The Newsroom s03e03 Episode Script
Main Justice
_ If today Any shock they would try to stem 'Stead of landing on Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock would land on them In olden days a glimpse of stocking Was looked on as something shocking But now God knows Anything goes Good authors, too, who once knew better words Now only use four-letter words writing What the fuck is going on? - They're taking our hard drives.
- Is it Neal's story? They've got a warrant to search the hard drives.
- Is this for real? - What's your name? - My name? - Yeah.
It's spelled arrest me or go fuck yourself.
- We've been raided.
- It's Saturday night and you got the graveyard shift.
What would I find if I stop and frisk you, Snoop Dogg? Unless that warrant says you can stick your hand in my pockets, you're gonna find yourself in a conversation about illegal search and seizure.
All right, back off.
Everybody just cooperate.
- My password's N-Y - I don't need your password.
- That's a comfort.
- Please stand away from your desk.
Do you know where Neal Sampat is? What are my rights in this situation? You don't answer and you don't get to keep asking that question.
Actually, she does, but nobody has to answer.
So just turn down the temperature a litt - This is a fucking outrage, Molly.
- Okay.
And this is a fucking warrant from a federal court, Mac.
And we are the physical manifestation of the will of that court.
The fuck are you, Marley's ghost? You kiss your sources with that mouth? Don, please stay where you are.
I'd like to make sure my phones aren't being tapped.
They don't have permission to tap our phones.
Then I guess this would be the first time the FBI has used a warrantless wiretap.
Can I save you guys some time? Neal is a smart guy and there's no way he left a trail to a government source on something that can be seized by the government.
Sloan I've got privileged stock information on my computer.
I see one of you guys buy a speedboat They're just doing their jobs.
And I'm doing mine.
Charlie.
It's Charlie Skinner.
Give me LA control, please.
Please put the phone down, Mr.
Skinner.
Don, Jim, power up our control room.
- Yeah.
- Gary, grab a camera.
- Can you get me wired? - Guys! It's Charlie in New York.
We're gonna be breaking in live in three minutes.
Do you have the first idea how any of this equipment works? I don't know how electricity works.
Just start pressing buttons.
We don't know how to broadcast anything.
Charlie was on the phone with Domino's Pizza.
We're not broadcasting anything.
Just get an in-house feed up on the monitors.
Don't make things harder on yourselves.
I think I'm making things harder for you.
Come on, Mac.
We've been friends forever.
I'm coming to your wedding.
Well, I haven't gotten your RSVP yet, Molly.
So how'd you like your name chyroned? This is now out of control.
It's not hard to promptly RSVP.
- It's a common courtesy.
- 90 seconds.
They're bluffing.
Hook me up, quick.
Come on, guys.
Find some lights.
See, I don't think there's gonna be an on-off switch.
- Check it out.
- What did you press? It's an on-off switch.
What is on our air? Red Carpet Roundup.
We need a studio feed.
Can I just say that this network's Saturday night programming is - Maybe now's not the time.
But I do agree.
- Yeah.
How have neither of you in all this time absorbed any of the technology involved with broadcasting the news you, you know, do? Well, I can't speak for Don, but my experience is Shut up.
Do we have sound? Can anybody hear me? We're gonna need your first name for the banner.
Is it Kip? Your lack of cooperation will be noted for our report.
I hope that doesn't leak to the press.
- Oh, I'm gonna make sure it does.
- I'm being cooperative.
Can it be noted that some of us are being downright docile? - So it's Kip? - Rodger with a D.
- We're gonna misspell it.
- $210 a plate, Molly.
It's nice to have a head count.
He's not made of money.
I do fine.
We can afford it.
- We're up.
- That's nice, Gary.
Yeah, start on the windbreakers and then come over and frame up Special Agent Levy for the hero shot.
There's a typo.
You left out the R.
- Where? - It says "beaking news.
" Calm down.
Can she hear you on the IFB? No.
Please, please, pretend you can hear me.
- Copy, I can hear you.
- She did it! - She felt my vibe.
- I think she can really hear you.
- It says "baking news" now.
- Fuck! - 15 seconds.
- Good talking to you, Molly.
You and your men continue your government raid of an American newsroom.
I'm gonna go executive produce a special report.
Stand them down.
Stand down.
Everybody stand down.
LA control, keep your air.
They're stopping! Shh.
We did it.
Freedom won and not a bullet was fired.
Let this day be recorded in the all Your fly is unzipped.
I'm not sure how I feel about new confident Maggie.
She's looking good.
I can still hear you.
Do you think there's any chance she's I'm not pretending.
Seems like lately a lot of people have been playing fast and loose with the law.
I didn't break any laws.
It was a solid warrant and they had a solid reason for seeking it.
I'm not at all convinced we're the good guys.
- Where was he supposed to go? - The source? Where was he supposed to go? The police? He's not supposed to go anywhere with classified information.
That was the Assistant Attorney General, the US Attorney for the Southern District, and the Deputy Director of the FBI on the phone.
And? We've negotiated a one-week ceasefire.
Friday night we'll all meet up at Main Justice in DC and try to dig our way out of this.
I'm not holding this story for a week.
- Holding the story for a week isn't a problem.
- It's a problem for me.
Doesn't it take at least a week to vet 27,000 documents? If you put the same scrupulous attention into vetting this story as you did with Genoa, you should be done in no time.
You are sitting at the loser table.
- At your wedding, what else is available? - There goes your plus one.
All right, look, what I need is an assurance that it's safe for Neal to come out of the dark.
The government is not going to make a move on either of you until Friday, and then hopefully never.
- They're still walking out of here with - Shh, shh, shh.
Agents Levy, Hutchinson, thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
You're getting the fish and the fish is gonna suck! You're talking about your own wedding.
- She's got a point.
- Where's Neal? - I don't know.
- Come on.
- I don't know where he is.
- Good.
- You did something right.
- He's safe.
What? He's safe.
That's all I know.
And don't ask me about it again, okay? Yeah.
Can I speak with you? I'm not sure I like the deal you just made.
I don't care.
How do you know he's safe? It's a premonition.
Did you Fucking hell.
- Did you tell him where to go? - No.
- Did you give him money? A bus ticket? - No.
What happens Friday night? The investigators are gonna ask you and Neal to tell them everything you can without revealing the source.
If they can connect the dots without the identity of the source, great.
If they can't? I don't know a district court judge who's ever let a reporter keep his source when national security was involved.
And who decides if national security is involved? - The judge.
- You see my problem? The judge is the one who's supposed to decide, not Matthew Broderick in WarGames, not Neal, and not me.
- That's a prosecutor talking.
- Yes, it is.
And how are we supposed to be in DC Friday night? - We do the news here at 8:00.
- The meeting's at midnight.
All right, obviously we'll talk more before then.
But for now just go drink Home.
Just go home.
That stunt with the cameras, that wasn't cool.
Neither am I.
All right.
We give them everything they want, and in exchange we get to not go to jail? We also get to run the story.
We get the guidance we need to run the story without risking national security or anyone's life.
Good night.
I'm only going to ask you once.
Do you really know the identity of the source? - Yes.
- That was stupid.
That was something I would do.
They're not gonna lock me up.
I'm too big to jail.
Until about half an hour ago, I thought they wouldn't raid a newsroom.
They've got his hard drive now and if there's anything on there that shows he's aided and abetted, then you and Neal are in two very different situations.
He used an air-gapped computer, remember? - And where is he? - I don't know.
- Are you lying to me? - No.
You know, since it's not possible for everyone to like you, I really think I wasn't trying to get the FBI to like me.
They just happen to be the only ones in the room authorized to do what they're doing.
Why do we have a loser table? - Your friends.
- All right.
Hi.
I have here an EPA report that's been - Hi.
- Hi.
I have here an EPA report that's been embargoed.
- How did you get it? - It doesn't matter.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego measured the levels of carbon dioxide atop Mauna Loa, a volcano in Hawaii, and found that it's passed a long-feared milestone, which is a concentration not seen on Earth in millions of years.
Here's what happened.
You started talking about CO2 levels and I started thinking about other things in my head.
CO2 is a gas.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which is made up of professional scientists, measured the level of CO2 in the air and found The Mets need speed.
The Mets need power.
The Mets need pitching.
That's what I'm thinking about right now.
Living things need oxygen to stay alive.
- I want a hot dog right now.
- Look Have you come to me for help? - Have I - Come to me for help? - No.
- What can I do for you? I'd like some advice.
What's another word for advice? - Look - You showed a lot of wisdom coming to me for help.
- I don't need help.
- Great.
- I need help.
- Hit me.
Yeah, I think you know what I meant.
Yeah, I think I did.
This is an embargoed EPA report.
- How'd you get it? - Doesn't matter.
The last time the levels were this high was three million years ago.
- We survived it then, right? - No, there were no humans.
It wiped out all the humans? There were no humans before, you moron.
Talking like that is no way to get me to help you.
The last time the CO2 level was this high, the climate was far warmer, the ice caps were smaller, the sea levels Scientists believe that humanity is precipitating a return to those conditions, only this time - Billions of people are in harm's way.
- Yes.
I would take any one of the three Speed, power, or pitching.
And this is my problem.
- That environmental stories aren't exciting? - Right.
I've been doing a dramatic rendering of that problem.
This report says the world is coming to an end.
I am preparing an interview for Will to conduct on Friday with the the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
On Friday when everybody watches the news.
Mac's put it in the B block.
When I asked her what story she felt was going to trump the end of the world, she said, "I don't know, but I'm sure something will come up.
" So you want this to feel more like a Jim Harper segment and less like a Maggie Jordan segment? Just say yes.
- Yes.
- Have you marked this up? Yeah.
There's nothing unimportant in there.
Then what was the point of highlighting it? To amplify its importance.
And how much time do we have to tell our audience about the end of the world? - Four minutes and 10 seconds.
- Who's the interview with? The Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
We can't get the head of the EPA? There is no head of the EPA.
Tell me when you're done reading the report - so I can explain it to you.
- I'll be able to understand it.
- Without Neal here to help? - I know how to use a dictionary.
Without Neal here to show you? Looking forward to working with you.
I'm dreading it.
Have a good day.
How'd you get the report? Ahem, CO2 means two parts of oxygen for every one part of carbon.
I know that.
Wait Yeah, I know that.
- Yeah, I'll let him know.
- Thanks.
Ahem.
Reese and Mrs.
Lansing are on their way down to see you.
- They're coming down here? - Yeah.
You sure they didn't want me to come up there? No, they're on their way.
Everyone knows something's going on.
We just don't know what.
Yeah, I know.
Just show them in when they get here.
They're here.
Thank you.
Leona, I didn't know you knew where my office was.
I followed Reese.
I'm assuming you didn't come down to tell me - you found $4 billion in the glove compartment.
- Well, I tried.
The glove compartment may be the only place I haven't looked.
Where do you look for that kind of money, just out of curiosity? We offered shares to a special investor to buy up a portion of the company and dilute the ownership stake of the twins, but we hit a roadblock with the board.
We thought about changing the bylaws, but the lawyer said it wouldn't hold.
We tried banks and hedge funds, but they know we're already too leveraged.
I have a $58 million Jackson Pollock, $140 million yacht.
It's not nearly enough collateral.
Boy, listen closely, you can almost hear someone singing "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" - Yeah, I know.
- I had a perfectly good idea.
- No, you didn't.
- What was it? Poison them.
Poison my half-brother and sister.
Just go Shakespeare on their ass.
- I know people, you know people.
- I don't know people.
All right, well, there's no such thing as a bad idea.
Yes, there is such a thing as a bad idea.
Horizontal stripes.
That.
I think I know what's coming.
- Charlie.
- Yeah? Randy and Blair, but especially Blair, and mostly Blair, have to be stopped from selling their shares to Savannah.
The only way to raise the money before they Is to spin off ACN.
Yeah.
The buyer is a man named Lucas Pruit.
He's 43 and lives In Palo Alto.
No wife, no kids.
Stanford '92.
Harvard MBA.
Goldman for five years as a tech analyst, then he left to start his own company.
Yeah, I don't know what they do.
They made a WiFi accelerator.
He's the 1,398th richest person in the world.
Can I ask some questions? - Did they try to dilute the twins' ownership stake? - Yes.
- Changing the bylaws? - Lawyer said no.
Offering long-term contracts and platinum They tried everything.
What about selling another division? Why us? Tax consequences.
We were the right price.
- And - It's a trophy sale.
Yeah.
Owning a news network's cooler than owning a location detection software company.
Would you coven of knee-jerk, lefty bigots not condemn the man until after he's said hello? I know he's committed the unpardonable crime of making a lot of money, but perhaps in spite of his talent, hard work, and enormous accomplishments, he's still a decent guy.
Yeah, whose ideas are worth listening to.
Yeah.
Wait, what? - He has ideas? - Yeah.
So here's what I need us to do.
What you need us to do or what the Lansings need us to do? At this moment, what the Lansings want is what I want.
They spent the last year doing nothing but standing by us when it made a lot more sense to not.
Not to.
Not to stand by To not stand by - I'm saying it would have made more sense - Find your way home.
- to dump us.
- I agree.
And since the alternative to selling ACN to Pruit is ACN being dissolved by Savannah Capital, - we're gonna love his ideas.
- Sure.
Saturday night at the Correspondents' Dinner.
We're not going to the Correspondents' Dinner.
- We are now.
- I can't.
The Justice Department is Friday night and the Correspondents' Dinner is Saturday.
We can't go because last year he railed against the Correspondents' Dinner and said we'd no longer be going.
- Where? - To the Correspondents' Dinner.
- Where did you rail against it? - On TV.
- What network? - This one.
My show.
I think I remember now.
"ACN won't be attending the Saturnalia of incestuous ingratiation" - Oh, brother.
- "that does little to instill confidence in the public that the press isn't ensorcelled by the powerful.
" I think I was trying to quit smoking that week.
Well, don't do that again, 'cause that was some huckleberry-bad writing.
- What do you want us to do? - Go anyway.
Yeah, you got to eat it.
Hope nobody remembers your on-air bacchanal of boisterous buffoonery 'cause Pruit wants to meet you.
And Leona says he wants to be charmed.
- What do I do? - Be the charming one.
- And what do you do? - Clean up when she goes berserk.
I do not go berserk, you addle-minded bit of American tripe.
This is a sad day for dignity.
I'll need a dress.
This is the part I keep tripping on.
- What's that? - I'm still looking at your contract.
my young friend.
Grover Cleveland's on the $1,000 bill? Back when we printed them.
They're not in circulation anymore, but imagine 45 of them.
That'll give you a sense of my annual salary beginning Monday.
It's not Jim Harper money, but it'll pay the rent.
As long as I don't pay any other bills.
It's more than 45 with the incentives.
I know, but I'm not counting my chickens.
- Do you feel like - Just my Clevelands.
Okay.
- What were you gonna say? - Nothing.
- What? - The incentives.
James, they're not incentives, they're bonuses.
- For page views.
- Yeah.
The more page views you get, the more money you're paid.
Welcome to capitalism.
We're happy to have you.
They're bonuses, they're not incentives.
- Hallie, look.
- What? - If you're okay with it, be okay with it.
- I am.
If you were, then you wouldn't need to call it something else.
It says bonuses right there.
I'm not the one calling it something else.
If you're writing about a cabinet secretary who testified in front of the House Oversight Committee, are you more likely to write about the content of the testimony or "Cabinet Secretary Blasts Darrell Issa"? Your hero is Will McAvoy, right? - He's getting there.
- Your hero is Ed Murrow, right? - Yeah.
- Will is paid millions of dollars a year and Murrow was paid the equivalent of millions of dollars a year for the same reason anyone in the private sector is paid anything Their ability to make money for other people.
Will doesn't get paid per view or per story.
That's either heart-stopping naiveté or denial.
Our rundown meetings don't include a discussion of what's grabby.
And after a week of covering Boston, you're now in fourth place.
And Charlie makes sure we don't care.
That's my point.
I understand how market forces work in the news, but journalists have always been the people pushing back against them.
And now you're being incentivized to My incentives are no different than a reporter at The New York Times.
If those reporters were being paid per person reading their story, the front page of the Times would look a lot different.
And because it doesn't look a lot different, there are a lot fewer people reading their stories.
Who, Hallie, gives a genuine shit how many people are reading a story if the story is hyped? Someone who gets paid per page view.
Your confidence in my integrity moves me in ways I don't even know what to do.
- Don't take this job.
- This is an exciting startup founded by people - Who are self-serving tools.
- That's exactly what they say about you.
And you don't think that has something to do with why they want to hire you? Hmm? Someone who just got fired from ACN for tweeting a snarky joke? I think my talent has something to do with why they want to hire me.
Of course your talent is why they want to hire you, but are you the only talented person that they interviewed? I'm the most talented person that they interviewed.
- I believe that.
- You believe they want to hire me because I have an ax to grind with ACN, which, for the 100th time, I do not.
You know a lot of things, Hallie, because of me.
You know a lot about Genoa.
You know a lot about private behavior in the newsroom.
- Look - And you know some things about Neal.
Not everything, but you know some things.
And it's really dangerous.
You think I'd tell secrets? Things you've told me in this room? What's your bonus again? - Holy shit.
- I was kidding.
The only way for you to get out of this conversation alive is to roll over, turn off the light, and go to sleep.
- I was kidding.
- Do what I said.
We're not supposed to go to bed mad.
Honey, it would take a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to move me to mad from my current level of furious.
So turn off the fucking light, go to sleep, and we'll try this again tomorrow.
Okay.
Don't go to sleep.
We're gonna talk about this.
Okay.
They should be here any second.
You're the first person I've ever met named Wyatt.
It's a family name.
How'd you like to have Earp as a last name? That had to be tough on the playground, hmm? Maybe that's how he got so tough.
Am I making you nervous? No.
Sometimes people get nervous around HR.
I don't get nervous.
You know who gets nervous? Criminals.
Come on in.
Gary Cooper, Alex Thacker, this is Wyatt Geary and he is the new VP of Human Resources for AWM.
- Please have a seat.
- There are no chairs left.
- Alex, HR received a complaint from you.
- That's right.
And it was kicked down the chain from Charlie to Mac to me.
So why don't you tell us what happened? It's in the report I wrote that's in front of you.
Yes, I want them to tell me in their own words.
- Don, it's really nothing.
- I have no doubt.
- It's not nothing.
- Okay.
You asked for 20 seconds of copy for Elliot on Justin Bieber visiting Anne Frank's house.
Why, you know, in the world would I do that? Because Bieber signed the guestbook on his way out and wrote "Hopefully she would have been a Belieber.
" And then you and Elliot got drunk and you told him you'd give him $100 if he could read the story off the prompter without laughing.
Once again, this is the new HR rep for our parent company.
The copy should have been assigned to me, but Gary assigned it to Stacey.
Once I give it to Gary, Gary gets to make that call.
Based on merit, not based on who he prefers to sleep with at any particular moment.
I'm not sleeping and I've never slept with Stacey.
That may or may not be, but probably is a lie.
What we know for sure is Gary flirted with me, hit on me, took me out five times, slept with me twice, and then dumped me in a pile with the rest of the staffers he's used for his pleasure.
I can't emphasize this enough This is the new HR rep.
And I'm fine with all of that.
- So we're cool.
- No.
What I am not fine with is being passed over for an assignment at work because I exercised poor judgment in my personal life.
I gave it to her because she's better at this kind of thing.
What kind of thing? The intersection of pop culture and the Holocaust.
- That might sound crazy.
- It did.
Look, I've gone out with several of the women in this building.
Maybe you don't understand what HR does.
You're saying Stacey is a better writer than I am? - She's a different writer than you.
- Different? Like I'm tired of this one, so I'll try a different one? I told Gary to give it to Stacey, all right? He is covering for me.
I told him to give it to her because she is a better writer than you are.
Well, what am I supposed to do? Write better.
That's it.
Thank you both.
Thank you.
All right.
Close the books on that one.
Fraternization between superiors and subordinates exposes the company to all kinds of problems, - including the one you just saw.
- And we don't tolerate it.
- You're the EP of the 10:00 hour.
- I am.
- Which is sometimes anchored by Sloan Sabbith.
- Yes.
So if you and Sloan Sabbith were in a relationship, there's a chance we'd have to move one of you to a different bureau.
- DC or LA.
- Yeah, but we're not.
- Are you sure about that? - Am I sure? - Yes.
- Yes.
Because then lying about it would make it worse.
Mm-hmm.
I can see that.
My predecessor was pretty relaxed about this kind of thing.
And we're already in a tricky spot with Will McAvoy marrying his EP.
But no one's gonna mess with Will, so I guess my point is if you're going to date a subordinate, you better have stronger ratings.
I don't see our ratings going up any time soon, so I guess I'll just keep the company directory in the drawer.
- Okay.
- Okay.
Can you tell me how to get to Sloan Sabbith's office? Back to the elevators and it's on 22.
Thank you.
Welcome to the company.
Ahem.
We're not dating.
Okay.
Hey.
Ahem, "What forms of alternative energy are real options to replace coal and gasoline, and why are they taking so long to assume sizable parts of the marketplace?" - Great question.
- Yeah, you wrote it.
I thought the idea was to figure out a way to capture people's attention with the report and the interview with the head of the EPA.
You said he was the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
So let's be sure we identify him, you know, right.
Yeah, but I think that's the least of our problems.
No, it's not.
It's just the first of our problems.
And I'm saying the guy has a job and a title and can we not hype it up? I have confidence in the graphic, but where I need your help Is in hyping it up.
The air has a very dangerous level of poison gas in it.
Why do we have to write Will questions like it's a sex test in Sex, you know, Magazine or something? - Sex Magazine? - Yeah, I couldn't think of a real We've switched sides.
Yesterday you told me I was boring you.
I was wrong.
"China's demand for coal is increasing as it continues to urbanize and industrialize, but so has its demand for solar power and wind energy.
" - That isn't even a question.
- No, look.
"Your thoughts?" I want to hear his thoughts.
I came over and told you about the EPA report - and the interview Friday with Richard Westbrook.
- Yeah.
You told me I was boring you.
I asked for help.
You gloated.
And then what? Did you know there are online news outlets that offer bonuses to their reporters for page views? - Yes.
- I didn't know that.
That's because you live in the time of King Arthur along with Don, Will, and Charlie.
I don't live in the time of King Arthur.
You live in the time of King Arthur.
You don't see an immediate danger in offering cash for trash on a news site? I understand.
Thank you.
You were a dick to Hallie.
- No, I wasn't.
- Tiny bit dicky? What am I supposed to say when she comes home with a contract for a job at a new website called "Carnivore"? "Congratulations.
" I said congratulations.
I supported her ass off.
- And then? - I saw the contract.
- And you were a dick.
- I wasn't.
A little bit Dickensian in your special way that says, "I love you, but you suck.
" She got fired.
She was humiliated.
And I'm sure you were there for her, but I'm also 100% certain there was something in your voice that said, "You deserved it.
" Ahem, I don't want what I'm about to say to be misconstrued as agreeing with you, but I'll try to be conscious of that and do better.
Good.
Who are you bringing to the Correspondents' Dinner? I met a really nice guy on the train back from Boston.
Guess what he teaches at Fordham Law School.
- What? - Ethics.
Leave it to you to find the only person in the world who can make money being ethical.
I know.
How did you get the EPA report and the exclusive interview? This was really the best place to meet? - Yeah.
Were you followed? - No.
- You were followed.
- By who? Me, just to show you that I can.
Just stand up a second.
You asked for the meeting.
Please.
We've known each other since we were too young to rent a car.
That's the only reason I'm here.
If anyone knew I was, I'd be asked to hand over my badge and my gun and I would never in my life be able to get a job that required trustworthiness.
Can you think of a job that doesn't? - No.
- So there we are.
We found some compelling evidence on Neal's hard drive that he helped his source transfer the docs from the SIPRNet.
How compelling? If you're able to contact him I don't know if you are but if someone is able to contact him, they should tell him to come in.
He needs a lawyer and he needs to cooperate.
To commit the crime you're suggesting, Neal would have had to have had knowledge he was committing a crime, knowledge he couldn't possibly have had when the source contacted him.
A reporter you'd be willing to work with can't tell the difference between a credible source and a fugazi? Yes, I'd be willing to work with Dan Rather and CBS News.
We don't want Neal.
We want We have to have his source.
This is a bad guy.
And what are you gonna do to Neal to get his name? We're not gonna throw a bag over his head.
But you are gonna threaten him with conspiracy to commit espionage.
It's not gonna be an idle threat.
Our experts were very impressed with his technical sophistication.
You can bring him in or we can kick his door down.
Okay.
You know you just revealed to me that you knew he helped with the document transfer.
Yeah.
Trust.
Thanks for meeting me so late.
What's going on? I want to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth, but I don't want you to tell me any more than you're asked.
All right.
Is anyone in touch with Neal? Through an uncle who talks to his cousin? Anything? Yes, somebody's in touch with Neal.
Get a message to him to come in.
Friday night in DC at Main Justice.
He'll have immunity at the meeting.
What about after the meeting? No reporter's ever been charged under the Espionage Act.
All right.
Okay.
Anzar Tsarnaev, the father of - Stand by, G7 and 7A.
- Standing.
will be traveling from Russia to the US this week.
Meanwhile, Jahar remains hospitalized - and no date yet has been set for his arraignment.
- Go 7.
Today the federal government released a startling finding on the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
We'll have EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Richard - Ready SOT-4.
- Ready.
- But first, ACN's Maggie Jordan filed this report.
- Go SOT-4.
A grave warning today from scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The world has passed a long-feared milestone.
- Mr.
Westbrook? - Yeah.
I'll take you to the studio now.
Okay.
reaching a concentration not seen on the Earth for millions of years.
Scientists took this reading Will, we're running light.
- Can you tease the interview out another 40 seconds? - Yeah.
30 seconds.
- How are you? I'm Will.
- Nice to meet you.
So there won't be any hard questions.
I'm just gonna ask you to expand on the report.
Pretend you're an expert witness and I'm your lawyer.
- Sounds good.
- In 10.
- Here we go.
- Stand by, camera one.
the 450 parts per million will soon be crossed.
The question remains, how will we respond? And joining us now in studio is Richard Westbrook, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
- Welcome.
- Thank you.
Mr.
Westbrook, you've spent most of your professional career as a climate scientist in the public sector.
Yes, 10 years as a supervisory management analyst in the Office of Environmental Information.
And before that, I was a program specialist in the EPA's Resource Management Division.
And you have a PhD in climate science from Stanford.
Yes, and another in chemistry with a masters in biology.
Okay.
Tell us about the findings in the report that was just released.
The latest measurements taken at Mauna Loa in Hawaii indicate a CO2 level of 400 parts per million.
Just so we know what we're talking about, if you were a doctor and we were the patient, what's your prognosis? A person has already been born who will die due to catastrophic failure of the planet.
What did he just say? - Okay, can you expand on that? - Sure.
The last time there was this much CO2 in the air, the oceans were 80 feet higher than they are now.
Two things you should know Half the world's population lives within 120 miles of an ocean.
- And the other? - Humans can't breathe under water.
You're saying the situation's dire? Not exactly.
Your house is burning to the ground, the situation's dire.
Your house has already burned to the ground, the situation's over.
So what can we do to reverse this? - There's a lot we could do.
- Good.
If it were 20 years ago or even 10 years ago.
But now No.
Can you make an analogy that might help us understand? Sure.
It's as if you're sitting in your car in your garage with the engine running and the door closed and you've slipped into unconsciousness.
And that That's it.
What if someone comes and opens the door? - You're already dead.
- What if the person got there in time? - You'd be saved.
- Okay.
So now what's the CO2 equivalent of the getting there on time? Shutting off the car You sound like you're saying it's hopeless.
Yeah.
Is that the administration's position or yours? There isn't a position on this any more than there's a position on the temperature at which water boils.
The administration Let me try to Your administration And don't forget I need you to stretch 40.
clean coal, nuclear power, raising fuel economy standards and building a more efficient electrical grid.
- Yes.
- And? That would have been great.
Let's see if we can't find a better spin.
People are starting their weekends.
The report says we can release without the effects being calamitous.
It says we can only release 565 gigatons.
So, what if we only release 564? Well, then we would have a reasonable shot at some form of dystopian, post-apocalyptic life.
But the carbon dioxide in the oil that we've already leased is 2,795 gigatons.
So What would all this look like? Well, mass migrations, food and water shortages, spread of deadly disease, endless wildfires.
Way too many to keep under control.
Storms that have the power to level cities, blacken out the sky, and create permanent darkness.
Are you gonna get in trouble for saying this publically? Who cares? Mr.
Westbrook, we want to inform people, but we don't want to alarm them.
Can you give us a reason to be optimistic? Well, that's the thing, Will.
Americans are optimistic by nature.
And if we face this problem head on, if we listen to our best scientists, and act decisively and passionately, I still don't see any way we can survive.
Okay, Richard Westbrook, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
- Thank you for joining us.
- Thanks for having me.
This is News Night.
We'll be back right after this.
Herb? Yeah, yeah.
We're out.
Is this a tactic, making us wait? Have you done this? Look, US, US, US, US.
We're on the same team.
But, yes, it's a tactic.
When we meet Pruit tomorrow night, let's not mention this.
He's gonna find out sooner or later.
I want it to be later, after his check clears.
- Maybe he's - Don't get up.
I'm Barry Lasenthal, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
- You're Rebecca Halliday? - Yes, sir.
You've let your clients know there'll be no record of this meeting? - Yes.
- I wish there was.
- What's that? - I said I wish there was.
Do you mind if I ask why you're sitting so far away? I do mind.
Would you like to register a complaint? Reporters having their asses hauled into the Justice Department doesn't sit well I'll see that your concerns make it straight to the children of undercover agents who've been killed when their identities were made known.
You're bringing out your queen a little early, aren't you? Mr.
Lasenthal, our intention is to work with the FBI or any relevant officials as we've always done in the past to ensure the story is responsibly reported.
But it'll be reported.
Not my pig, not my farm.
I don't know that expression.
He's saying someone else is handling the story.
See, Will is from Nebraska, too.
But I wasn't recruited by Nebraska, so I played fullback at A&M.
And we lost to Nebraska all four years I was there.
Whew.
The story is someone else's concern.
But I can tell you if you report news that was gathered illegally, you'll face criminal fines in an amount that will bankrupt you.
They understand that.
Let's begin.
My problem is what's on that flash drive.
- Let's begin.
- Are you running this meeting? - When I need to.
- How about we cool it, okay? You want to see what information we can give you without us naming the source, and that's fair.
But any conversation has to start with our knowing that Neal Sampat is safe from prosecution.
He is safe from prosecution.
We need that in writing.
Neal Sampat is in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
He flew there yesterday from Calgary International Airport by way of Cuba.
Not for nothing, but this is a building full of lawyers who'd have no problem making that look an awful lot to a jury like tradecraft from a dark-skinned young man.
Now maybe it's just a coincidence, but in all three of those pictures, he's looking over his shoulder a little.
He'll be doing that for the rest of his life.
- That's his punishment.
- Punishment for what? I don't believe what His punishment? Punishment for what? We're a couple of inches away from being able to show he induced his source to commit a felony.
You're a long way off from demonstrating that he had knowledge he was committing a crime.
Closer now that he's vacationing in a country with no extradition treaty.
Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of this kid.
I've seen some things, you know? I have been around, but we've got to work on getting him back now.
Counsel, ask your questions.
What time did Mr.
Sampat first make contact? Monday evening, April 15.
A week ago Monday.
Where was he at the time? His desk at ACN's New York bureau.
The source made contact with Mr.
Sampat, not the other way.
My next question was how was contact made.
The source contacted Neal over ACN.
com and asked for his encryption key.
- And what was his response? - To give it to him.
And then the source asked for a higher level of encryption? I won't answer that at this time.
Did Mr.
Sampat tell you the name of the source? - Yes.
- Did he tell you anything else about the source? - Yes.
- Will you tell us the name of the source? - No, sir.
- Will you tell us anything else about the source? - No.
- Well, you've got a problem.
For one thing, it's a myth that the First Amendment protects you in situations like this.
Branzburg v.
Hayes Justice Powell made it clear the exception exists.
Not clear enough.
A laptop computer was purchased with your American Express card at the Best Buy at 44th and 5th in Manhattan, but the signature on the receipt doesn't match your handwriting.
You gave your credit card to Neal Sampat to buy an air-gapped computer, right? This ends our cooperation.
What I think is this is exactly where you were going.
See, what I think is that either to protect Neal or be a hero or both, you engineered this whole thing so that Neal was cleared out and you were left holding the bag.
But you forgot what else was in the bag.
This receipt.
Who's the source, Will? No one has to know you gave him up.
No one has to know it was you.
- I'll tell you what, Mr.
Lasenthal.
- Yeah? - You're bad at this.
- Is that right? You come in here like Brian Dennehy.
You're at the other end of the table 'cause it's some Jedi mind shit you were taught at a three-day seminar in Hilton Head.
I was the one most apt to cooperate.
The agents must have reported that to you.
That's the signal I was sending you.
But you insulted our lawyer and you insulted my producer who happens to be my fiancée, which you also know.
And you insulted Charlie Skinner, which your people would have told you wasn't gonna make any of us happy.
And you threatened to bankrupt us and to have the same PR operation that got 38 people killed turn Neal into a radical.
Yeah, I moved the pieces so they'd end up looking like this.
Except Neal's supposed to be in a Super 8 in Bayonne, New Jersey, and not South America.
And I did it because, while I have no doubt that you'd shake Neal up and down until he gave you the source, which would never happen, your jaw-dropping government overreach simply won't extend to putting a TV star in jail for contempt.
You bungled this and I can't help you anymore.
That's it.
I fucking hated losing to Nebraska.
I'd have thought you'd have gotten used to it.
I Look, I get it.
These days I look in the mirror and I have to admit I'm not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be.
Time passes, you get a little grey.
Hey.
Uh, Hallie Shea, Jim Harper, this is Jack Spaniel.
- Nice to meet you.
- It's nice to meet you.
How'd you two meet? It was on a train coming back from Boston.
Maggie overheard a man talking to a reporter, but passed on the story because she didn't like that she slid down in her seat to get it.
The man she overheard was so impressed by her ethics that he gave her an exclusive.
I teach ethics, so I was vocationally attracted to the situation.
And the story you got in exchange was that the world was coming to an end.
Pretty good for a Friday.
It almost sounds like something you read in a tabloid.
Hey, nothing's wrong with tabloids.
Elvis ever comes back, you're not gonna read about it in The Washington Post.
Good point.
We are gonna get something to eat.
Oh, okay.
Was that for me, the ethics parable? I hadn't heard that story until just now.
Charlie wants to see everyone in five minutes in the kitchen in the west side of the building.
Okay.
You're the one who asked how they met.
I sent in at least three jokes that would have killed.
Those guys never use my jokes.
You know why? - I do.
- Speech writer snobbery.
I think it's something else.
Mmm, taste this.
It's fantastic.
What is it? I don't believe it.
He's here.
Sir, you really have to try this.
Delicious, right? Don, Sloan.
What a coincidence seeing you together.
Not really.
The whole staff is here.
It's a little bit more unusual that you're here.
I'm a vice president at the seventh largest media company in the world.
- Wyatt thinks we're dating.
- You and him? - Me and you.
- Are you serious? - Yep.
- Don and me? Have you Googled my romantic history? I date guys called Mr.
Chairman.
I date first round draft picks, high second round if it's a skill position.
You think I'm dating the EP of a 10:00 PM newscast that barely outrates a rerun of Just Shoot Me? I absolutely do.
And I'm gonna nail you.
Charlie wants to see everyone in the kitchen in the west end of the building in five minutes.
Okay.
See ya.
- Was that too much before? - That was way, way too much.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, do you happen to have any Schweppes Bitter Lemon? - Yes, ma'am.
- You have Schweppes? It's Canada Dry, I think.
My boss has to have Schweppes.
Do you happen to know if there's a nearby liquor store or a grocery store? I think you'd have to ask someone else.
They can carbonate lemon juice.
Your boss won't know the difference.
- He will.
- He sounds like a dream come true.
- He's actually a - Charlie Skinner? - Mr.
Pruit.
- Lucas.
You're the man I've been waiting for.
I looked for you in the ballroom.
I had to step out for a while to take a call.
- I knew I'd see you here.
- It's no problem.
I just looked for you in the ballroom.
- I'm sorry about that.
- No, no need.
Like I said, I had to take a call and I knew I'd see you here.
- Not a problem.
- What are you drinking? Unflavored Absolut Vodka with a capful of Schweppes Bitter Lemon poured over ice in a rocks glass.
They don't have Schweppes Bitter Lemon.
It eludes me why that should ever be the case, you know? - It just eludes me.
- I'll go out to a store.
- Gwen.
- Yeah? I'm not insane.
Just enjoy the party.
Thank you.
I don't think she's gonna work out.
We'll make sure our refrigerators are stocked.
Leona told me I'd be meeting you in the ballroom and then I'd be talking to you here at the party.
That was the plan.
But then, unfortunately, I had to take a call Work related? The call.
Was the call No, it was my daughter, as a matter of fact.
So we've met and now we're here and I'm looking forward to talking.
As I understand it, you're our last best hope for the network to stay on the air.
If I was a man with no choices, I'd kill myself.
Well, I guess that means I have a choice, so Would you like to talk about my intentions for the network? Yes, sir, I would.
My name is Lilly.
- Pleased to meet you.
- You're MacKenzie? ACN.
You're the one who decides if and when to air a story? I'm sorry, can I ask what this is about? I spoke to someone who works for you.
About what? I spoke to Neal.
- Are you saying - I'm the source.
Prove that.
because of disinformation we planted.
- Okay.
- Three of them - I sent Neal 27,000 - Stop talking.
Let me tell you what we're about.
Let me tell you what I'm about.
Disruption.
I can see fear in your eyes.
There almost always is.
What's an example of disruption as it would apply to a news network? User-generated content.
Crowdsourcing the news.
I'll tell you, Lucas, we just had in Boston Boston was a bad instance of crowdsourcing, but it was still disruption.
Why one channel? Why not 500? With no cost for content.
No cost for content on the other 499? - I'm just trying - I'm not talking about guys with head-cams in Syria.
I don't know.
Maybe I am.
A disaster channel.
A stalker channel.
I just did three.
Now you.
A channel where professionals investigate and report the news.
Danny Glover just came to mind.
We could have a channel devoted to people who are stalking Danny Glover.
- You think I'm kidding.
- No, I don't.
- They're gathering.
- Thanks.
I have to step away for a few minutes, but I'm looking forward to talking more about this.
No, you're not, but you will anyway.
Yeah.
You're at a party with nothing but reporters and government officials.
They don't know they're looking for me.
Why hasn't the story aired yet? You said we.
"We planted disinformation.
" - You work for BCD? - Yeah.
They're looking for someone inside the Pentagon.
When is the story running? - It's going to be reported.
- It's been a week.
We promised some people we'd hold a moment.
- The government.
- We have to work with them on national security.
They're gonna tell you everything is national security.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
If I don't see the story on your air by Wednesday, - I'm uploading it myself.
- You can't do that.
I'll just dump it on Gwyneth Paltrow's blog.
We don't know everything that's in it yet.
We have to work with the government.
I don't like that you're working with the government.
We don't want to get people killed.
What about What about them? A lot of people are sacrificing for you.
I expect your cooperation in return.
You'll have my cooperation for 96 hours.
That should give you the time to do what you need to do.
- Mac.
- Yeah? Charlie's gathering everyone in the kitchen on the west side of the building.
Okay.
The man had made his peace with the end of the world.
- Hi.
- Did you know the interview was gonna be like that? - Um, Mr.
McAvoy.
- That's not what we were expecting, was it, Maggie? - No.
- After 20 years at the EPA Hi his sense of logic could handle - and his mind packed up.
- I saw the interview, too.
When we went to commercial, I asked him if he'd changed his behavior at all.
- He said he stopped buying lottery tickets.
- Mr.
McAvoy.
- I understand his frustration.
- Sir! Guys, I'm sorry, could you give me just a second? I'm here all night.
Just a second.
That's a subpoena in your pocket, right? Sir, my name is Eli Shapiro.
I work for the US Department of Justice.
- They sent an intern.
- I'm Rebecca Halliday.
- You're supposed to give that to me.
- Oh.
Uh, Mr.
Mc - I'm sorry.
- Go ahead.
Don't be nervous.
Mr.
McAvoy, this is a subpoena for you to be sworn in before an investigative grand jury at 1 St.
Andrew's Plaza, Monday, April 29 at 10:00 AM.
You think it's possible I'm not as big a TV star as I thought?
- Is it Neal's story? They've got a warrant to search the hard drives.
- Is this for real? - What's your name? - My name? - Yeah.
It's spelled arrest me or go fuck yourself.
- We've been raided.
- It's Saturday night and you got the graveyard shift.
What would I find if I stop and frisk you, Snoop Dogg? Unless that warrant says you can stick your hand in my pockets, you're gonna find yourself in a conversation about illegal search and seizure.
All right, back off.
Everybody just cooperate.
- My password's N-Y - I don't need your password.
- That's a comfort.
- Please stand away from your desk.
Do you know where Neal Sampat is? What are my rights in this situation? You don't answer and you don't get to keep asking that question.
Actually, she does, but nobody has to answer.
So just turn down the temperature a litt - This is a fucking outrage, Molly.
- Okay.
And this is a fucking warrant from a federal court, Mac.
And we are the physical manifestation of the will of that court.
The fuck are you, Marley's ghost? You kiss your sources with that mouth? Don, please stay where you are.
I'd like to make sure my phones aren't being tapped.
They don't have permission to tap our phones.
Then I guess this would be the first time the FBI has used a warrantless wiretap.
Can I save you guys some time? Neal is a smart guy and there's no way he left a trail to a government source on something that can be seized by the government.
Sloan I've got privileged stock information on my computer.
I see one of you guys buy a speedboat They're just doing their jobs.
And I'm doing mine.
Charlie.
It's Charlie Skinner.
Give me LA control, please.
Please put the phone down, Mr.
Skinner.
Don, Jim, power up our control room.
- Yeah.
- Gary, grab a camera.
- Can you get me wired? - Guys! It's Charlie in New York.
We're gonna be breaking in live in three minutes.
Do you have the first idea how any of this equipment works? I don't know how electricity works.
Just start pressing buttons.
We don't know how to broadcast anything.
Charlie was on the phone with Domino's Pizza.
We're not broadcasting anything.
Just get an in-house feed up on the monitors.
Don't make things harder on yourselves.
I think I'm making things harder for you.
Come on, Mac.
We've been friends forever.
I'm coming to your wedding.
Well, I haven't gotten your RSVP yet, Molly.
So how'd you like your name chyroned? This is now out of control.
It's not hard to promptly RSVP.
- It's a common courtesy.
- 90 seconds.
They're bluffing.
Hook me up, quick.
Come on, guys.
Find some lights.
See, I don't think there's gonna be an on-off switch.
- Check it out.
- What did you press? It's an on-off switch.
What is on our air? Red Carpet Roundup.
We need a studio feed.
Can I just say that this network's Saturday night programming is - Maybe now's not the time.
But I do agree.
- Yeah.
How have neither of you in all this time absorbed any of the technology involved with broadcasting the news you, you know, do? Well, I can't speak for Don, but my experience is Shut up.
Do we have sound? Can anybody hear me? We're gonna need your first name for the banner.
Is it Kip? Your lack of cooperation will be noted for our report.
I hope that doesn't leak to the press.
- Oh, I'm gonna make sure it does.
- I'm being cooperative.
Can it be noted that some of us are being downright docile? - So it's Kip? - Rodger with a D.
- We're gonna misspell it.
- $210 a plate, Molly.
It's nice to have a head count.
He's not made of money.
I do fine.
We can afford it.
- We're up.
- That's nice, Gary.
Yeah, start on the windbreakers and then come over and frame up Special Agent Levy for the hero shot.
There's a typo.
You left out the R.
- Where? - It says "beaking news.
" Calm down.
Can she hear you on the IFB? No.
Please, please, pretend you can hear me.
- Copy, I can hear you.
- She did it! - She felt my vibe.
- I think she can really hear you.
- It says "baking news" now.
- Fuck! - 15 seconds.
- Good talking to you, Molly.
You and your men continue your government raid of an American newsroom.
I'm gonna go executive produce a special report.
Stand them down.
Stand down.
Everybody stand down.
LA control, keep your air.
They're stopping! Shh.
We did it.
Freedom won and not a bullet was fired.
Let this day be recorded in the all Your fly is unzipped.
I'm not sure how I feel about new confident Maggie.
She's looking good.
I can still hear you.
Do you think there's any chance she's I'm not pretending.
Seems like lately a lot of people have been playing fast and loose with the law.
I didn't break any laws.
It was a solid warrant and they had a solid reason for seeking it.
I'm not at all convinced we're the good guys.
- Where was he supposed to go? - The source? Where was he supposed to go? The police? He's not supposed to go anywhere with classified information.
That was the Assistant Attorney General, the US Attorney for the Southern District, and the Deputy Director of the FBI on the phone.
And? We've negotiated a one-week ceasefire.
Friday night we'll all meet up at Main Justice in DC and try to dig our way out of this.
I'm not holding this story for a week.
- Holding the story for a week isn't a problem.
- It's a problem for me.
Doesn't it take at least a week to vet 27,000 documents? If you put the same scrupulous attention into vetting this story as you did with Genoa, you should be done in no time.
You are sitting at the loser table.
- At your wedding, what else is available? - There goes your plus one.
All right, look, what I need is an assurance that it's safe for Neal to come out of the dark.
The government is not going to make a move on either of you until Friday, and then hopefully never.
- They're still walking out of here with - Shh, shh, shh.
Agents Levy, Hutchinson, thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
You're getting the fish and the fish is gonna suck! You're talking about your own wedding.
- She's got a point.
- Where's Neal? - I don't know.
- Come on.
- I don't know where he is.
- Good.
- You did something right.
- He's safe.
What? He's safe.
That's all I know.
And don't ask me about it again, okay? Yeah.
Can I speak with you? I'm not sure I like the deal you just made.
I don't care.
How do you know he's safe? It's a premonition.
Did you Fucking hell.
- Did you tell him where to go? - No.
- Did you give him money? A bus ticket? - No.
What happens Friday night? The investigators are gonna ask you and Neal to tell them everything you can without revealing the source.
If they can connect the dots without the identity of the source, great.
If they can't? I don't know a district court judge who's ever let a reporter keep his source when national security was involved.
And who decides if national security is involved? - The judge.
- You see my problem? The judge is the one who's supposed to decide, not Matthew Broderick in WarGames, not Neal, and not me.
- That's a prosecutor talking.
- Yes, it is.
And how are we supposed to be in DC Friday night? - We do the news here at 8:00.
- The meeting's at midnight.
All right, obviously we'll talk more before then.
But for now just go drink Home.
Just go home.
That stunt with the cameras, that wasn't cool.
Neither am I.
All right.
We give them everything they want, and in exchange we get to not go to jail? We also get to run the story.
We get the guidance we need to run the story without risking national security or anyone's life.
Good night.
I'm only going to ask you once.
Do you really know the identity of the source? - Yes.
- That was stupid.
That was something I would do.
They're not gonna lock me up.
I'm too big to jail.
Until about half an hour ago, I thought they wouldn't raid a newsroom.
They've got his hard drive now and if there's anything on there that shows he's aided and abetted, then you and Neal are in two very different situations.
He used an air-gapped computer, remember? - And where is he? - I don't know.
- Are you lying to me? - No.
You know, since it's not possible for everyone to like you, I really think I wasn't trying to get the FBI to like me.
They just happen to be the only ones in the room authorized to do what they're doing.
Why do we have a loser table? - Your friends.
- All right.
Hi.
I have here an EPA report that's been - Hi.
- Hi.
I have here an EPA report that's been embargoed.
- How did you get it? - It doesn't matter.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego measured the levels of carbon dioxide atop Mauna Loa, a volcano in Hawaii, and found that it's passed a long-feared milestone, which is a concentration not seen on Earth in millions of years.
Here's what happened.
You started talking about CO2 levels and I started thinking about other things in my head.
CO2 is a gas.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which is made up of professional scientists, measured the level of CO2 in the air and found The Mets need speed.
The Mets need power.
The Mets need pitching.
That's what I'm thinking about right now.
Living things need oxygen to stay alive.
- I want a hot dog right now.
- Look Have you come to me for help? - Have I - Come to me for help? - No.
- What can I do for you? I'd like some advice.
What's another word for advice? - Look - You showed a lot of wisdom coming to me for help.
- I don't need help.
- Great.
- I need help.
- Hit me.
Yeah, I think you know what I meant.
Yeah, I think I did.
This is an embargoed EPA report.
- How'd you get it? - Doesn't matter.
The last time the levels were this high was three million years ago.
- We survived it then, right? - No, there were no humans.
It wiped out all the humans? There were no humans before, you moron.
Talking like that is no way to get me to help you.
The last time the CO2 level was this high, the climate was far warmer, the ice caps were smaller, the sea levels Scientists believe that humanity is precipitating a return to those conditions, only this time - Billions of people are in harm's way.
- Yes.
I would take any one of the three Speed, power, or pitching.
And this is my problem.
- That environmental stories aren't exciting? - Right.
I've been doing a dramatic rendering of that problem.
This report says the world is coming to an end.
I am preparing an interview for Will to conduct on Friday with the the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
On Friday when everybody watches the news.
Mac's put it in the B block.
When I asked her what story she felt was going to trump the end of the world, she said, "I don't know, but I'm sure something will come up.
" So you want this to feel more like a Jim Harper segment and less like a Maggie Jordan segment? Just say yes.
- Yes.
- Have you marked this up? Yeah.
There's nothing unimportant in there.
Then what was the point of highlighting it? To amplify its importance.
And how much time do we have to tell our audience about the end of the world? - Four minutes and 10 seconds.
- Who's the interview with? The Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
We can't get the head of the EPA? There is no head of the EPA.
Tell me when you're done reading the report - so I can explain it to you.
- I'll be able to understand it.
- Without Neal here to help? - I know how to use a dictionary.
Without Neal here to show you? Looking forward to working with you.
I'm dreading it.
Have a good day.
How'd you get the report? Ahem, CO2 means two parts of oxygen for every one part of carbon.
I know that.
Wait Yeah, I know that.
- Yeah, I'll let him know.
- Thanks.
Ahem.
Reese and Mrs.
Lansing are on their way down to see you.
- They're coming down here? - Yeah.
You sure they didn't want me to come up there? No, they're on their way.
Everyone knows something's going on.
We just don't know what.
Yeah, I know.
Just show them in when they get here.
They're here.
Thank you.
Leona, I didn't know you knew where my office was.
I followed Reese.
I'm assuming you didn't come down to tell me - you found $4 billion in the glove compartment.
- Well, I tried.
The glove compartment may be the only place I haven't looked.
Where do you look for that kind of money, just out of curiosity? We offered shares to a special investor to buy up a portion of the company and dilute the ownership stake of the twins, but we hit a roadblock with the board.
We thought about changing the bylaws, but the lawyer said it wouldn't hold.
We tried banks and hedge funds, but they know we're already too leveraged.
I have a $58 million Jackson Pollock, $140 million yacht.
It's not nearly enough collateral.
Boy, listen closely, you can almost hear someone singing "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" - Yeah, I know.
- I had a perfectly good idea.
- No, you didn't.
- What was it? Poison them.
Poison my half-brother and sister.
Just go Shakespeare on their ass.
- I know people, you know people.
- I don't know people.
All right, well, there's no such thing as a bad idea.
Yes, there is such a thing as a bad idea.
Horizontal stripes.
That.
I think I know what's coming.
- Charlie.
- Yeah? Randy and Blair, but especially Blair, and mostly Blair, have to be stopped from selling their shares to Savannah.
The only way to raise the money before they Is to spin off ACN.
Yeah.
The buyer is a man named Lucas Pruit.
He's 43 and lives In Palo Alto.
No wife, no kids.
Stanford '92.
Harvard MBA.
Goldman for five years as a tech analyst, then he left to start his own company.
Yeah, I don't know what they do.
They made a WiFi accelerator.
He's the 1,398th richest person in the world.
Can I ask some questions? - Did they try to dilute the twins' ownership stake? - Yes.
- Changing the bylaws? - Lawyer said no.
Offering long-term contracts and platinum They tried everything.
What about selling another division? Why us? Tax consequences.
We were the right price.
- And - It's a trophy sale.
Yeah.
Owning a news network's cooler than owning a location detection software company.
Would you coven of knee-jerk, lefty bigots not condemn the man until after he's said hello? I know he's committed the unpardonable crime of making a lot of money, but perhaps in spite of his talent, hard work, and enormous accomplishments, he's still a decent guy.
Yeah, whose ideas are worth listening to.
Yeah.
Wait, what? - He has ideas? - Yeah.
So here's what I need us to do.
What you need us to do or what the Lansings need us to do? At this moment, what the Lansings want is what I want.
They spent the last year doing nothing but standing by us when it made a lot more sense to not.
Not to.
Not to stand by To not stand by - I'm saying it would have made more sense - Find your way home.
- to dump us.
- I agree.
And since the alternative to selling ACN to Pruit is ACN being dissolved by Savannah Capital, - we're gonna love his ideas.
- Sure.
Saturday night at the Correspondents' Dinner.
We're not going to the Correspondents' Dinner.
- We are now.
- I can't.
The Justice Department is Friday night and the Correspondents' Dinner is Saturday.
We can't go because last year he railed against the Correspondents' Dinner and said we'd no longer be going.
- Where? - To the Correspondents' Dinner.
- Where did you rail against it? - On TV.
- What network? - This one.
My show.
I think I remember now.
"ACN won't be attending the Saturnalia of incestuous ingratiation" - Oh, brother.
- "that does little to instill confidence in the public that the press isn't ensorcelled by the powerful.
" I think I was trying to quit smoking that week.
Well, don't do that again, 'cause that was some huckleberry-bad writing.
- What do you want us to do? - Go anyway.
Yeah, you got to eat it.
Hope nobody remembers your on-air bacchanal of boisterous buffoonery 'cause Pruit wants to meet you.
And Leona says he wants to be charmed.
- What do I do? - Be the charming one.
- And what do you do? - Clean up when she goes berserk.
I do not go berserk, you addle-minded bit of American tripe.
This is a sad day for dignity.
I'll need a dress.
This is the part I keep tripping on.
- What's that? - I'm still looking at your contract.
my young friend.
Grover Cleveland's on the $1,000 bill? Back when we printed them.
They're not in circulation anymore, but imagine 45 of them.
That'll give you a sense of my annual salary beginning Monday.
It's not Jim Harper money, but it'll pay the rent.
As long as I don't pay any other bills.
It's more than 45 with the incentives.
I know, but I'm not counting my chickens.
- Do you feel like - Just my Clevelands.
Okay.
- What were you gonna say? - Nothing.
- What? - The incentives.
James, they're not incentives, they're bonuses.
- For page views.
- Yeah.
The more page views you get, the more money you're paid.
Welcome to capitalism.
We're happy to have you.
They're bonuses, they're not incentives.
- Hallie, look.
- What? - If you're okay with it, be okay with it.
- I am.
If you were, then you wouldn't need to call it something else.
It says bonuses right there.
I'm not the one calling it something else.
If you're writing about a cabinet secretary who testified in front of the House Oversight Committee, are you more likely to write about the content of the testimony or "Cabinet Secretary Blasts Darrell Issa"? Your hero is Will McAvoy, right? - He's getting there.
- Your hero is Ed Murrow, right? - Yeah.
- Will is paid millions of dollars a year and Murrow was paid the equivalent of millions of dollars a year for the same reason anyone in the private sector is paid anything Their ability to make money for other people.
Will doesn't get paid per view or per story.
That's either heart-stopping naiveté or denial.
Our rundown meetings don't include a discussion of what's grabby.
And after a week of covering Boston, you're now in fourth place.
And Charlie makes sure we don't care.
That's my point.
I understand how market forces work in the news, but journalists have always been the people pushing back against them.
And now you're being incentivized to My incentives are no different than a reporter at The New York Times.
If those reporters were being paid per person reading their story, the front page of the Times would look a lot different.
And because it doesn't look a lot different, there are a lot fewer people reading their stories.
Who, Hallie, gives a genuine shit how many people are reading a story if the story is hyped? Someone who gets paid per page view.
Your confidence in my integrity moves me in ways I don't even know what to do.
- Don't take this job.
- This is an exciting startup founded by people - Who are self-serving tools.
- That's exactly what they say about you.
And you don't think that has something to do with why they want to hire you? Hmm? Someone who just got fired from ACN for tweeting a snarky joke? I think my talent has something to do with why they want to hire me.
Of course your talent is why they want to hire you, but are you the only talented person that they interviewed? I'm the most talented person that they interviewed.
- I believe that.
- You believe they want to hire me because I have an ax to grind with ACN, which, for the 100th time, I do not.
You know a lot of things, Hallie, because of me.
You know a lot about Genoa.
You know a lot about private behavior in the newsroom.
- Look - And you know some things about Neal.
Not everything, but you know some things.
And it's really dangerous.
You think I'd tell secrets? Things you've told me in this room? What's your bonus again? - Holy shit.
- I was kidding.
The only way for you to get out of this conversation alive is to roll over, turn off the light, and go to sleep.
- I was kidding.
- Do what I said.
We're not supposed to go to bed mad.
Honey, it would take a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to move me to mad from my current level of furious.
So turn off the fucking light, go to sleep, and we'll try this again tomorrow.
Okay.
Don't go to sleep.
We're gonna talk about this.
Okay.
They should be here any second.
You're the first person I've ever met named Wyatt.
It's a family name.
How'd you like to have Earp as a last name? That had to be tough on the playground, hmm? Maybe that's how he got so tough.
Am I making you nervous? No.
Sometimes people get nervous around HR.
I don't get nervous.
You know who gets nervous? Criminals.
Come on in.
Gary Cooper, Alex Thacker, this is Wyatt Geary and he is the new VP of Human Resources for AWM.
- Please have a seat.
- There are no chairs left.
- Alex, HR received a complaint from you.
- That's right.
And it was kicked down the chain from Charlie to Mac to me.
So why don't you tell us what happened? It's in the report I wrote that's in front of you.
Yes, I want them to tell me in their own words.
- Don, it's really nothing.
- I have no doubt.
- It's not nothing.
- Okay.
You asked for 20 seconds of copy for Elliot on Justin Bieber visiting Anne Frank's house.
Why, you know, in the world would I do that? Because Bieber signed the guestbook on his way out and wrote "Hopefully she would have been a Belieber.
" And then you and Elliot got drunk and you told him you'd give him $100 if he could read the story off the prompter without laughing.
Once again, this is the new HR rep for our parent company.
The copy should have been assigned to me, but Gary assigned it to Stacey.
Once I give it to Gary, Gary gets to make that call.
Based on merit, not based on who he prefers to sleep with at any particular moment.
I'm not sleeping and I've never slept with Stacey.
That may or may not be, but probably is a lie.
What we know for sure is Gary flirted with me, hit on me, took me out five times, slept with me twice, and then dumped me in a pile with the rest of the staffers he's used for his pleasure.
I can't emphasize this enough This is the new HR rep.
And I'm fine with all of that.
- So we're cool.
- No.
What I am not fine with is being passed over for an assignment at work because I exercised poor judgment in my personal life.
I gave it to her because she's better at this kind of thing.
What kind of thing? The intersection of pop culture and the Holocaust.
- That might sound crazy.
- It did.
Look, I've gone out with several of the women in this building.
Maybe you don't understand what HR does.
You're saying Stacey is a better writer than I am? - She's a different writer than you.
- Different? Like I'm tired of this one, so I'll try a different one? I told Gary to give it to Stacey, all right? He is covering for me.
I told him to give it to her because she is a better writer than you are.
Well, what am I supposed to do? Write better.
That's it.
Thank you both.
Thank you.
All right.
Close the books on that one.
Fraternization between superiors and subordinates exposes the company to all kinds of problems, - including the one you just saw.
- And we don't tolerate it.
- You're the EP of the 10:00 hour.
- I am.
- Which is sometimes anchored by Sloan Sabbith.
- Yes.
So if you and Sloan Sabbith were in a relationship, there's a chance we'd have to move one of you to a different bureau.
- DC or LA.
- Yeah, but we're not.
- Are you sure about that? - Am I sure? - Yes.
- Yes.
Because then lying about it would make it worse.
Mm-hmm.
I can see that.
My predecessor was pretty relaxed about this kind of thing.
And we're already in a tricky spot with Will McAvoy marrying his EP.
But no one's gonna mess with Will, so I guess my point is if you're going to date a subordinate, you better have stronger ratings.
I don't see our ratings going up any time soon, so I guess I'll just keep the company directory in the drawer.
- Okay.
- Okay.
Can you tell me how to get to Sloan Sabbith's office? Back to the elevators and it's on 22.
Thank you.
Welcome to the company.
Ahem.
We're not dating.
Okay.
Hey.
Ahem, "What forms of alternative energy are real options to replace coal and gasoline, and why are they taking so long to assume sizable parts of the marketplace?" - Great question.
- Yeah, you wrote it.
I thought the idea was to figure out a way to capture people's attention with the report and the interview with the head of the EPA.
You said he was the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
So let's be sure we identify him, you know, right.
Yeah, but I think that's the least of our problems.
No, it's not.
It's just the first of our problems.
And I'm saying the guy has a job and a title and can we not hype it up? I have confidence in the graphic, but where I need your help Is in hyping it up.
The air has a very dangerous level of poison gas in it.
Why do we have to write Will questions like it's a sex test in Sex, you know, Magazine or something? - Sex Magazine? - Yeah, I couldn't think of a real We've switched sides.
Yesterday you told me I was boring you.
I was wrong.
"China's demand for coal is increasing as it continues to urbanize and industrialize, but so has its demand for solar power and wind energy.
" - That isn't even a question.
- No, look.
"Your thoughts?" I want to hear his thoughts.
I came over and told you about the EPA report - and the interview Friday with Richard Westbrook.
- Yeah.
You told me I was boring you.
I asked for help.
You gloated.
And then what? Did you know there are online news outlets that offer bonuses to their reporters for page views? - Yes.
- I didn't know that.
That's because you live in the time of King Arthur along with Don, Will, and Charlie.
I don't live in the time of King Arthur.
You live in the time of King Arthur.
You don't see an immediate danger in offering cash for trash on a news site? I understand.
Thank you.
You were a dick to Hallie.
- No, I wasn't.
- Tiny bit dicky? What am I supposed to say when she comes home with a contract for a job at a new website called "Carnivore"? "Congratulations.
" I said congratulations.
I supported her ass off.
- And then? - I saw the contract.
- And you were a dick.
- I wasn't.
A little bit Dickensian in your special way that says, "I love you, but you suck.
" She got fired.
She was humiliated.
And I'm sure you were there for her, but I'm also 100% certain there was something in your voice that said, "You deserved it.
" Ahem, I don't want what I'm about to say to be misconstrued as agreeing with you, but I'll try to be conscious of that and do better.
Good.
Who are you bringing to the Correspondents' Dinner? I met a really nice guy on the train back from Boston.
Guess what he teaches at Fordham Law School.
- What? - Ethics.
Leave it to you to find the only person in the world who can make money being ethical.
I know.
How did you get the EPA report and the exclusive interview? This was really the best place to meet? - Yeah.
Were you followed? - No.
- You were followed.
- By who? Me, just to show you that I can.
Just stand up a second.
You asked for the meeting.
Please.
We've known each other since we were too young to rent a car.
That's the only reason I'm here.
If anyone knew I was, I'd be asked to hand over my badge and my gun and I would never in my life be able to get a job that required trustworthiness.
Can you think of a job that doesn't? - No.
- So there we are.
We found some compelling evidence on Neal's hard drive that he helped his source transfer the docs from the SIPRNet.
How compelling? If you're able to contact him I don't know if you are but if someone is able to contact him, they should tell him to come in.
He needs a lawyer and he needs to cooperate.
To commit the crime you're suggesting, Neal would have had to have had knowledge he was committing a crime, knowledge he couldn't possibly have had when the source contacted him.
A reporter you'd be willing to work with can't tell the difference between a credible source and a fugazi? Yes, I'd be willing to work with Dan Rather and CBS News.
We don't want Neal.
We want We have to have his source.
This is a bad guy.
And what are you gonna do to Neal to get his name? We're not gonna throw a bag over his head.
But you are gonna threaten him with conspiracy to commit espionage.
It's not gonna be an idle threat.
Our experts were very impressed with his technical sophistication.
You can bring him in or we can kick his door down.
Okay.
You know you just revealed to me that you knew he helped with the document transfer.
Yeah.
Trust.
Thanks for meeting me so late.
What's going on? I want to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth, but I don't want you to tell me any more than you're asked.
All right.
Is anyone in touch with Neal? Through an uncle who talks to his cousin? Anything? Yes, somebody's in touch with Neal.
Get a message to him to come in.
Friday night in DC at Main Justice.
He'll have immunity at the meeting.
What about after the meeting? No reporter's ever been charged under the Espionage Act.
All right.
Okay.
Anzar Tsarnaev, the father of - Stand by, G7 and 7A.
- Standing.
will be traveling from Russia to the US this week.
Meanwhile, Jahar remains hospitalized - and no date yet has been set for his arraignment.
- Go 7.
Today the federal government released a startling finding on the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
We'll have EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Richard - Ready SOT-4.
- Ready.
- But first, ACN's Maggie Jordan filed this report.
- Go SOT-4.
A grave warning today from scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The world has passed a long-feared milestone.
- Mr.
Westbrook? - Yeah.
I'll take you to the studio now.
Okay.
reaching a concentration not seen on the Earth for millions of years.
Scientists took this reading Will, we're running light.
- Can you tease the interview out another 40 seconds? - Yeah.
30 seconds.
- How are you? I'm Will.
- Nice to meet you.
So there won't be any hard questions.
I'm just gonna ask you to expand on the report.
Pretend you're an expert witness and I'm your lawyer.
- Sounds good.
- In 10.
- Here we go.
- Stand by, camera one.
the 450 parts per million will soon be crossed.
The question remains, how will we respond? And joining us now in studio is Richard Westbrook, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
- Welcome.
- Thank you.
Mr.
Westbrook, you've spent most of your professional career as a climate scientist in the public sector.
Yes, 10 years as a supervisory management analyst in the Office of Environmental Information.
And before that, I was a program specialist in the EPA's Resource Management Division.
And you have a PhD in climate science from Stanford.
Yes, and another in chemistry with a masters in biology.
Okay.
Tell us about the findings in the report that was just released.
The latest measurements taken at Mauna Loa in Hawaii indicate a CO2 level of 400 parts per million.
Just so we know what we're talking about, if you were a doctor and we were the patient, what's your prognosis? A person has already been born who will die due to catastrophic failure of the planet.
What did he just say? - Okay, can you expand on that? - Sure.
The last time there was this much CO2 in the air, the oceans were 80 feet higher than they are now.
Two things you should know Half the world's population lives within 120 miles of an ocean.
- And the other? - Humans can't breathe under water.
You're saying the situation's dire? Not exactly.
Your house is burning to the ground, the situation's dire.
Your house has already burned to the ground, the situation's over.
So what can we do to reverse this? - There's a lot we could do.
- Good.
If it were 20 years ago or even 10 years ago.
But now No.
Can you make an analogy that might help us understand? Sure.
It's as if you're sitting in your car in your garage with the engine running and the door closed and you've slipped into unconsciousness.
And that That's it.
What if someone comes and opens the door? - You're already dead.
- What if the person got there in time? - You'd be saved.
- Okay.
So now what's the CO2 equivalent of the getting there on time? Shutting off the car You sound like you're saying it's hopeless.
Yeah.
Is that the administration's position or yours? There isn't a position on this any more than there's a position on the temperature at which water boils.
The administration Let me try to Your administration And don't forget I need you to stretch 40.
clean coal, nuclear power, raising fuel economy standards and building a more efficient electrical grid.
- Yes.
- And? That would have been great.
Let's see if we can't find a better spin.
People are starting their weekends.
The report says we can release without the effects being calamitous.
It says we can only release 565 gigatons.
So, what if we only release 564? Well, then we would have a reasonable shot at some form of dystopian, post-apocalyptic life.
But the carbon dioxide in the oil that we've already leased is 2,795 gigatons.
So What would all this look like? Well, mass migrations, food and water shortages, spread of deadly disease, endless wildfires.
Way too many to keep under control.
Storms that have the power to level cities, blacken out the sky, and create permanent darkness.
Are you gonna get in trouble for saying this publically? Who cares? Mr.
Westbrook, we want to inform people, but we don't want to alarm them.
Can you give us a reason to be optimistic? Well, that's the thing, Will.
Americans are optimistic by nature.
And if we face this problem head on, if we listen to our best scientists, and act decisively and passionately, I still don't see any way we can survive.
Okay, Richard Westbrook, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the EPA.
- Thank you for joining us.
- Thanks for having me.
This is News Night.
We'll be back right after this.
Herb? Yeah, yeah.
We're out.
Is this a tactic, making us wait? Have you done this? Look, US, US, US, US.
We're on the same team.
But, yes, it's a tactic.
When we meet Pruit tomorrow night, let's not mention this.
He's gonna find out sooner or later.
I want it to be later, after his check clears.
- Maybe he's - Don't get up.
I'm Barry Lasenthal, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
- You're Rebecca Halliday? - Yes, sir.
You've let your clients know there'll be no record of this meeting? - Yes.
- I wish there was.
- What's that? - I said I wish there was.
Do you mind if I ask why you're sitting so far away? I do mind.
Would you like to register a complaint? Reporters having their asses hauled into the Justice Department doesn't sit well I'll see that your concerns make it straight to the children of undercover agents who've been killed when their identities were made known.
You're bringing out your queen a little early, aren't you? Mr.
Lasenthal, our intention is to work with the FBI or any relevant officials as we've always done in the past to ensure the story is responsibly reported.
But it'll be reported.
Not my pig, not my farm.
I don't know that expression.
He's saying someone else is handling the story.
See, Will is from Nebraska, too.
But I wasn't recruited by Nebraska, so I played fullback at A&M.
And we lost to Nebraska all four years I was there.
Whew.
The story is someone else's concern.
But I can tell you if you report news that was gathered illegally, you'll face criminal fines in an amount that will bankrupt you.
They understand that.
Let's begin.
My problem is what's on that flash drive.
- Let's begin.
- Are you running this meeting? - When I need to.
- How about we cool it, okay? You want to see what information we can give you without us naming the source, and that's fair.
But any conversation has to start with our knowing that Neal Sampat is safe from prosecution.
He is safe from prosecution.
We need that in writing.
Neal Sampat is in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
He flew there yesterday from Calgary International Airport by way of Cuba.
Not for nothing, but this is a building full of lawyers who'd have no problem making that look an awful lot to a jury like tradecraft from a dark-skinned young man.
Now maybe it's just a coincidence, but in all three of those pictures, he's looking over his shoulder a little.
He'll be doing that for the rest of his life.
- That's his punishment.
- Punishment for what? I don't believe what His punishment? Punishment for what? We're a couple of inches away from being able to show he induced his source to commit a felony.
You're a long way off from demonstrating that he had knowledge he was committing a crime.
Closer now that he's vacationing in a country with no extradition treaty.
Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of this kid.
I've seen some things, you know? I have been around, but we've got to work on getting him back now.
Counsel, ask your questions.
What time did Mr.
Sampat first make contact? Monday evening, April 15.
A week ago Monday.
Where was he at the time? His desk at ACN's New York bureau.
The source made contact with Mr.
Sampat, not the other way.
My next question was how was contact made.
The source contacted Neal over ACN.
com and asked for his encryption key.
- And what was his response? - To give it to him.
And then the source asked for a higher level of encryption? I won't answer that at this time.
Did Mr.
Sampat tell you the name of the source? - Yes.
- Did he tell you anything else about the source? - Yes.
- Will you tell us the name of the source? - No, sir.
- Will you tell us anything else about the source? - No.
- Well, you've got a problem.
For one thing, it's a myth that the First Amendment protects you in situations like this.
Branzburg v.
Hayes Justice Powell made it clear the exception exists.
Not clear enough.
A laptop computer was purchased with your American Express card at the Best Buy at 44th and 5th in Manhattan, but the signature on the receipt doesn't match your handwriting.
You gave your credit card to Neal Sampat to buy an air-gapped computer, right? This ends our cooperation.
What I think is this is exactly where you were going.
See, what I think is that either to protect Neal or be a hero or both, you engineered this whole thing so that Neal was cleared out and you were left holding the bag.
But you forgot what else was in the bag.
This receipt.
Who's the source, Will? No one has to know you gave him up.
No one has to know it was you.
- I'll tell you what, Mr.
Lasenthal.
- Yeah? - You're bad at this.
- Is that right? You come in here like Brian Dennehy.
You're at the other end of the table 'cause it's some Jedi mind shit you were taught at a three-day seminar in Hilton Head.
I was the one most apt to cooperate.
The agents must have reported that to you.
That's the signal I was sending you.
But you insulted our lawyer and you insulted my producer who happens to be my fiancée, which you also know.
And you insulted Charlie Skinner, which your people would have told you wasn't gonna make any of us happy.
And you threatened to bankrupt us and to have the same PR operation that got 38 people killed turn Neal into a radical.
Yeah, I moved the pieces so they'd end up looking like this.
Except Neal's supposed to be in a Super 8 in Bayonne, New Jersey, and not South America.
And I did it because, while I have no doubt that you'd shake Neal up and down until he gave you the source, which would never happen, your jaw-dropping government overreach simply won't extend to putting a TV star in jail for contempt.
You bungled this and I can't help you anymore.
That's it.
I fucking hated losing to Nebraska.
I'd have thought you'd have gotten used to it.
I Look, I get it.
These days I look in the mirror and I have to admit I'm not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be.
Time passes, you get a little grey.
Hey.
Uh, Hallie Shea, Jim Harper, this is Jack Spaniel.
- Nice to meet you.
- It's nice to meet you.
How'd you two meet? It was on a train coming back from Boston.
Maggie overheard a man talking to a reporter, but passed on the story because she didn't like that she slid down in her seat to get it.
The man she overheard was so impressed by her ethics that he gave her an exclusive.
I teach ethics, so I was vocationally attracted to the situation.
And the story you got in exchange was that the world was coming to an end.
Pretty good for a Friday.
It almost sounds like something you read in a tabloid.
Hey, nothing's wrong with tabloids.
Elvis ever comes back, you're not gonna read about it in The Washington Post.
Good point.
We are gonna get something to eat.
Oh, okay.
Was that for me, the ethics parable? I hadn't heard that story until just now.
Charlie wants to see everyone in five minutes in the kitchen in the west side of the building.
Okay.
You're the one who asked how they met.
I sent in at least three jokes that would have killed.
Those guys never use my jokes.
You know why? - I do.
- Speech writer snobbery.
I think it's something else.
Mmm, taste this.
It's fantastic.
What is it? I don't believe it.
He's here.
Sir, you really have to try this.
Delicious, right? Don, Sloan.
What a coincidence seeing you together.
Not really.
The whole staff is here.
It's a little bit more unusual that you're here.
I'm a vice president at the seventh largest media company in the world.
- Wyatt thinks we're dating.
- You and him? - Me and you.
- Are you serious? - Yep.
- Don and me? Have you Googled my romantic history? I date guys called Mr.
Chairman.
I date first round draft picks, high second round if it's a skill position.
You think I'm dating the EP of a 10:00 PM newscast that barely outrates a rerun of Just Shoot Me? I absolutely do.
And I'm gonna nail you.
Charlie wants to see everyone in the kitchen in the west end of the building in five minutes.
Okay.
See ya.
- Was that too much before? - That was way, way too much.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, do you happen to have any Schweppes Bitter Lemon? - Yes, ma'am.
- You have Schweppes? It's Canada Dry, I think.
My boss has to have Schweppes.
Do you happen to know if there's a nearby liquor store or a grocery store? I think you'd have to ask someone else.
They can carbonate lemon juice.
Your boss won't know the difference.
- He will.
- He sounds like a dream come true.
- He's actually a - Charlie Skinner? - Mr.
Pruit.
- Lucas.
You're the man I've been waiting for.
I looked for you in the ballroom.
I had to step out for a while to take a call.
- I knew I'd see you here.
- It's no problem.
I just looked for you in the ballroom.
- I'm sorry about that.
- No, no need.
Like I said, I had to take a call and I knew I'd see you here.
- Not a problem.
- What are you drinking? Unflavored Absolut Vodka with a capful of Schweppes Bitter Lemon poured over ice in a rocks glass.
They don't have Schweppes Bitter Lemon.
It eludes me why that should ever be the case, you know? - It just eludes me.
- I'll go out to a store.
- Gwen.
- Yeah? I'm not insane.
Just enjoy the party.
Thank you.
I don't think she's gonna work out.
We'll make sure our refrigerators are stocked.
Leona told me I'd be meeting you in the ballroom and then I'd be talking to you here at the party.
That was the plan.
But then, unfortunately, I had to take a call Work related? The call.
Was the call No, it was my daughter, as a matter of fact.
So we've met and now we're here and I'm looking forward to talking.
As I understand it, you're our last best hope for the network to stay on the air.
If I was a man with no choices, I'd kill myself.
Well, I guess that means I have a choice, so Would you like to talk about my intentions for the network? Yes, sir, I would.
My name is Lilly.
- Pleased to meet you.
- You're MacKenzie? ACN.
You're the one who decides if and when to air a story? I'm sorry, can I ask what this is about? I spoke to someone who works for you.
About what? I spoke to Neal.
- Are you saying - I'm the source.
Prove that.
because of disinformation we planted.
- Okay.
- Three of them - I sent Neal 27,000 - Stop talking.
Let me tell you what we're about.
Let me tell you what I'm about.
Disruption.
I can see fear in your eyes.
There almost always is.
What's an example of disruption as it would apply to a news network? User-generated content.
Crowdsourcing the news.
I'll tell you, Lucas, we just had in Boston Boston was a bad instance of crowdsourcing, but it was still disruption.
Why one channel? Why not 500? With no cost for content.
No cost for content on the other 499? - I'm just trying - I'm not talking about guys with head-cams in Syria.
I don't know.
Maybe I am.
A disaster channel.
A stalker channel.
I just did three.
Now you.
A channel where professionals investigate and report the news.
Danny Glover just came to mind.
We could have a channel devoted to people who are stalking Danny Glover.
- You think I'm kidding.
- No, I don't.
- They're gathering.
- Thanks.
I have to step away for a few minutes, but I'm looking forward to talking more about this.
No, you're not, but you will anyway.
Yeah.
You're at a party with nothing but reporters and government officials.
They don't know they're looking for me.
Why hasn't the story aired yet? You said we.
"We planted disinformation.
" - You work for BCD? - Yeah.
They're looking for someone inside the Pentagon.
When is the story running? - It's going to be reported.
- It's been a week.
We promised some people we'd hold a moment.
- The government.
- We have to work with them on national security.
They're gonna tell you everything is national security.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
If I don't see the story on your air by Wednesday, - I'm uploading it myself.
- You can't do that.
I'll just dump it on Gwyneth Paltrow's blog.
We don't know everything that's in it yet.
We have to work with the government.
I don't like that you're working with the government.
We don't want to get people killed.
What about What about them? A lot of people are sacrificing for you.
I expect your cooperation in return.
You'll have my cooperation for 96 hours.
That should give you the time to do what you need to do.
- Mac.
- Yeah? Charlie's gathering everyone in the kitchen on the west side of the building.
Okay.
The man had made his peace with the end of the world.
- Hi.
- Did you know the interview was gonna be like that? - Um, Mr.
McAvoy.
- That's not what we were expecting, was it, Maggie? - No.
- After 20 years at the EPA Hi his sense of logic could handle - and his mind packed up.
- I saw the interview, too.
When we went to commercial, I asked him if he'd changed his behavior at all.
- He said he stopped buying lottery tickets.
- Mr.
McAvoy.
- I understand his frustration.
- Sir! Guys, I'm sorry, could you give me just a second? I'm here all night.
Just a second.
That's a subpoena in your pocket, right? Sir, my name is Eli Shapiro.
I work for the US Department of Justice.
- They sent an intern.
- I'm Rebecca Halliday.
- You're supposed to give that to me.
- Oh.
Uh, Mr.
Mc - I'm sorry.
- Go ahead.
Don't be nervous.
Mr.
McAvoy, this is a subpoena for you to be sworn in before an investigative grand jury at 1 St.
Andrew's Plaza, Monday, April 29 at 10:00 AM.
You think it's possible I'm not as big a TV star as I thought?