'cause what criminal
mastermind could open
an Office Depot filing
cabinet without a key?
You're thinking of different ways
to murder me right now.
New York Observer.
How did word get out this fast?
Fast is the speed
at which word travels.
It's been blowing up
for an hour.
Yeah,
but I saw Charlie's statement and apology.
He kept his promise.
He didn't name anyone.
I did.
I outed myself on Twitter.
My account, not the network.
"Just left ACN
for the last time.
Great five weeks.
Honest people.
Sensational experience.
One regret.
I tweeted a terrible joke on the network's account.
No one else involved."
Least I could do was make sure no
one thought it was someone else.
You're gonna get
plenty of job offers.
I'm not worried.
I'm embarrassed.
No one who knows you thinks you have
anything to be embarrassed about.
There's a pretty strong consensus
among people who don't know me
that I'm
"a stupid fucking libtard whore
who should have been
dismembered on Boylston Street
after first getting
sodomized by a jihadist."
Pretty mild for the Internet,
but still.
I appreciate...
Charlie said that you did
everything you could to help me.
Yeah.
And he knew we were dating.
So he said he'd do it himself,
which was merciful.
Are you saying you
volunteered to fire me?
I wasn't volunteering.
It was my job.
Daily Beast.
Some of the offers are gonna be
from people who don't like us very much.
Who doesn't like us?
Not you and me. ACN.
For some of the outlets,
being someone with an ax to grind
against us would be an asset.
I don't have an ax to grind.
Do you think that's
the reason I outed myself?
Do I think... No.
I was trying to do the right thing.
You think I put it out there as bait?
I'm saying don't get played.
Gawker.
I needed a minute to adjust.
That's all that happened.
I'd love to go to your parents'
40th anniversary party.
There is no party.
I was testing you.
Are you for real?
You did the exact same thing I did when
Maggie asked me to meet her parents.
You gave me a little test.
You didn't do well.
Is this something you read in Cosmo
while you were at the dentist?
Yes.
I said I'd go to the party
which doesn't exist
because you're a lying
liar who lies a lot.
It said the next thing
you'd do is deflect.
Don't you like having a gal
pal that you can hang out with
where there are extra
benefits like stock tips?
- I can't use the stock tips.
- Then how about the sex?!
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Hi.
- It would take a long time to explain.
- Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- Yes.
- Yes what?
Yes, I love having a gal pal with
no commitment and tons of sex.
- Great.
- Just not you.
- What's wrong with me?
- Plenty, but I really like you anyway.
I'm not good
at not being alone.
It's what I'm used to.
Let me know if you want
to get good at it.
- The sex is good.
- Thank you.
Invoking Leona Lansing
is gonna get you
nowhere with me.
Our fidelity is to our father's legacy,
not his mother's.
Then I can tell you this is
not what he would have wanted.
- Then fuck him, too, Charlie.
- Hey!
- All right.
- Why didn't our mother get shares?
'Cause she's not the one
that raised $42,350.
She didn't build the company.
She married it.
Yeah,
and like you poured the cement.
As a matter of fact,
with an MBA,
he insisted on starting
in the mail room.
I understand we were born on third base,
but I'm stealing home now.
- So that's about it.
- Shh.
I'm not here.
I don't want to interrupt anything.
Good afternoon, Leona.
I'll tell you what.
Leona is for friends and family.
If you're trying to poach my company,
I'd prefer Mrs. Lansing.
Oh, Blair, you get more
beautiful every time I see you.
How often is that?
As infrequently as possible.
I understand you've been out on
a date with Savannah Capital.
And I let them take turns.
Oh, and, Randy,
you like to watch, right?
What?
You know what happened
last month
without anybody noticing?
This is for real.
Webster's Dictionary expanded the
definition of the word literally
to include the way
it's commonly misused.
So the thing is,
we no longer have a word
in the English language
that means literally.
I mean,
literally doesn't have a synonym.
So we're going to have to find
the Latin word for it and use it.
But, see,
I don't know any Latin.
So when I say that I am
literally gonna set fire
to this building with you in it
before I hand over the keys to it,
you don't know if I'm speaking
figuratively or literally.
Savannah's offering
$81 per share,
so if this is about money,
you'll accept 82 from me, right?
- Mom.
- We're not interested in selling 6%.
I'm not interested
in buying 6%!
I don't want you anywhere
near this company.
I want all of it.
I am offering you one full dollar
per share more than Savannah.
So if this is about the money,
you'll take it.
$2.
That's what I thought.
I'll raise the cash and have an offer sheet
to you before your birthday.
I tend to doubt it, but...
Oh, get the fuck out
of my boardroom, kids.
Hey.
How come we couldn't be friends,
Blair?
It's 'cause I can't stand you,
Mrs. Lansing.
You've got to lose that anger,
honey.
People get the face
they deserve.
See you in 10 days.
Are you out of your mind?
$4 billion for
a $62 billion company?
- It's a steal.
- It's not!
- But even if it were...
- Yeah?
I think he's trying to say
you don't have $4 billion.
How much do I have?
I don't know,
but it's somewhere in the ballpark
of nothing close to $4 billion!
Charlie, did I ever tell you
about the time my parents saw
You Can't Take It With You
on Broadway?
That was $42,000.
No, $42,350.
And it was the last 350
that were the hardest.
Sold my clothes,
dealt a little weed.
- Mom.
- Oh, I'm just kidding. I didn't sell my clothes.
- This is for real.
- You think I don't fucking know that?
I need $4 billion
cash right now.
I don't know who this guy is.
I didn't vote for him.
I don't want him making decisions on
his own about what's best for America.
For all I know, he's one bad day
away from being Ted Kaczynski.
We work with the FBI and the DOD to
determine what needs to be redacted.
They're going to say
everything needs to be redacted.
They know they have to convince me why.
And if I'm not sold...
But just to get that far,
you have to call BCD, right?
- To comment.
- That's it. That's the trip wire.
You call BCD and Neal has to give up
his source or face a contempt charge.
There's no route to the right
thing that doesn't include the possibility...
The certainty
of a contempt charge.
The route to the right thing
is this guy showing his face.
Why is Neal paying the price
for this guy's patriotism?
But we're past that.
And if I could switch places with him,
I would.
And I would tell
you the same thing,
that a contempt charge could be the least...
Too many people...
Look at how many people
are in this room.
They're in this room
'cause they can be trusted.
Too many people already know that a
more serious crime has been committed.
The FBI doesn't know that.
- What if they find out?
- How?
The only other person
who knows is the source,
and he's not showing his face.
- What if he does?
- He won't.
So you completely trust a guy who
the only thing that we know about him
is that he stole classified documents
from the Department of Defense?
We are three exits
past that on the highway.
I don't know why
this is a discussion.
We obviously have
to pursue this story
and we need to start right now.
Wait here a second.
Jenna,
I want you to put some menus on my desk.
Three minutes after they get here,
I want you to come into my office
and ask for the menus back.
And that's it.
You got it?
- After who gets here?
- Trust me.
In the time that
you've been working here,
have you ever asked yourself why
we always walk into the studio
through that door when we could just
walk straight in over that threshold?
I did ask after I noticed it.
What'd they say?
They said it was superstition.
It's my superstition.
Never asked
anyone else to do it.
They just did.
It's a longer walk.
I kind of feel responsible for that.
You feel responsible
for a lot of things.
You already called BCD, right?
A few hours ago when you
went to the bathroom,
you were really calling
BCD for comment.
Yeah.
You can do the story
or not do the story,
but now a decision can't be made
that considers my protection.
I gave them my name.
For a long time
after you started here,
I didn't know your name.
You called me Punjab.
Yeah, you know, I...
I sure know it now.
Thank you.
Do something for me, would you?
- Sure.
- Give me the source.
I need some skin in the game
and they're gonna have a trickier
time of it with my profile.
They'll need a day
to figure out what to do
and negotiate
with me and Rebecca.
- Yeah, all right.
- One more thing.
Do you have anyplace you can
get to for a day or two?
It won't come to that.
Someplace you can get to
without using a credit card.
I can't tell if you're kidding.
Leave your phone
at home by accident.
Greyhound doesn't need
to know your name.
You know what I'm saying.
It's just contempt.
Why don't you go transcribe
your notes from the call to BCD
and distribute them
in the conference room?
Neal Sampat.
- Hello.
- We're on a break in there.
Don and I are a couple.
We've been seeing
each other for a few months.
You can tell anybody you want
and you can use the word couple.
- Don, what's going on?
- Yeah, don't worry about it.
Okay.
I would love to go to
your parents' made-up party.
Are you just saying that
because it's made up?
Because I would love to go on a
made-up hike with your cousins.
No, I'm saying it because
I'm in love with you.
I love you, Don.
You don't have to
say anything back.
- I...
- Ha, ha, ha!
Oh, shit!
You have been tested
and you failed that test.
I did not do well on that test.
- You bit down hard.
- I failed that test.
As long as you know that.
Are you worried about
getting scooped?
- No.
- Yes.
Because now I got to trust
that somebody else
is going to handle
the story responsibly.
What if whoever
the source goes to next
just makes a 27,000-page
document dump?
Nobody elected you either.
I agree there's a kink in the system,
but look at me.
Have you ever seen a more
trustworthy person in your life?
I was born like this.
By the way,
how much money do you have?
In the bank?
Yeah, in an unrelated matter,
Leona's gonna need,
like, $4 billion
or this network's
gonna be liquidated.
What was that?
Don't worry about it right now.
I'm Special Agent Hutchinson
and this is Special Agent Levy.
We're with the FBI and we
need to question Neal Sampat.
We also have a search warrant
under seal for your hard drives.
- Mac.
- I understand you two know each other socially?
I was telling Agent Hutchinson
I think we haven't seen
each other since Christmas.
Yeah, that's right.
It was...
It wasn't Christmas Eve,
it was the night before.
I'm Charlie Skinner.
I'm in charge.
A warrant under seal
means you're prohibited
from disclosing
that you were served.
If you disclose
that you were served...
- Agent Hutchinson, I'm...
- You're Rebecca Halliday.
You're the attorney
for Mr. Sampat.
Yeah.
I represent ACN
in First Amendment matters.
You should answer your phone.
It's going to be
the attorney general.
Rebecca Halliday.
Which of you is Neal Sampat?
Our lawyer has
just stepped away.
I have a warrant,
Mr. Skinner.
- Your lawyer knows...
- I'm Spartacus, sir. Neal's not in the room.
Why don't we go in my
office for a minute?
I want to talk to them alone.
Prepare the search,
but don't start.
You know how many hard
drives we have in this place?
Keep your voices very low.
You didn't tell me it was this.
I don't know what this is, Molly,
and I told you as little as possible.
I have to say, raiding a newsroom has
got to be damn near unprecedented.
We need to find this guy.
This is a bad guy.
We can't take
your word for that.
And as you well know,
bad guys are good sources.
We want to work with you
on this story and we want...
We want to work with you, too,
but we're going to question Neal Sampat.
The attorney general is on the
phone telling your lawyer
we're gonna hold him till
he gives up his source.
And I'll tell you what else.
There are three levels of Internet
systems the government works on.
This guy was working on JWICS
and we don't believe
he has the ability
to transfer content
to the protocol router.
So if we can prove
your guy helped him do it,
he's getting charged
with a full boat.
He's going to Leavenworth.
So if you want to work with us,
let's start.
- Excuse me.
- Yeah?
- I just need your menu.
- Sorry.
We're working
through dinner tonight.
Are we allowed to buy
your guys dinner?
No.
Thanks.
Molly,
I know the name of the source, too.
- You do?
- Yeah.
- Who else?
- That's it.
We need to start searching
your hard drives now.
We won't talk anymore till
your lawyer's in the room.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
- What's going on?
- Welcome back.
Sloan, what's going on?
It's about Neal's story...
Go ahead.
Please step away
from the desks.
Could someone please tell me
where Neal Sampat works?
He works over there.