Original subtitles

Previously on The West Wing:

DONNA: He's a Republican lawyer.

Turns out, now, he's on Government Oversight.

You can't see him anymore.

about the scope of inquiry.

Look... We're not going to get anywhere

putting on a calm face.

We need to pick a fight.

He scheduled a trip to New Hampshire?

High Tech corridor of the Northeast.

What does that matter right now?

SPORTSCASTER: ( over TV ): 45 seconds to go...

Wittmeyer hands the ball off to Johnson on the right side...

( game continues in background )

Well, Chris.

Yeah. Hi.

Hey.

C.J., do we know what kind of gun it was?

Which gun? The first gun.

Okay, here are a few confirmations

and a few more details.

The shooting took place approximately 15 minutes

into the 9:00 service at United Baptist Church

in Abilene, Texas.

Will Sawyer

is that you? Yes.

You're back in the country?

Yeah. You working for

the San Francisco Chronicle now?

Then you want to get your ass out of their chair?

( reporters laughter ) There's assigned seating?

You see the little brass plaques with the names

of media outlets on the front of the seats?

I thought that meant they made

a generous contribution. Find a seat in back.

15 minutes into the service, Daryl Bechtell--

B-e-c-h-t-e-l-l--

Reports indicate he was looking for his estranged wife.

He fired off a round-- that was from the .38--

missing his wife and hitting Harold Winter

in the left shoulder.

Mr. Winter is 65 and currently undergoing surgery

at Abilene Regional Medical Center.

Mr. Bechtell fired off anywhere between two and four more rounds

at that point-- reports differ-- as the crowd began to scatter.

That's when Ron Cahrl pulled a nine-millimeter Glock

from under his suit coat and fired off three rounds

in the direction of Mr. Bechtell.

It's unclear which of those rounds struck Melissa Markey.

Confirmation on her age?

She'll be nine years old tomorrow.

Can you speak to what either Daryl Bechtell

or Ron Cahrl might be charged with?

No, the Abilene Sheriff's Office will address that.

I can tell you that Mr. Bechtell's gun was registered

and that Ron Cahrl had a license to carry a concealed weapon.

Doesn't Texas law prohibit carrying a weapon

in a church or a synagogue?

Again, I'll let the Sheriff's Office speak to that

but I'll tell you that it only prohibits it

if the church or synagogue

posts such a prohibition in plain sight.

REPORTERS: C.J...

Hang on.

Well...

Melissa Markey died.

SAM: If you don't understand a question, say so.

And they'll repeat it

or they'll rephrase it. DONNA: Yeah.

There's nothing wrong with not understanding a question.

Right. There's nothing wrong

with saying "I don't recall."

I appreciate this.

Yeah.

Don't you want to go over this with Josh?

He's pissed at me.

No, he's not.

He's... yeah, he is.

He didn't say anything.

He doesn't say anything.

All right.

Anyway, I appreciate this.

Charlie, hang on a second.

You're going to be sitting in a room.

It's going to feel like you did something wrong, but guess what?

What? You didn't, so...

Yeah.

You got a cab out front?

Yeah. Come back when it's over?

Thanks.

You make a pick?

Oakland over Dallas.

Okay. It's a lock.

Okay.

Everybody's staying away, because they want

to keep Oakland down the road.

But if you're like me, you're not as impressed

with the pre-season hype.

You pick the Raiders at home

and you bank on them not being

a prohibitive favorite going into the playoffs.

Okay.

You think I should take Tennessee over Detroit?

I didn't say that. You said it with your eyes.

Okay.

I'll take Tennessee over Detroit.

I'm writing it down. Write it down.

Wait. No, give me Oakland over Dallas.

Okay.

Except make it New Orleans over Atlanta.

The first game's about to start.

New Orleans over Atlanta.

I'm writing it down. Write it down.

Good afternoon.

Hey, Charlie.

How was church?

It sucked. It was fine.

Stop it. It sucked.

You're talking about church.

Oh, like I'm not already going to hell.

What was the problem?

He feels the homily lacked panache.

It did lack panache.

It was a perfectly lovely homily on Ephesians 5:21.

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved

the Church and gave Himself up for her."

Yeah, she's skipping over the part that says

"Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.

"For the husband is the head of the wife

as Christ is the head of the Church."

I do skip over that part.

Why?

Because it's stupid! Okay.

"Husbands, love your wives

"as Christ loved the Church

"and gave himself up for her

"that he might sanctify her

"having cleansed her by washing of water with the word

"that he might present the Church

to himself in..." something.

"In splendor," and I have no problem with Ephesians.

And anytime you want me to cleanse you

with the washing of water, you know I'm up for it.

Then what is your problem?

Hackery. This guy was a hack.

He had a captive audience.

And the way I know that is that I tried

to tunnel out of there several times.

He had an audience, and he didn't know what to do with it.

It couldn't have hurt. Oh, God, oh!

Words, words, when spoken out loud

for the sake of performance, are music.

They have rhythm and pitch and timbre and volume.

These are the properties of music

and music has the ability to find us and move us

and lift us up in ways that literal meaning can't.

You are an oratorical snob.

Yes, I am, and God loves me for it.

You said He was sending you to hell.

For other stuff, not for this.

You can't just trot out Ephesians--

It has nothing to do with husbands and wives.

It's all of us.

St. Paul begins the passage, "Be subject to one another

out of reverence to Christ."

"Be subject to one another..."

In this day and age of 24-hour cable crap

devoted to feeding the voyeuristic gluttony

of an American public hooked on a bad soap opera

that's passing itself off as important

don't you think you might be able

to find some relevance in Verse 21?

How do we end the cycle? "Be subject to one another."

So, this is about you. No, it's not about me.

Yes, it is about me,

but tomorrow, it'll be about somebody else.

We'll watch Larry King and see who.

All hacks off the stage, right now!

That's a national security order.

I'm going to the residence.

I'm taking a bath. I'm turning on Sinatra.

How does Mrs. Sinatra feel about that? Peace be with you.

* You make me egg foo yung... *

Good morning, Mr. President.

* You make me feel there are songs to be sung... *

He's feisty.

Please, don't ask him about church.

No, I won't.

I'm sorry, Mr. President.

Melissa Markey died.

Yeah, okay.

Oh, damn.

Charlie, can I see Leo?

Yes, sir. She would've lost

too much blood at the scene, Jed.

She didn't have a chance.

Yeah.

All right...

I'll be over in the residence.

I've got to see Babish this afternoon.

Okay.

When do you think I should go in there?

I'd wait a couple of hours till we have some more facts.

You'll talk to the Sheriff's Office and...

Yeah.

I guess the D.A.

Yeah, but you don't want to walk too far into that.

Yeah.

Good morning.

You heard?

Yeah.

C.J. thinks I should wait a few hours.

I would.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Be subject to one another, Leo.

What can I do to be of subject to you?

I'm fine.

Yeah?

I've got Margaret.

Okay.

( sighs )

I think you should send Hoynes to Texas.

He's not going to want to do it.

What do you care?

I'm meeting with Adamley. What about?

He wants to talk to me about the War Crimes Tribunal.

Keep me out of it, all right? Yeah.

You think I should send Hoynes to Texas?

Yeah.

All right, get him over here.

Now? Yeah.

Thank you, Mr. President.

CALLEY: This proceeding is known as a deposition.

The person transcribing

the deposition is a House reporter

and although she's not a notary public

you were just sworn in by a notary public

Do you understand? DONNA: Yes.

Because you were placed under oath

your testimony here today has the same force and effect

as if you were testifying

before the Committee in a courtroom.

This Committee has been granted authorization

pursuant to House Resolution 173.

I'm Majority Counsel for the House Government

Oversight and Reform Committee.

Would you state your full name for the record, please?

Donnatella Moss.

D-o-n-n-a-t-e-l-l-a.

M-o-s-s.

At this point, I'd like the record to indicate

that Majority Counsel has met the witness

Without objection, I'd like to proceed. No objection.

Counsel? No objection.

I'd also like to express

the Committee's appreciation to the witness

voluntarily or as the result of a subpoena?

A subpoena.

Donna, this is going to be easy.

You can laugh.

Were you recently asked to help

organize documents, pursuant

to this Committee's current investigation?

Yes.

Would you describe how that worked?

On instructions from Joshua Lyman

and the White House Counsel's Office

I took over a storage room at the OEOB

and began sorting through any interoffice

or interdepartmental documents

both from the campaign and from the West Wing.

Now, for the record, the campaign

you're referring to is...?

Bartlet for America.

How'd you guys do? We won.

Okay, my colleagues are going to ask you some questions.

Then we'll get back to me and finish up.

Okay. MAN: Ms. Moss?

Do you keep a photo album?

No.

Okay, do you keep...

I'm sorry, I keep photographs.

I don't have them in an album.

Okay. Do you keep a scrapbook?

No. Do you keep letters, notes or other

correspondence you receive from people?

Sometimes a birthday card or a letter from my father.

Do you keep a diary? No.

Okay, do you receive gifts from anyone who's currently...

I'm sorry, hang on.

Would you read that back?

Question: "Do you keep a diary."

Answer: "No."

Question: "Okay, do you receive gifts from...?"

Okay.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Do you receive gifts

from anyone who is currently

( thunder rumbling )

C.J.: How are you doing?

Good.

You're sitting in my chair.

It didn't have a plaque on it.

( chuckling ): I've missed you. Yeah.

You've been gone three weeks.

I've been gone two and a half years.

Really? Yes.

I thought you were our man in Myanmar.

I got kicked out of Myanmar.

Will, is there a third world country

you haven't been kicked out of?

Hey, I've been kicked out of plenty

of industrialized nations, too.

Why'd they kick you out? Well, first of all

they didn't kick me out exactly.

In fact, they love me in Myanmar.

What happened?

They put a bounty on my head.

( laughing ) It's not funny.

The Myanmarese government is built

on narcotics trafficking.

Myanmar, Thailand, Laos.

I was this close to the story.

Yeah? I had interviews with Peng Jiasheng

Pau Yukiang, Li Zuru.

I was tight with narco-barons.

Until? The Myanmarese army...

...put a bounty on your head.

Yeah. How'd you know?

The State Department came and got me.

Oh, that had to be embarrassing

in front of your narco-baron friends.

I'm assigned to the White House Press Corps

until they can find me, you know, a reporting job.

No. No offense taken.

Thanks.

I have a quote if you want to comment.

What is it?

Toby Ziegler says, "If the President wins reelection

it'll be on the Vice President's coattails."

If the President wins reelection

it'll be on the Vice President's coattails?

I think that's, uh...

yeah.

He said this to you?

No. Where'd you get it?

The person he said it to.

give me a little time to check it out, would you?

Yeah.

You've been gone two and a half years?

Yeah. It seemed like less than that.

People lose all track of time and space when I'm not around.

Yeah.

SAM: It's $30 billion in School Modernization Bonds.

Thanks, Ginger.

Thank you. Sure.

It's $30 billion in School Modernization Bonds.

Interest free for school districts.

We're estimating it will help build and modernize

7,000 schools nationwide.

There's another $1.5 billion for urgent repairs

targeted to high-need districts.

Roof repairs, heating and cooling systems, electrical wiring.

The point is, we think we need the Congressman's vote

to get it out of the Appropriations Committee and onto the floor.

He'll be with it. That's what I thought.

He's just looking for the President's support

on a bill that he'll be sponsoring.

What's it called?

It's called the "Legal Tender Modernization Act."

Which provides for?

The elimination of the penny. I'm sorry?

It would permanently halt production of the penny.

Why?

I'm glad you asked.

Yeah.

Last year, the U.S. Mint cut 14 billion pennies

and shipped them off to the Federal Reserve

which dumped them in our laps.

They're worthless.

Well, they're actually worth one cent.

The dollar has the buying power today

that the quarter had 30 years ago.

The penny's buying power's shrunk to nothing.

Well, that's not true-- you can get yourself a gumball.

No, you can't. They cost a nickel.

Really?

I'm going to need to give the Congressman a good reason

why the White House won't support the bill

if they won't support the bill.

Oh, don't make me give you a good reason.

You want your $30 billion in school repairs?

Well, we're already well on our way

with 140 million pennies.

Sam... I'll get you a good reason.

Charlie?

Yes, sir.

You took Indianapolis?

Yes, sir.

You didn't want to take Kansas City over Arizona?

No, sir.

Kansas City's got three players out of Notre Dame.

Yes, sir.

that's got more players out of Notre Dame.

That's a heck of a system, sir.

What's your system?

I compare the team's record to the record of its opponent.

That's a little simplistic, isn't it?

Yes, sir.

Excuse me, Mr. President?

Yeah. The Vice President.

Thank you.

Charlie. Sir.

Hey, John.

Good afternoon, sir.

Do you know this church?

No.

No. Listen, you feel like having a beer with me?

On Sundays, when we got back from church

my father would let my brother and me split a beer.

It got to be a habit.

You mind if I split some water with you? Nancy.

I need you to go to Texas, John.

Nancy, could I get a cold beer and some ice water?

Yes, sir.

And close the door, please.

You want to send me to Texas?

It's what Texans do.

You know, a decade ago

we passed a few national gun control laws

and the gun lobby turned its back on Congress

and started focusing on the states.

The NRA systematically worked the legislatures

to weaken conceal-and-carry laws

the effect of which is to increase gun sales

and pad its own membership.

Well, I don't necessarily agree with that, but...

The National Conference of State Legislatures is meeting

next weekend at the Convention Center in San Antonio.

And you want me to go to Texas and speak for you.

Yeah.

'Cause that's what Texans do.

It's also what Vice Presidents do.

( knocking )

Thank you, Nancy.

Thank you, Nancy.

Alan?

Hey!

( pats shoulder ) Come on back.

Thanks for taking the time.

No, no.

So how did it go?

It was a good trip.

I met with, uh, Hassan

and I met with the Aviation Prince.

You know what we need in this country?

An Aviation Prince.

That's right.

Well, let me tell you something.

Sultan Bin Abu Azir ain't what he used to be.

Last time I was in Kuwait

he gave me a gold inlay Gadara sword

What'd you get this time?

Nothing.

You want to down to the Situation Room

blow 'em off the face of the Earth?

Yeah.

So...

The, uh, NSC Communications Office cabled me a draft

of the President's radio address for next weekend.

Alan, it's a...

"At the close of the last World War

"our nation was instrumental in the creation

"of both the United Nations

"and the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.

"Now at the dawn of the millennium

we cannot betray that tradition of moral leadership."

He's made up his mind.

It's an early draft.

It's not a big thing.

Well, I know that Hutchinson and Berryhill are for it

but, to me, to Fitzwallace, the Pentagon

the House and the Senate Armed Services

and House and Senate Foreign Relations

it's a thing of catastrophic proportions.

Let's go inside and talk.

( thunder rumbling )

Hey. Uh, I'm-I'm not here.

I called you at home and had you paged.

Yeah. I didn't know you were here.

I'm not.

I think the jig is up.

Clearly I'm here, but I'm not open for business.

I heard the President was meeting with Hoynes

so I-I-I wanted to see how it goes.

Listen...

And I see you picked Chicago over Cincinnati

why your money's going to be in my pocket.

it's going to be on the Vice President's coattails.

I-I-I just said... that exact same thing a couple of days ago.

I know. You know how I know?

Will Sawyer just told me.

Will Sawyer's in Myanmar.

He got kicked out of Myanmar. He's in the Room now.

C.J., I said it...

I said it in that W.A. meeting.

I said it at the end of the meeting.

We were talking about areas

where Hoynes is polling stronger than...

It was...

( awkward chuckle )

I said to our own...

( sighing )

Do I have a little time?

A little. Thank you.

You're here now?

( chuckling )

Yeah.

Ginger!

I want you to page every junior staffer and senior assistant

who works in the West Wing.

I want them to assemble downstairs

in the mess in two hours.

If they can't be here in two hours

then they don't need to come in tomorrow morning.

( thunder cracking )

Hey.

How you doing?

How'd you get here before me?

I drove.

Should you be here? No.

Then what are you...? I need to know why you lied before.

When? Donna--

I didn't lie.

I saw your diary.

When I was over that night.

You keep a diary.

Why'd you say you didn't?

I don't keep a diary.

I saw it. You didn't, because there is no diary...

Now what's in it that you had to lie to the Committee?

You're lead counsel for the Committee

and the President of the United States. That's right.

And I thought you were a little bit smarmy

with your "Donna, it's okay, you can laugh, you're..."

Was that charm? Tell me what...

There is no diary.

18 U.S.C., 1-0-0-1, Lying to Congress

$10,000 and not more than five years in prison.

Cliff... 18 U.S.C., 1-5-0-5

Obstruction of Proceedings Before Departments

Agencies and Committees: not more than five years.

Two U.S.C., 192, Contempt of Congress:

a thousand dollars

and imprisonment in a common jail

for not more than 12 months.

It was a perfectly innocent mistake.

Now let me talk to your lawyer and help you walk this back.

Just out of curiosity, what would you say?

That you thought you saw a diary

while you were hunting around

for your boxer shorts?

You shouldn't be here.

Why?

Why? Yes.

is populated with unbalanced people

many of whom find their way to Washington

as if the continent funnels them into this one spot.

He doesn't want to abolish it as much as he wants

to give his boss a reason why we can't.

Well... it's stupid.

Yeah, the thing is, it isn't really.

Turns out the majority

of pennies don't circulate.

Two-thirds of the pennies produced in the last 30 years

have dropped out of circulation.

You've been reading about this?

It's interesting.

No, it's not.

The Mint gets letters

with pennies taped on notebook paper

from citizens who found the pennies on the street

and mailed them back to the Treasury

to help pay down the debt.

It's almost hard to believe

It's also bad for the environment.

of millions of tons of copper and zinc each year.

Zinc? In 1982

they changed the composition

to 97.5 percent zinc, and only 2.5 percent copper.

Sam?

I'm turning into one of the funnel people?

Yeah.

Donna thinks you're still pissed at her.

I'm not.

I wasn't before.

When did she tell you that?

Before she left.

You've heard from her?

No.

She should be done by now.

Here's a riddle.

What is the most ubiquitous man-made object in America

that does not interact with any mechanism or machine?

The penny?

The penny.

You can't even throw it in a tollbooth.

Well, except for Illinois.

Why can you use it in Illinois?

That's an interesting question.

No, it's not.

Hey. Hey.

I'm going to have something for you soon.

Toby's talking to some people.

Okay.

Hey, are you a king?

No.

Somebody said you were hanging out with some tribe

and they made you a king.

I'm a god.

Oh.

I'm the only white man

to ever witness the sacrificial rites

of the Bau Tribe of Fiji.

I was almost a victim myself

until they made me The Supporter of the World.

How'd you swing that?

Using my Palm Pilot

I convinced the Bau I had the power

to make the gods' writing appear at will

predict the next day's weather.

So you're a god.

I'm the God of Good Harvest and the Land of the Dead.

I've got to go there and bring my laptop.

It quacks when I have email.

No, you're too tall.

What would happen?

They would paint your face and other body parts black

so as to resemble a warrior ornamented for feast or combat.

Then you would be garroted by a length of boar tripe.

Yeah. No, good safety tip.

Alan Adamley here?

Yeah. Why?

He's meeting with Leo McGarry.

Listen, you made a joke before about being assigned

until you could get a real reporting job.

Yeah.

Was it a joke?

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll have something for you on the other thing soon.

Thanks.

HOYNES: That's not true.

John...

It is not true, Mr. President.

29 states have "shall issue" laws.

And if you look at the State of New Jersey

if you look at changing that one word...

Look, I'm not saying...

...changing that one word means law enforcement can decide

who gets a concealed weapon

and when and where they can carry it.

in front of the legislature right now

and you going down there...

Me going down there is suicide, and you know it, sir.

It's counter-scheduling.

you tell them something they don't want to hear--

So the editors of the New York Times

while the people who decide elections...

You're a hero in Texas.

I was a hero in Texas.

Texans don't like that you have the courage

of your convictions?

They're not my convictions, they're yours.

Oh, yeah, I forgot.

( sighing )

( clearing throat )

Mr. President, we're not going to get anywhere

by treating gun owners

like psychopaths.

And particularly in the South

where guns are a tradition

and a heritage that's passed on from father to son.

That's not good enough.

Sir... A tradition

passed on from father to son?

We tamed the frontier, John.

We did that already.

you're taking advantage of the shooting in Abilene.

That you like it

when these things happen, 'cause it

gives you a chance...

Let them stand in this room and say that.

On this day.

Let them stand in this room.

I like it?!

She was nine years old!

( knock at door )

Green Bay lost.

She was nine years old.

You know, last month in Idaho

a man killed six members of his family

including his pregnant wife.

And you know why the liberal intelligentsia

didn't go crazy?

'Cause he did it with an ax.

You think we need ax control?

Well... that is an excellent point.

I never saw it that way.

I'm playing devil's advocate.

Tighter ax control.

You come down on firearms, you come down on tobacco

you come down on alcohol, but you let Griffith run around

talking about legalizing marijuana.

She didn't... Sir...

You know what?

Last year-- gun deaths?

30,708.

Alcohol deaths?

35,450.

Tobacco deaths? 400,000.

Marijuana deaths? Zero.

This guy? The second shooter-- Rambo?

He's going to get nothing; he's going to get a parade.

You know why?

There was no sign

posted in the church saying you can't carry

a concealed weapon.

I'm just playing devil's advocate.

She was nine years old.

LEO: Two things--

one, technically it's not just a court for war crimes.

Technically?

And two: The President hasn't made up his mind yet.

Well, the U.N. has.

The U.N. made up its mind in 1948

when they recognized the crime of genocide.

Yes... A crime so immense

as to exceed the jurisdiction

of any single court or government.

Alan, systematic extermination of civilians

enslavement, torture, rape, forced pregnancy

terrorism-- doesn't the world need

a permanent standing body...?

National sovereignty is at stake.

Americans are answerable

to no one but their own government

and their own laws.

And people need to be reminded

that the U.N. is not a democratic organization.

There's no input

into its deliberations by any...

Come on; the court is designed with plenty of safeguards

if we don't subject ourselves to the treaty

it will encourage other countries.

Sure. And you don't think that'll undercut

the U.N.'s campaign against war crimes?

( knock at door )

Excuse me.

Excuse me, General. Hey, Sam.

If you're in the middle of something, I can come back.

We're eliminating genocide.

What are you doing?

Eliminating the penny.

So I'll come back.

Yeah. See you later.

Hey. Hi.

How did it go?

It went fine.

Just background, right?

It was fine.

Is Josh in his office?

He's around someplace.

Thanks.

Do you know the only thing pennies interact with

are those coin wrapping machines

people buy to get rid of pennies?

Which kind of proves the point.

What point?

I don't know.

It went okay?

Fine.

How'd it go?

I really need to talk to you for a second.

What happened?

I need to just...

Can we go in your office?

Hey, how'd it go? Fine.

What happened?

I was asked if I kept a diary, and I said no

only I do keep a diary.

Why did you say you didn't?

I don't know. What do you mean, you don't know?

Nothing in the diary is relevant.

Is there anyone on the witness list

who knows you keep one?

There's nobody who knows I keep a diary

except the thing is...

Cliff saw it.

What do you mean? Cliff came to me

after the deposition and told me he saw the diary

when he was in my apartment.

I swear it wasn't premeditated.

Nothing in it was material...

You don't get to decide that!

You don't get to decide what's material and what isn't, Donna!

Please keep your voice down.

They got nothing on the President with MS

they're trolling

then you go in and hand them a...

You were subpoenaed.

You answer the damn question!

I screwed up. You think?!

What should I do?

Do nothing.

Do absolutely nothing.

( door closes )

( junior staffers murmuring )

( room falls silent )

There's an old saying.

"Those who speak don't know, and those who know don't speak."

I don't know if that's true or not

but I know that, by and large, the press doesn't care

who really knows what as long as they've got a quote.

Last Friday, we had our Week Ahead meeting

in the Roosevelt Room.

Some of you were there, most of you weren't

but I'm talking to all of you now.

Bruno Gianelli and I were leading a discussion

about whether or not the President should stop

in Kansas on his way back from the West Coast

and I remarked that the Vice President is polling better

than the President right now in the plains states

and that if the President is re-elected

it's going to be on the Vice President's coattails.

That remark made its way to a White House reporter.

We're a group.

( chuckles )

We're a team.

From the President and Leo on through, we're a team.

We win together, we lose together.

We celebrate, and we mourn together.

And defeats are softened and victories sweetened

because we did them together.

And if you don't like this team...

then there's the door.

It's great to be in the know.

It's great to have the scoop, to have the skinny.

To be able to go to a reporter

and say, "I know something you don't know."

And so the press becomes your constituents

and you sell out the team.

So, an item will appear in the paper tomorrow

and it'll be embarrassing to me

and embarrassing to the President.

I'm not going to have a witch hunt.

I'm not going to huff and puff.

I'm not going to take anyone's head off.

I'm simply going to say this:

You're my guys, and I'm yours...

and there's nothing I wouldn't do for you.

That was unexpected.

Yeah.

You're a good deputy, Sam.

What do you mean?

That.

You won money on football today, didn't you?

Yeah, but I mean it anyway.

What can I do for you today?

How can I help you out?

You can give me a good reason

why the White House can't support

This is the Legal Tender... Huckleberry Bill?

Modernization Bill, yeah.

because it'll never get to the floor.

Why not?

He's from Illinois, which, by the way, is the only state

where you can put pennies in a toll machine.

Why is that do you suppose?

It's because...

It's because Lincoln's from Illinois!

Yes. Well, that's a good reason.

Well, it's a dumb reason, but it's good enough

right?

Sure.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And thanks for the other thing.

Yeah.

Hi.

Hi.

What do you need?

You called me. Yes, I did.

Well, Toby made the remark

in response to some new polling data.

It was offhand.

Obviously, he meant it as a joke, and he regrets it.

Okay.

He'll be happy to go on the record with you.

No, that's all right.

What do you mean?

You're not going to let Toby explain himself?

I'm not writing it.

Why not?

It's not news.

Really?

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll see you in there.

You weren't joking before, were you?

When?

When you said...

No.

Why do you think

the White House is a bad beat?

I don't like being a stenographer.

And I don't like writing gossip.

I read a column last week

where a lady bemoaned a decade of scandals she's had to cover

as if the news was to blame for the quality

of journalism.

ever been a more important time to be good at what I do.

Can you imagine how much

about what Toby said to a staffer?

Yeah.

All right.

You can sit anywhere you want.

LEO: 139 countries have signed.

35 have ratified.

Once 60 ratify, that's the ball game.

You want to be left out?

Absolutely.

This is going to raise 19 kinds of hell in Congress.

What doesn't? They are already

extreme Republicans who are attaching amendments

to bills cutting off military aid

to any NATO member that signs the treaty...

That won't happen.

...and committing

the U.S. to forcibly rescue any American soldier

held and tried in such a court.

Leo, this commits the United States

to a scenario where we'd be invading Holland!

How much of this is about hedging our bets?

It's not.

Look, we set up Nuremberg!

We set up the Tokyo War Crimes Trial.

And that was fine, until we realized

the Cold War threat was going to take precedence.

So when the German rocket

scientists came here to help us get into space...

Oh, please. ...we looked the other way

while SS Officers followed right behind

protected by American intelligence

services, 'cause they were going to help us with the Communists.

Oh, please, Alan?

So...

how much of this is hedging our bets?

( clears throat )

You remember Operation Rolling Thunder?

Yeah.

I think I do, yeah.

September, 1966.

You were piloting an F-105 Fighterchief.

This was our first unit--

the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing out of Thailand.

Yeah. I was Forward Air Commander.

I gave you your directions.

"From I.P., heading 273 for ten point five miles

"your target is

"north-south running bridge over river, one kilometer

to the tree line running east-west."

Yeah?

It was a military target.

It was a civilian target.

It was a dam.

There were 11 civilian casualties.

Why did you tell me that?

Because you could be charged and tried for a war crime.

Why did you tell me that?

All wars are crimes.

( sighs )

We've been here a while.

Yeah.

Maybe we'll call it a day, huh? Yeah.

I'll get you some time with the President this week.

I'd appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can I ask a question, just out of curiosity?

Yes, sir.

If guns are meant to deter the threat of crime

what's the point of concealing them?

I mean, wouldn't you want the criminal to see

that you've got a gun?

I suppose you would.

Then what's the answer to that?

I really don't know, sir.

You don't know. No, sir.

I suppose the concern has more to do

We can't all just agree it's a stupid-ass amendment

that was written before there were street lamps

much less police forces, and move on?

Sir...

There's no need

for a citizen militia.

I agree with you.

40 percent of Americans have a gun in their home.

Only 16 percent believe

gun ownership is an absolute right.

Only nine percent believe it's an absolute wrong.

There's a middle.

Not when we're running the MS defense, Mr. President.

Which we wouldn't have been doing if...

If what, sir?

Nothing.

Sir... You outed me, John.

With that trip

to Nashua, with the oil companies.

You wanted people to start asking questions.

I needed to start running

because nobody told me that I wasn't!

And you announced it!

I found out on television!

So did my wife. This whole thing

was mismanaged, sir.

Look...

It was blown! Yes, it was.

Yes, it was.

It's not easy being my Vice President, is it?

( sighing )

No, sir.

I wouldn't think so.

But it's the only way

you're going to get the nomination.

You know that, right?

If I win.

Yeah.

And the only way you're going to win...

is if I'm on the ticket.

You know that, don't you, sir?

Yeah.

You'll go to Texas?

I want a seat at the table.

Yeah.

( knock at door )

Mr. President? Yeah.

They're getting ready for you in the briefing room.

Thank you.

I'll be back in my office.

Yeah.

Is there anything else, sir?

No.

Thank you, Mr. President.

( rolling thunder )

There's a coffee shop across the street.

You can read it there, you've got an hour.

I haven't read it, but if anything bothers you

you'll issue a subpoena in the morning

and you'll have it back before the end of the day.

If not, that's that.

Yeah.

If I read any of this in the newspaper

or anything happens I don't like

I've got the entries for October fourth and fifth.

What's October fourth and fifth?

You.

That's fair.

Thank you.

It's starting to get cold already.

It's going to be fine.