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?
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.
- 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 any place 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.