The West Wing (1999–2006): Season 2, Episode 20 - The Fall's Gonna Kill You - full transcript

- Previously on The West Wing:
- You're scared of Babish.

Like you're not.
Oliver, I'm gonna tell you a story...

...and I need you to tell me
whether I've engaged 16 people...

...in a criminal conspiracy
to defraud the public...

...in order to win an election.

Have you signed a document in which
you were asked about your health...

- ... and did not disclose you have MS?
- No.

- Toby?
- Yeah?

- Why are you lying to me?
- Charlie...

When Zoey and Ellie went to college,
they had to fill out a health form.

Because she was 17,
a parent had to sign it.



- And she left off the MS?
- Yeah.

- Good morning.
- Good morning.

- Did anyone see you come here?
- I don't know.

- Why not?
- I wasn't paying that much attention.

I wish you would.

I walked from my office
to your office.

- Is there press outside your office?
- Not at 5:30 a.m.

When did you find out
about the president's MS?

Last night, when Leo told me.

- Who else was there?
- Nobody.

- Nobody else was in the room?
- No.

Have you ever lied
about the president's health?

- Should I have my lawyer here?
- I'm your lawyer.

- You're the president's lawyer.
- I'm White House counsel.



Have you lied about his health?

- When did he tell you?
- I'm sorry?

- When did the president tell you?
- Six days ago.

- And Josh?
- Two days after that.

- Toby?
- Two days before he told me.

Have you lied
about the president's health?

- And Leo he told more than a year ago.
- Yeah.

I've had this for six hours,
so giving me some room...

...wouldn't be out of line,
know what I'm saying?

I have to ask you questions.

The less you could be pissed at the world
for no reason, the better I think.

- I don't know you.
- I'm sorry?

I was told to report to you,
I don't know you.

- You've been here, what?
- Three months.

- Three months. Why should I trust you?
- I don't care if you trust me.

- Imagine my shock.
- I've got better things to do.

This is going really well so far.
It's hard to believe...

...that four different women
have sued you for divorce.

You can do that if you want. I've been
through it with Josh and Toby...

...but you're gonna have
to answer questions.

- Either to you or...?
- A grand jury.

- Compelled by?
- A Justice Department subpoena.

Well, I have to tell you it'll be the first
time I've been asked out in a while, so...

It's entirely possible that
the president has committed...

...multiple counts of a federal crime
to which you were an accomplice.

That much has sunk in
in the last six hours.

- Has it?
- Yes.

So why don't you knock off
the cutie-pie crap...

...and answer the damn question?!

What was the question?

Have you ever lied about the president's
health? What is your answer?

Many, many times.

- Mr. Connelly?
- Yes.

I'm Donna Moss,
Josh Lyman's assistant.

He's tied up with Mr. McGarry.
I hope you don't mind waiting.

No.

Does anybody know if it's gonna rain
this afternoon? They're asking me.

- The paper said mid-afternoon.
- So we know it won't be that.

- Call the Navy Yard for me, would you?
- Yeah.

- Donna.
- Yeah.

- Have you seen C.J.?
- No, what's so funny?

Ed just got a fax from....

I'm sorry. Ed got a fax from
a man named Byron Talmadge.

He's the associate administrator
for NASA's Office of Space Cadets.

- Flight.
- Office of Space Flight.

- The OSF.
- What'd the fax say?

A Chinese satellite
is gonna crash to Earth...

...and we don't know where and when.

- Seriously?
- Yeah, it's right here in the fax.

A satellite is crashing to Earth
and NASA sent us a fax?

- Yeah.
- This is for real?

Yes.

- A satellite is gonna crash into the Earth?
- Yes.

- Why are you laughing?
- We thought it was funny.

What am I supposed to do with this?

The fax was for C.J.
Just give it to her when you see her.

Donna, they say it's not gonna rain
this afternoon.

Well, that's a relief.

- Hear me out on this, okay?
- Yeah.

We want to see some polling.

- Why?
- We need to know what to do next.

- We know what to do.
- We don't know...

...which is the more insurmountable
problem, the perception that...

We'll call back.

The perception that he's not physically
up to the job or that he lied about it.

There's no way to gauge public opinion
on this until the issue occurs.

Public opinion is gonna be shaped
by the press.

All public opinion is shaped
by the press...

...but the fundamental foundation
already exists in their perception of...

- How are you gonna take a poll...?
- We can do it.

- Look...
- Leo.

I don't trust any of our people
and even if I did...

...what questions could they ask
that won't trip an alarm?

Josh trusts Joey Lucas.

- From California?
- Yeah, she's flying in.

- What did you tell her?
- That we were commissioning a poll...

...to explore attitudes toward
subsurface agricultural products.

- Subsurface agricultural...
- Underground.

- What the hell...?
- Americans eat more beets.

- Beets?
- Yeah.

- All right.
- Okay?

Yeah.

Toby, you want to talk about
when we tell Sam?

- I wouldn't do it right now.
- Why?

His head is in the SME speech
for Chicago.

- The thing...
- Hang on.

His head is in Chicago.
That's where we need it.

Would you want to write the speech
with this around your neck?

No.

The president wants him to know
by the end of the day.

- The end of the day, then.
- Okay.

- Anything else?
- No, thanks.

- Thank you.
- Thanks.

- When does she get here?
- 6:00.

- You do this carefully.
- No kidding.

You trust this person?

I gotta trust somebody right now.

Good, because I don't trust
anybody right now.

- Josh?
- Yeah.

A fax was sent to the Press Office
from the Office of Space Flight at NASA.

A Chinese satellite called Zodiac
has fallen out of its orbit...

...and will be falling to Earth
at an unspecified time and place.

- What are you telling me for?
- What am I telling you for?

This thing is falling to Earth.
Isn't there something we do?

- Like what?
- Like sound the alarm, I don't know.

- Sound the alarm?
- There is no alarm.

- There's really not. Martin?
- Yes.

- Sorry to keep you.
- That's okay.

Come on back. The fax is for
the Press Office. Give it to them.

The deputies are at breakfast
and I don't know where C.J. is.

Martin, you can have a seat
in my office.

C.J. 's meeting with Babish.
I'll be inside.

- You're not concerned about this?
- No.

- I apologize again.
- No, that's all right.

- I assume you know why I'm here.
- I don't, actually.

- Mac Sheridan was gonna talk to you.
- I have a call to return to Mac.

- I should wait until he talks to you.
- Why don't you talk to me now?

The case is running out of money.

- Which case?
- The USV...

- You're kidding me.
- No.

Martin, we spent 13 million
the first year...

...23 million the second.
Where's the money going?

Outside counsel and staff, depositions...

...expert witnesses, processing,
database, research...

We have 31 lawyers on a case
against five tobacco companies...

...just one of which has 342.

We won't count the 13 subsidiaries
that have mounted their own defense.

Tobacco has spent $380 million
to the government's 36.

When I come asking for money, it's
not because the Justice Department...

...blew its allowance on video games.

- I should've let Mac talk to you first.
- Aren't you allowed to transfer funds...?

That's what we've been doing.

We've transferred money
from Health and Human Services...

...to pay for the lawsuit,
but then the House passed H. R. 260...

- ... and now the committees...
- Yeah.

- You understand?
- Yeah, let me run it by Leo.

- This is a fight worth winning.
- You don't have to convince me.

These people perpetrated a fraud
against the public.

I'm sorry?

I said, they perpetrated a fraud
against the public.

- The tobacco companies?
- Yeah.

Well, I'm gonna talk to Leo,
and I'll tell Mac you were here.

Thank you.

Let me just finish this.

He was hemodynamically stable
with a blood pressure of 140/80.

Cholesterol level is 185.

The QRS interval on the EKG
is slightly long, but otherwise good.

The president is pronounced
in excellent physical health.

- Was that March of last year?
- How many times have you done that?

- I'd have to go and check.
- Estimate.

If that was March of last year,
then that was his fourth physical.

A couple of times
during the campaign.

- And after the shooting.
- Yeah?

- The time he rode his bicycle into a tree.
- When he sprained his ankle?

Tell me how it works.

- What do you mean?
- When the president has a physical.

The president's physician....
Right now it's Admiral Leonard Morrow.

The president's physician calls and gives
me a short statement, including vitals.

- Then you make a statement?
- Yeah.

- Do you speak to the president before?
- Yes.

- Why?
- Because of doctor-patient confidentiality.

- You only get so much from the doctor.
- What do you ask?

" Is there anything I should know
the doctors won't tell me? "

- I'm gonna ask you something.
- What?

Do you say, " Is there anything
I should know? "

Or do you say,
" Is there anything I need to know? "

- What does it matter?
- Which do you say?

" Is there anything I need to know? "
implies you want to know enough...

...to face reporters
while maintaining deniability.

- It's an expression.
- Did you use it?

I really don't remember, I don't.

- I don't choose words that carefully.
- With the president?

- You think I speak to him in code?
- No, I was just asking.

Yeah.

Excuse me. C.J., this is a note
from Donna Moss.

- She wanted you to see it right away.
- Thanks.

The sky is falling down.

"The debate over a tax cut,
whether to have one or not...

...how large it should be,
how small it should be...

...what share should be received
by whom. All of this, my friends...

...is the wrong debate at the wrong time
over the wrong issue. "

- We need to get back to fundamentals.
- Where is that?

- Where's what?
- "We need to get back to fundamentals. "

It's not in the speech, I'm saying it.
We need to get back to fundamentals.

Excuse me. Think about fundamentals.

- You ready for some good news?
- Yeah.

Not out here.

This is gonna be a front-page story.

There's a front-page story
I don't know about yet?

- You'll know about it in two hours.
- But I'm gonna know about it now, right?

The CBO's gonna issue
a new estimate of the surplus.

- They're projecting down?
- Yeah.

- We don't have as much money?
- No.

- That's great news.
- Yeah.

It's not great news we have less money.
The floor fight's gonna be easier.

- Yeah.
- How much less money?

Eight years out it's 200 billion less.
Nine years out it's 400 billion less.

- That is great.
- Yep.

- It's not great that we have...
- We get why it's great.

I can't tell you how much this helps.

I'm drafting the SME speech
for Chicago...

That's why we're telling you.
There's a line that ATJ...

...and the Progressive Caucus
want in the speech...

I got it here.

"We want a real tax cut
for working families...

...to help them pay
for education and housing...

...while our opponents
want to help the rich...

...pay for bigger swimming pools
and faster private jets. "

- No, I don't think so.
- They want it in. Why not?

- It's bad writing.
- Change the writing.

- "Summer homes and sports cars. "
- The poetry is not my problem.

- They want it in Chicago.
- Well, tell them to do their own speech.

- You want to tell them that?
- No.

- Okay.
- We have less money?

- Isn't that great?
- Yes, it is. Thanks.

Are you aware that a year ago January
the president had an attack?

- I am now.
- You were there when he collapsed.

I was outside the room.

- You went in and he was unconscious.
- Yes.

What made you go into the room?

The sound of a Steuben glass pitcher
crashing to the floor.

- What'd you think had happened?
- I didn't know.

Well, what'd you think?

At first glance,
I thought he might have a virus...

...contracted from a rare African
tsetse fly, possibly tropical sprue.

I'm not an expert,
but I did meet a man in India.

It could be anything with presidents.
James Polk had diverticulitis.

- Yeah.
- He couldn't digest nuts.

One in 40 American men wear women's
clothing. We've had over 40 presidents.

One of these guys was dancing
around the Oval Office in a prom dress.

Let's get to the bottom of that.

- C.J.?
- Yeah.

In my entire life
I've never found anything charming.

Really?

- You announced that it was the flu.
- Yes.

- Who told you to say it?
- I wasn't told to say it was the flu...

...I was told it was the flu.
I'm not getting into that.

I'm not getting into who said what.
We can do that at the next session.

Okay. Do you know what time it is?

It's five past noon.

I'd like you to get out
of the habit of doing that.

- Doing what?
- Answering more than was asked.

Do you know what time it is?

Yes.

We'll take a break
and meet again later today.

- Hey.
- You see this?

- That was nice.
- Good reviews on the speech.

- Yeah.
- From Maynard Wachtel of all places.

- You got a second?
- He calls you and me Batman and Robin.

- I don't think he does...
- He doesn't, but he should...

- ... because that's what we are.
- Okay.

We're Batman and Robin.

- Which one's which?
- Look at me, Sam, am I Robin?

- I'm not Robin.
- Yes, you are.

- Okay, well, let's move off this.
- You bet, little friend.

- We're not Batman and Robin.
- We'll keep those identities secret.

I'm Bruce Wayne and you're my ward.

- Dick something.
- Jane Gentry and Richard Will...

...came to me with news.
The CBO's projection...

- Really?
- Yes, has us 200 billion lower in 8 years.

- That's fantastic news.
- Yes.

- When is this real?
- This afternoon.

- The projections are lower?
- Measurably lower.

I'm so happy I could spit.

This is the first administration in history
to favor slower economic growth.

I favor it when it gives us a bat
and ball on tax cuts.

We offer them a deal, we lower
the bottom rate from 15 to 10%...

...but we stand our ground on no tax cut
in the top bracket, and you know why?

Because we might not
be able to afford it.

- Isn't it great?
- Yeah, it's Christmas in Paris.

There's a line ATJ and the Progressive
Caucus want put in the draft for Chicago.

- What?
- That we want to do great things...

...but our opponents want bigger
swimming pools and faster private jets.

- Their private jets are too slow?
- Toby...

- Change the writing.
- It's not the writing....

I know.

- Listen.
- Yeah.

- Nothing.
- Okay.

Don't worry about it.

- So...
- I have to go to a meeting.

- Talk to somebody at ATJ or the Caucus.
- Okay. I'm gonna do that, then.

Yeah. Okay.

- Hey, Donna.
- Hey, Charlie.

- Is there anything you need?
- Nope. Just came in to say hi.

- How you doing?
- Good.

So NASA's OSF tells us
that the 30th Space Wing...

...at Vandenberg Air Force Base
believes that a Chinese satellite...

...has fallen out of its orbital flight plan.

The last detection the 30th had
placed it in what they call...

...a "degrading orbital path. "
And it's now dropped off their radar...

...suggesting it's begun to fall
toward the Earth's atmosphere.

- Cool.
- What's the matter with you people?

- What'd I do?
- A thing the size of a garbage truck...

...is in a 2000-mile-an-hour free fall
and no one knows where it'll hit.

I'll root for Zurich.
I've had it with the Swiss.

- You don't...
- Hang on.

Excuse me.

- Good afternoon.
- Welcome back, Mrs. Bartlet.

- Thank you.
- A couple of reminders.

You're at the board
of the Children's Cancer Fund...

- ... at the Sheraton at 3...
- Before that I wanna be...

You're gonna read
at the Head Start Program.

- Welcome back, Mrs. Bartlet.
- Snappy suit, Bobby.

- How did it go yesterday?
- I got a helicopter named after me.

- Yeah?
- An AS 335 F1 Twinstar named Abigail.

I got to break a bottle
of cider over its nose. Charlie.

- Welcome back, ma'am.
- Thank you. Where's the president?

- He's waiting for you inside.
- Thank you.

Hey.

- Hi.
- Welcome back.

- How come I just found out about this?
- How was the flight?

- How come I just found out about this?
- When Leo talked to you...

- ... he thought you already knew.
- You think I'm saying this is Leo's fault?

I'm asking how come
you didn't tell me last week?

And I'm saying we still do this.

We're husband and wife and parents
and before we launch into intrigue...

...we do
"Welcome back, how was the flight? "

- What happened?
- One of the forms Zoey had to fill out...

...for Georgetown
asks for a family medical history.

Yes.

- Did Leo tell you the rest?
- Not after he realized that you...

...hadn't told me already,
which is a subject...

...I assure you, we will be returning to.

Zoey wasn't 18 yet when she started.
A parent had to sign the form.

- Did you sign it?
- No, you did, hot pants.

- I signed it?
- It's gonna be okay.

Why didn't you tell me on the phone?
We talk on the phone three times a day!

Because I didn't! Because that's...
Because I didn't.

I talked to Zoey this morning,
she's gonna ace her finals.

- She told me.
- I hate Ellie's boyfriend.

She told me.

I need you to speak
to the White House counsel, Abbey.

I know.

Hey.

- The first lady's back?
- Yeah.

I was talking to her on the phone
and I mentioned Zoey's application...

...without realizing the president
hadn't told her.

- Why hadn't the president told her?
- What do you want?

- Thirty million dollars.
- No.

Martin Connelly, assistant attorney
general, says they're out of money.

- On the suit?
- Yeah.

- They're always out of money.
- We don't give enough.

We passed a law last summer that says
they can transfer funds...

...from Commerce,
from Health and Human Services.

They can take it from Veterans Affairs
up to, what? I think $ 12 million.

The problem is the law says
those transfers are subject to approval...

...by House committees,
each of which has a chairman...

...elected with the $8 million
tobacco spent in the last election.

Even then it wouldn't matter, because
12 million isn't gonna get it done.

- Neither is 30 million.
- Then let's give them more. Why not?

Because we're gonna lose.

- Give them enough to win.
- And liquidate the Grand Tetons?

They're saying 30 million
and I think it's a steal at twice the price.

Staff it out to some people
and report to me on it in, what...?

- Two, three days?
- Good.

I'm going out to the airport.

All right. Do a job.

Yeah.

- Hi.
- Hey, Sam.

- Henry. Helen. Hey, Bruce.
- How you doing, Sam?

Lewis. We just have
a few minutes, right?

- There's a caucus.
- You've heard the good news.

The CBO, projected eight years out,
has the budget surplus...

...coming in $200 billion lower.

- That's great.
- There's something wrong with us...

...but that's for a different time.

I wanted to mention that
Jane Gentry and Richard Will...

...say you guys want a line
in the Chicago draft.

- Jet planes and swimming pools.
- " Our opponents want to help the rich...

...pay for bigger swimming pools
and faster private jets. "

- Yeah.
- Hit them hard.

We are hitting hard.
I'm not gonna use the line.

- Why not?
- First of all, it's bad writing.

- What's wrong with it?
- Sounds like a high school girl wrote it.

Is something wrong
with how women write?

- There is when she's in high school.
- Sam!

It's not the writing. Come on,
faster private jets and swimming pools?

- We can take out the heavy bats now.
- And do what with them?

- The line works.
- So does " How about them Cowboys? "...

...when you're in Dallas, but it
won't change the mind...

...of anyone who doesn't already agree.

Are you in favor of tax cuts
for the wealthy?

I am not. I am in favor of tax cuts...

...for whom it will do the most good.
That's a tough enough battle.

It looks like we've got a fair fight.

I'm not talking about policy,
I'm talking about rhetoric...

...and the men you work for
need to dial it down to five.

Henry, last fall, every time your boss
got on the stump and said:

" It's time for the rich to pay
their fair share, " I hid under a couch.

I left Gage Whitney making
400,000 a year...

...which means I paid 27 times
the national average in income tax.

I paid my fair share.
And the fair share of 26 other people.

And I'm happy to, because
that's the only way it's gonna work.

It's in my best interest that everybody
go to schools and drive on roads.

But I don't get 27 votes,
the fire department doesn't come...

...27 times faster, and water doesn't
come out of my faucet 27 times hotter.

The top 1% of wage earners in this
country pay for 22% of this country.

Let's not call them names
while they do it.

- You're not using the line?
- No.

- Or anything like it?
- No.

Make it clear to your people
this has nothing to do...

- ... with cozying up to Republicans.
- No, why would they think that?

We've got a caucus.

I know women who can write, Helen.

I know women who can blow
the walls off brick buildings.

This sounds like a girl.

- Airlines flight 1106 arriving....
- Joey.

- Joey, how you doing?
- Hi.

- I'm Josh Lyman.
- Dale Bracket.

What happened to Kenny?

He's on vacation.

- So you're the substitute interpreter?
- Yeah.

- You came here to pick me up?
- Not exactly.

Dale, I'm gonna ask you
to wait over here, okay?

Joey, you're gonna read my lips,
and if I can't understand...

...what you're saying
you'll write it down, all right?

- Okay.
- Excuse us.

- Dale?
- Yes.

He's pretty good-looking
for an interpreter, wouldn't you say?

He's good-looking for anybody.

- Dale Bracket?
- Yes.

And he's not a television detective?

We can't talk about this in the car?

- I'm sorry?
- We can't talk about this in the car?

- You're not getting in the car.
- Why?

Because you're getting back on a plane
in an hour and 10 minutes.

All right, if we sit like this,
can Dale Bracket, PI read my lips?

No.

Okay.

You're not talking to me
about an agriculture poll.

- No kidding.
- You guessed that?

We think we're eating more beets?

Well, we are, but that's not important.

Well, what's important?

- Hi, what can I get for you?
- Cranberry juice and club soda...

...and I'll have a large glass of ice water.

I told Leo McGarry that we could
trust you and Toby backed me up.

What's important?

Eight years ago...

...the president was diagnosed
with an illness that was never disclosed.

Yes.

What is it?

Cranberry and club...

...and a large glass of ice water.

- Excuse me, the first lady.
- Thank you.

- Oliver.
- Good afternoon, Mrs. Bartlet.

- How are you?
- Fine, thank you.

I haven't been in this office
since you moved in. It looks great.

- Thank you.
- I haven't come in here...

...because it seems that
every time I do, there's a new counsel.

Leo keeps them in the basement like
those ladies in Arsenic and Old Lace.

- Yeah.
- Anyway...

...the president's very glad you're here,
particularly in this time of nonsense.

Would you mind if I asked
a few questions?

I'm not as experienced in this
as the senior staff.

I read a book about Daniel Webster.
I read a book about Benjamin Disraeli.

What experience I do have
is with dead lawyers.

Just out of curiosity,
how'd they die?

If you're under the impression
you're the fifth White House counsel...

...instead of the first because of me,
you're mistaken, Oliver.

I wasn't under that impression,
but we should stick to the matter.

- You want to ask me some questions.
- Yes.

- About Zoey's health form.
- Yep.

It was a form. It asked for, among
other things, a family's medical history.

It was blank. It was a form, one of many
forms. I signed it without reading it.

- Was anyone in the room?
- It was a year ago, I don't remember.

- Was the president in the room?
- I don't remember.

When I ask the president that,
he's gonna tell the truth.

And the president will also resent your
implication that I didn't do the same.

- The president wasn't in the room?
- I don't remember. He doesn't remember.

- Mrs. Bartlet...
- Oliver, you have kids. There are forms.

School trips and soccer
and band uniforms...

...and report cards
and notes to get out of gym.

- You signed those forms.
- Their mother signs them.

So do I. And by the way,
when you're the daughter...

...of the president of the United States,
there's a lot more forms on top of that.

- I understand.
- Do you?

Yes, but a lawyer half my size...

...while cross-examining you,
will say the following:

" Do you have an MD
from Harvard?

Are you certified in internal medicine?
Are you certified in thoracic surgery?

Are you a professor at Harvard?
Are you on the staff at Boston Mercy?

Have you practiced medicine
for 26 years?

Are you not able to recognize
a medical history form...

...when it is in front of you? "

I didn't read it.
I didn't think it was important.

"What else have you signed
without thinking? Prescriptions?

Patient instructions?
So just this? "

Oliver, I am not an expert on diseases
of the central nervous system...

...but I can tell you
that MS is not hereditary.

The president's condition has absolutely
no relevance to Zoey's health status.

- Now you're changing your story.
- No, I'm not.

Did you sign it because
you were absent-minded...

- ... or because you knew best?
- I signed it because... I just signed it.

It was a form.

Making a big thing out of it
is what makes it into a big thing.

- Really?
- And I'm not 100% sure...

...that's not what you're going for.

- Why would I want it to be a big thing?
- Because defending the president...

...in prime time looks good
on a résumé.

Well, I've got a pretty good-looking
résumé already...

...and it's not a big thing because
I say so, ma'am. It's a big thing.

You'll get all the questions
I just asked and more.

And then they're gonna ask the president
if he was in the room when you signed it.

And that's when he's gonna give
everyone's favorite answer...

...from a president who has announced
that he has MS, " I don't remember. "

When are you gonna go public?

Probably in a week.
They're still strategizing.

- A live interview on the networks?
- Yeah.

Jim Lehrer, Tim Russert,
Barbara Walters...

...you, somebody,
the president sitting in a den?

- Yeah.
- Followed by a live conference.

They're working on the strategy.

" I regret that I concealed
my condition from the public.

I regret the appearance that I tried
to deceive voters to win. "

Yes.

And if we don't make it
a big thing, they won't?

Mrs. Bartlet, I'm not sure you have
an appropriate appreciation...

...of the size of what happens next.

- When are you going public?
- Probably in about a week.

- A week? How?
- We're deciding.

Probably a live interview
followed by a press conference.

So we need to know
what we're talking about.

Joey, we need you
to put a poll in the field.

You've gotta come up with a model
that gets us the answers we need...

...without asking the questions
we can't ask.

You've gotta come up
with the model by yourself.

You've gotta break down
the results yourself.

Not even the callers can understand
the questions they're asking.

And you've got to do it all
in 96 hours.

Is what I'm describing possible?

- We make it a governor.
- A governor.

Of an industrial state.

I didn't....

- The governor of an industrial state.
- Michigan.

And you give him
a degenerative illness?

Joey, you understand that before this
is over, we're probably all gonna be...

...spending some time
in front of a grand jury.

- You can do this?
- No problem.

Los Angeles passengers preboarding
flight 1217, please use gate....

That's your flight.

- Josh?
- Yeah.

- How is the president?
- He's fine.

He's fine.

I'll tell him you asked.

- Ninety-six hours?
- Yeah.

I have to go work now.

The Chinese Embassy won't admit
it's their satellite.

We know it's their satellite.
We've been looking at it for years.

It's like knowing Mars is Mars.

Tell me you didn't
call the Chinese Embassy.

I didn't call the embassy,
people called the embassy.

- It's not like this isn't cause for concern.
- Right.

The Chinese news aren't reporting it
because they won't admit it.

Why do you think the American news
isn't reporting it?

- That's a fascinating question to me.
- To all of us.

- We don't know what kind of satellite.
- It could be anything.

- Communications.
- Right.

- It could be a spy satellite.
- It could have plutonium.

That's right.

- Plutonium?
- Yeah.

- Plutonium.
- Well, nuclear reactors on a satellite...

...aren't common,
but you never know.

No, I suppose you don't.

- Hey, Donna.
- Good evening, ma'am, welcome back.

- Thank you.
- How was the trip?

- I got a helicopter named after me.
- Mrs. Bartlet.

Hello. How are you?

I'm fine, but there's a giant object...

...hurling its way toward us
at a devastating velocity.

Tell me about it.

- C.J.?
- Good evening, ma'am.

- Can I talk to you for a second?
- Sure.

How was your day?

I got bitch-slapped by the White House
counsel. How about you?

I wanted to be here
when you were told.

I didn't know they were
gonna tell you last night.

You know, Leo called me
into the Oval Office about 11:00...

...and I was standing
with Toby when Leo called me in.

And Toby said:

" I'll be right here in my office
when you're done. "

I didn't know what he meant
or why he said it.

Yeah.

Babish said there's a difference
between asking the president:

" Is there anything I should know? "
and " Is there anything I need to know? "

He seemed to think " need to know "
implies I know something already...

...but I don't want it confirmed
in order to maintain...

...deniability.

Well, he's a lawyer, C.J.
He's vetting, it's his job.

I told him I couldn't remember
which one I say.

There were a lot of things
I couldn't remember.

Abbey...

...during the campaign we were
in Manhattan, Kansas at a Sheraton...

...or a Marriott. I can't remember,
but we were in Manhattan, Kansas.

I came to your suite early to tell you
we'd be doing Nightline that night...

...and we had to get
to an ABC affiliate.

And I think by then the two of you
were so used to people...

...walking in and out of your room
that you didn't hear me open the door.

And I was almost sure I saw you...

...giving the president
an injection of something.

It was Betaseron.

It reduces the frequency of the attacks.

When the president has his physical
and I do the release...

...I only ever ask
" Is there anything else I need to know? "

Come on in.

- She's in.
- What's she gonna do?

" If the governor of a major
state had a degenerative illness...

...which he hadn't disclosed
but which has yet...

...to impair his performance,
would you support him? "

- Which governor?
- Michigan.

Well...

...then we'll wait.

Yeah.

Listen, about this Justice appropriation...

- You're gonna do a report?
- Yeah.

Then can I read the report
before you ask me to green-light...

...another multi-million dollar battle
that'll have no support in Congress?

Yeah.

I just brought it up because
this assistant A.G., Martin Connelly...

...when he left my office this morning,
he turned and said:

"They perpetrated a fraud
against the public. "

And the look on his face
when he said it....

They want to get these people.

We're not big tobacco.

Yeah.

- He's expecting me.
- Okay.

Good evening, Mr. President.

Leo, how could you tell Abbey
about the health form before I did?

I didn't know you hadn't told her.

My wife and I are fighting battles
on several fronts at the moment...

...including one with each other.
Can you and I be men?

Can we have a bond?

- We're putting a poll in the field.
- How?

We're using a woman Josh and Toby
trust named Joey Lucas.

I met Joey Lucas.

She's basically giving MS
to the governor of Michigan.

- How's he gonna feel about that?
- Don't worry.

- This is a bad idea.
- We've gotta do it.

I'm coming clean.
I'm doing it voluntarily.

It's gonna look like I did it
because a poll told me to.

Then it'd be a good idea
if nobody found out.

All right.

Why don't you get Sam?

- So.
- Yeah.

- I think I may have offended...
- Oh, God.

- Yeah.
- Who?

I met with some of the staffers...

...for Americans for Tax Justice
and the Progressive Caucus.

- You think you may have offended them?
- Yeah. And girls, possibly.

- Were you right?
- Yeah. Toby, it's class...

That's all you need to tell me.
I trust you.

- Sam?
- Yeah.

- Come see the president, would you?
- Yeah.

- Sam?
- Yeah.

I'll be here in the office
when you're done.

Yeah, okay.

- C.J.
- Hey.

- You walking?
- Yeah.

- I met with Joey Lucas today.
- I heard.

The president's got Leo worried
it's gonna look like we announced it...

...because we took a poll.
What do you think?

What?

The president and Leo
are worried about that?

Yeah. What?

You guys are like
Butch and Sundance...

...peering over a cliff to the
boulder-filled rapids 300 feet below...

...thinking you better not jump because
there's a chance you might drown.

The president has this disease
and has been lying about it...

...and you guys are worried
that the polling might make us look bad?

It's the fall that's gonna kill you.

- Us.
- What?

You said, " It's the fall that's gonna
kill you. " You meant us.

- Where are you going, C.J.?
- Home. I know what you meant.

I want to sleep for a while.
I'm going home.

You know, Donna got hold of this fax...

...that was sent to the Press Office
from the OSF at NASA.

- What, something falling out of the sky?
- Yeah.

- We get that fax once a week.
- Yeah, but Donna doesn't know that.

- She thinks it's an emergency.
- And you didn't want to tell her?

No, the other way you get a day of
entertainment without leaving the office.

She doesn't know that these things
fall out of the sky all the time.

Once every 10 days,
as a matter of fact.

Since the first year we started
putting objects in space...

...17,000 have come back.
Remarkably, not one person has been hit.

So I suppose there's an argument
to be made that we're due.

Yeah, you picked me
right up there, Josh.

- See you tomorrow.
- Yeah.