"Previously on "Designated Survivor"..." "It's about the NATO summit." "The new French ambassador wanted to talk about nukes." "It's an opening to de-escalate." "There's enough explosives in here to blow up three Capitols." "She's been kidnapped." "She was looking into Browning Reed." "Agent Wells is convinced that the ex-C.E.O. Patrick Lloyd's involved with the conspiracy." "I'm brooming any connection between you," "Browning Reed, and the Capitol mission." "Soon, there'll be no paper trail whatsoever, and Agent Wells is contained." "Abe Leonard has eaten up everything I've fed him." "When are we gonna see something from him, then?" "Any day, I expect." "Since the attack at the Capitol, references to Browning Reed have been deleted." "If we find out who deleted these files... we find our traitor." "Be advised." "All security teams..." "Hey, Seth, you okay?" "Yeah, I'm sorry." "Uh, I-I don't know what's happening." "I-I don't usually get airsick." "Oh." "And to think, it's your first time on Air Force One, too." "Hey, Seth, look." "You can send this one to your mom, as well." "Time to rally, son." "We got to gaggle with the press before we land." "Yes." "Bad time?" "No." "Come on in." "I, uh..." "I think the pressure of his first international summit may have gotten to your press secretary." "And I just wondered how you're doing." "I'm fine." "Is Seth all right?" "Yeah, just a case of the jitters." "He'll get over it as soon as he realizes that a NATO summit is no different than an outsized cabinet meeting in a lot of different languages." "I hope it's that simple." "Are they gonna think that it's presumptuous of me, putting an initiative on the table?" "Hell no." "You're the president of the United States." "Right." "I know I'm not the negotiator that you are..." "Ah, don't sell yourself short." "You know, we may have different styles, Tom, but I think that's what makes us a good team." "The professor and the politician." "You give them the facts, and I'll twist their arms." "That works for me." "I know how important this is to you." "Yeah." "The arms control was going to be a priority of my second term." "Well..." "now it's our priority." "I don't care about your overtime." "No, you search everywhere... and then when you've done that, search it again." "Still nothing?" "No." "I got every agency in the country looking." "She knows how to take care of herself." "Yeah." "Where are you with the Browning Reed investigation?" "I got Chuck Russink coming in to help out." "Russink?" "You serious?" "He's a space cadet." "Hannah trusts him." "Whatever it takes, I guess." "I was gonna pay, Ms. Rhodes." "No, seriously." "I'll get it." "Where's our server?" "Will you guys excuse me a second?" "Yeah." "What?" "Hey, you." "Hey." "Hey." "How you doing?" "It's good to see you." "Oh, oh." "Emily Rhodes, meet my cousin, Nadia Espinosa." "It's a pleasure." "Hi." "You work for Congresswoman Yoshida, right?" "That's right." "How's that going?" "I love it." "I mean, it's great to be able to collaborate with good people." "Wow." "Are you sure you two are related?" "Yeah, I wonder all the time." "I need another beer." "Do you guys want anything?" "No, I'm good, thanks." "No, thank you." "So, POTUS is heading up to Toronto." "Yes." "The White House is all mine." "No, seriously, it's his first NATO summit." "First time out of the country." "Polls are high." "I mean, he's on a roll." "So are you." "I do have to admit, it feels good." "What about you?" "Are you gonna follow Hookstraten?" "No, she did offer, but, uh..." "I don't see myself working for the Secretary of Education." "It's not exactly the fast lane." "Let's just say, after you work in the West Wing, everything feels like a step down." "Well, just so you know," "I was not opposed to Hookstraten for V.P. Mm." "I think it would've been great to be working together again." "Yeah, it would've been." "It's Washington." "Anything can happen, right?" "And it usually does." "Yeah." "I should get back." "Thanks for stopping by." "So, we attend the general reception for 30 minutes, smile for the cameras, then we retreat to a hospitality suite" "I set up for select members of the Nuclear Planning Group." "That gives us a chance to start some lobbying before the general session." "Smart." "Well, it's not my first rodeo, son." "Now, our primary target is French Prime Minister Justine Massett." "Sharp as a tack and as chauvinistic as Joan of Arc." "She can be very prickly." "Why would she be?" "It was the French who wanted us to bring up arms reduction in the first place." "Yes." "Privately." "But in front of NATO, the French want us to bring up the initiative first, giving them an opportunity to criticize or even withdraw, if they so choose." "It's all part of the game..." "Don't stick your neck out if you don't have to." "Then there's Jonas Grottke, just re-elected as German Chancellor." "He's also a chairman of NATO's Nuclear Planning Group." "Strong ally." "Got you covered there." "Good." "One less thing for me to worry about." "The one unknown to me is Aruna Mahajan." "The first British Indian prime minister in U.K. history." "Fiercely independent but was able to forge a coalition and under extremely turbulent conditions." "Well, we have something in common." "True enough." "I can work with that." "What?" "Thank you." "Hey." "Mayday, mayday." "This is FBI Agent Hannah Wells." "Mayday." "FBI Agent Hannah Wells." "Mayday." "Mayday." "This is..." "Hannah Wells." "Hannah Wells, this is" "Coast Guard Station 142, Indian River." "Coast Guard Station 142 calling the ship Hannah Wells." "This is FBI Agent Hannah Wells." "Mayda..." "Unh!" "To begin, I want to thank you all for being here." "As you know, in addition to tomorrow's regular schedule, the United States will be introducing an initiative that would reduce NATO's nuclear arsenal." "Now, I want to be absolutely clear that this is a proposed weapons-reduction change, not a change in doctrine." "And it's entirely predicated upon the Russian Federation scaling back its strategic nuclear weapons in proportional response to NATO's actions, something that the Russian president has assured me he is ready to do." "What, you believe him, Cornelius?" "Yeah, I do." "On what basis?" "On the basis of our 20-year relationship and being able to tell when he's lying and when he's not." "And based on the fact that it is in the interest of all sides to agree on anything that will lead to a more stable and secure planet." "Despite recent disruptions to the world order, this is not the time to retreat into isolationism or populism." "This is the time to show that global cooperation can and will lead us to a safer future." "Not to mention that the way that we keep our nuclear arsenals is insanely expensive." "It's intriguing, Mr. President, but Poland and Slovakia have no nuclear weapons of our own." "We rely on your American nuclear umbrellas." "So what can you offer by way of a guarantee that our peace and our safety will still be protected?" "The closest thing I can offer to a guarantee is my word, not as Tom Kirkman, but as President of the United States, your most steadfast ally." "You can believe him there, Jozef." "We can all believe him." "Obviously, I am hoping for your support at tomorrow's summit." "Thank you." "France looks forward to your proposal." "I appreciate that, Madame." "This isn't on the White House tour." "Access to Agent Wells' office is extremely restricted." "Where is Hannah?" "On assignment." "Any chance we can recover those deleted Browning Reed files?" "Not without a time machine." "Someone ran a brute-force deletion program." "It's the mother of data erasers." "Cleaned them right off the White House servers." "So we got nothing." "I didn't say that." "Because there were so many files to begin with, whoever's been covering their tracks has been deleting them in small batches over the past few months." "There are only five files still remaining associated with Browning Reed." "Gonna need you to make copies and print them up." "Check this out." "It's a digital fingerprint left behind by the person who deleted the files." "Now, they tend to be unique, but if I'm good..." "And I like to think I am..." "I can program a trace and plant it in the remaining files." "So if the traitor tries to delete any of them, we can track the user back to an exact I.P. address." "Exactly." "How long will it take you to build a trace?" "A few hours?" "You got one." "Those files are the only lead to the insider, and once they're deleted, we got nothing." "No pressure, huh?" "Well, thank you." "Yes." "Thank you very much." "Well, that's it." "Our proposal is the third item on the agenda." "We're on our way." "No media, right?" "Nope." "Just you and 27 other leaders of the free world." "Relax, Tom." "All we're asking is to start a conversation that's long overdue." "Come in." "Seth." "Hey." "Sorry to disturb you, Mr. President." "I just, um, thought you should see this right away." "Why didn't we get a heads-up?" "We did." "Abe asked me about Al-Sakar a couple days ago, remember?" "Right." "We stonewalled." "I thought that was the end of it." "Then he published anyway." "So, what's our plan?" "This is total crap!" "We're figuring that out right now." "I'll call you back." "I knew Abe Leonard." "He was a good reporter until he started getting fast and loose with his sources." "You should have no problem shooting this one down." "Just tell them it's nothing but a big pack of lies." "No, I want our position to be that this is conjecture, but we will investigate all of the allegations." "Sorry, sir." "Why not just openly deny it if it's not true?" "Seth's right." "Deflecting this now is only gonna raise suspicion." "Yeah, the American people believe that we captured the terrorists responsible for the Capitol bombing." "This article says that we got the wrong guy." "I mean, if we don't push back hard now, confidence in the administration's gonna tank." "You can say that we're standing by our intelligence agencies and our military officials." "I'm sorry, Mr. President." "I don't think that goes far enough." "Just write it up and bring it back to me!" "Yes, sir." "What the hell was that?" "It's how I have to handle this." "You realize this story puts your credibility at risk." "Your 100 days, everything we want to do here, goes right out the window if you don't crush this right now." "I can't." "Why not?" "Because it's true." "Unbelievable." "A homegrown conspiracy?" "A possible traitor in the White House?" "Yeah." "And you didn't tell me?" "It was a matter of security." "Emily doesn't know." "Neither does Seth." "Well, I'm your Secretary of State, for God's sake." "I mean, I-I'm in the line of succession." "You didn't think you could trust me?" "This isn't a matter of trust." "The hell it's not!" "Now, I came out of retirement for you." "I put my legacy on the line for you!" "And this is how you repay me?" "!" "I thought I had it handled." "Well, you were wrong." "You were dead wrong, and now my head is on the block right along with yours!" "Well, I probably should've let you in." "That is the understatement of the year." "I have seen you exercise poor judgment before, Tom, but this takes the cake!" "Cornelius, I'm sorry if I offended you." "It's the last thing I wanted to do." "But the president of the United States has a responsibility to protect classified information and ongoing investigations." "This isn't a matter of trying to mislead the American people." "This is about trying to protect them." "And you should know that." "Now, I've made a mistake, and I am sorry." "But right now I need your counsel." "What are my options?" "You don't have any." "That's the problem." "You can't deny the story without committing perjury, and you can't confirm it without admitting that you still don't know who's behind all this, throwing the whole American country into a panic." "That's why we need Seth to buy us some time." "But how much time?" "The jackals are at the door, Mr. President." "I think we're really close to cracking this thing." "Do you really?" "Your lead investigator is missing, possibly dead." "The man who tried to kill you is still alive." "And the mole in the White House remains unknown." "It looks to me like you're doubling down on a mighty poor hand." "Well, it's the only hand I was given." "All right." "We brass it out." "This is Moss." "Yes." "Of course." "We'll be right there." "Our allies have requested our presence downstairs." "They want an explanation for the story." "Welcome back." "We're joined now by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Abe Leonard, whose story in today's New York Standard has raised serious questions about who was really responsible for the attack on our Capitol." "Welcome, Abe." "Thank you." "It's good to be here." "Let's start with the big headline." "Al-Sakar did not blow up the Capitol?" "No." "They didn't have the money or the manpower." "Their leader, Majid Nassar, was paid to take credit." "Paid?" "By whom?" "Nestor Lozano, the man who tried to assassinate President Kirkman." "Yet our government went after Majid Nassar..." "Actually captured him in a S.E.A.L. team raid where the commanding officer was killed." "I believe they were misled." "Misled by whom?" "Bad intelligence." "They bought the story Lozano was selling." "But who was he protecting?" "Whitaker." "Are you watching Abe Leonard on television?" "No, but I read his story." "It's all working." "Everyone's focused on the FBI, not us." "Well, that's great, but where did he get this stuff about Lozano?" "I don't know." "He did that on his own." "Well, he's treading on dangerous ground." "Not really." "He thinks Lozano's dead, just like everyone else." "Abe Leonard has served his purpose." "Roger that." "As I said, the president stands by our intelligence community and our military." "Answer the question, Seth." "Did Al-Sakar blow up the Capitol?" "That is the official explanation at this time." "But it could change?" "All I said is we're looking into the allegations." "So does that mean you don't know?" "It means we're looking into it." " Seth!" " Yes." "¿El presidente Kirkman está diciendo la verdad a la cumbre de la OTAN?" "Ah, see?" "A question about NATO." "Unfortunately, my Spanish is no longer as good." "Could you repeat the question?" "Perdon." "Is President Kirkman telling the NATO summit the truth?" "I've already answered this question." "Of course he's telling the truth." "If the president stands by his intelligence, why is he looking into the allegations?" "Sure." "So, I've tried to be perfectly clear." "You want answers." "The president wants answers." "Which is why he is looking into the allegations, okay?" "And he'll make a statement to the public at the appropriate time, but right now he is focused on the first NATO summit, which is what I would love to answer questions about." "This is Foerstel." "Special Agent Foerstel, this is Chief Petty Officer Lucy Fernandez," "U.S. Coast Guard, Indian River, Delaware." "We received a mayday call from Hannah Wells last night." "You found her?" "Not exactly, sir." "Uh, because of the static of the distress call, we thought that Hannah Wells was a ship." "It wasn't until we ran the call through a digital filter that we realized she was saying "FBI Agent Hannah Wells."" "Okay." "I don't understand." "Do you have her or not?" "We don't." "In response to the mayday, we scrambled an H-65 helicopter and a response boat to the coordinates, but the results were negative." "Okay." "So where does this leave us?" "Uh, we're working on a broadened search grid, factoring in current changes, but it's gonna take time." "All right." "I'm gonna be there within the hour." "I'm gonna want better answers than that." "Peter MacLeish was a brother to me." "You kill my family..." "I kill yours." "Jason..." "Good morning." "I know that there has been a great deal of speculation with regards to an article that was published in this morning's New York Standard." "Although I cannot confirm or deny the allegations," "I can tell you in confidence that my government is in the middle of an extensive investigation that is highly classified." "Unfortunately at this time, I cannot share that information with you because of reasons of national security." "Mr. President, you can be assured of our continued support." "Thank you, Chancellor." "Then, in the spirit of mutual understanding," "I suggest that we move over to the initiative regarding nuclear disarmament." "I'm sorry, Mr. President." "But France is not satisfied." "May I remind the new American president that when he initiated a mission to capture Majid Nassar in Algeria, we allowed him to use French airspace." "Spanish radar assets and Italian naval support were also employed." "Now, we must all face the fact that we supported you under what might turn into false pretenses." "We deserve to know if Al-Sakar did not perpetrate the Capitol bombing." "I'm afraid my government agrees, Mr. President." "We have learned from our mistakes in Iraq." "We cannot discuss your initiative any further without knowing the truth." "If my esteemed colleagues will excuse me, you are not seriously suggesting that the French and British don't have classified intelligence that they keep secret for reasons of national security." "Mais oui." "Of course we have our discretions, Secretary Moss." "But we also have reason to trust each other, a long history of cooperation and experience." "Monsieur Kirkman has no such history." "He is president only because the previous government was wiped out." "No, my point is... how can we trust someone who appears to be a..." "What's the word?" "Gaffeur." "Maladroit." "I believe the word you're searching for is "blunderer."" "Oui." "Who apparently abused article five of the NATO charter by asking us to assist him in going after the wrong target." "As I said earlier, Madame, I am not at liberty to comment on that any further than I already have." "Then France proposes tabling any discussion of the U.S. initiative until the president can say more and does." "All I can do... is ask you all, please... please do not allow my nation's domestic issues to interfere with our global objectives." "Then I move to have the Nuclear Planning Group revisit the initiative this afternoon." "The Nuclear Planning Group will meet after the morning session to... reconsider." "Thank you." "Now let's move to some of the less... controversial items on our agenda." "The trace has been planted." "If someone deletes these digital files, we'll be able to track the bastard." "Don't thank me all at once." " All right, all right." " Way to go, Abe!" "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "Thank you." "Go back to work." "Enough." "All right, thank you." "All right." "Thank you very much." " Good job." "Great job." " Thank you." "You didn't get my texts?" "Well, I've been busy making us famous." "Come in." "Abe Leonard, Alyssa Abboud." "Uh, are we here to discuss promotional opportunities?" "Actually, Alyssa's from Legal." "Oh." "The FBI wants to talk to you." "That's so predictable." "I just didn't expect it this soon." "Abe..." "For weeks, I couldn't get them on the phone." "They even put a tail on me to try and scare me off." "What?" "Now they want to talk?" "I mean, forget it." "I'm not talking to them." "We'd like you to." "I'm sorry." "What?" "They believe that you could be a potential witness in their investigation into the Capitol bombing." "No way." "I'm not giving up my sources!" "No one's asking you to." "So what are you asking me?" "To go in for an interview." "That's all." "See what they want." "Why should I?" "Because they can subpoena you if you don't." "Fine." "Let 'em." "What Alyssa's saying is if you go in voluntarily, it buys good will, for you and the paper..." "The paper that gave you the time and money and support to get this story." "Yeah, and possibly pick up another Pulitzer for their troubles." "I'm asking you, Abe." "This is what New York wants." "It's important to me." "Okay." "Well, I guess it's a date." "We'll leave together from here." "One hour." "What's her problem?" "She represents journalists." "Hey." "You never told me about Air Force One." "I can't believe you're asking me about that on a day like this." "I want to know how it went." "I'm really crazy-busy right now, Emily." "Everyone is crazy-busy right now, Seth." "Really quickly, just tell me, was it everything you'd hoped it'd be?" "Uh, let's just say that the anticipation far outweighed the actual event." "Mm." "So I heard." "What do you mean?" "Moss told you?" "He may have sent me a photo." "We are no longer friends." "Fernandez?" "Agent Foerstel." "Nice to meet you." "Status update." "We've covered this entire area." "So far, nothing." "It's unacceptable." "The ship must have disabled its transponder." "You add in rough seas and a low ceiling, it makes the search twice as difficult." "I need you to put every resource you have on this." "It's already being done, sir." "But, in my experience, it's hard to find a ship that doesn't want to be found." "I don't care." "Find it." "Come in." "It's the readout we drafted for the afternoon session..." "Minus the U.S. initiative." "It's just standard boilerplate." "If you're good with it, I'll get it out to the pool." "This is fine." "Send it out." "Thank you." "Seth..." "Thank you for what you did this afternoon." "Oh, you mean dying on the world stage?" "Yeah." "Pretty awful, wasn't it?" "Well, look, I'll be honest." "It was one of my more colorful briefings." "But your job is way harder than mine, especially right now." "I appreciate you saying that." "And I appreciate you not asking for more information." "Well, I've known you for a while now, sir." "Long enough to know that, uh, when you make a decision, it's for a good reason, and that's good enough for me." "Just wish it was good enough for the press." "Yeah." "Excuse me." "This might be important." "Seth Wright." "Thank you." "The Nuclear Planning Group voted." "They're not gonna be putting your initiative back on the agenda." "So that's it then." "Sir, the First Lady's on the phone for you." "Thank you." "I'm sorry, sir." "Next time." "Alex." "Hey." "Everything all right?" "We're fine." "How are you?" "I've been better." "I'm sorry." "I know this can't be easy." "No." "So, I've..." "I've been thinking about you all day." "You know, the story." "I-I think I understand." "Understand what?" "You shutting me out at the hospital when that FBI agent came to see you... the way you react every time Mike enters a room... the reason you can't let the family come back to the White House." "It's true, isn't it?" "Someone else blew up the Capitol, and you don't know who it is, do you?" "Tom?" "There are so many things I've wanted to tell you." "So many things I still want to tell you." "But you can't." "I was thinking, a year ago... the only thing I ever had to worry about on a weekday was whether or not I'd get to Penny's soccer practice on time." "That is a lifetime ago." "Yeah." "Tom, how can I help you?" "Don't lose faith in me." "Come on." "I'm always on your side, right?" "Okay?" "Got it." "Thanks." "I think we found 'em." "Where?" "Port of Baltimore." "They just received a call from an unscheduled freighter looking to unload cargo." "Location works out." "When it's estimated to arrive?" "Less than an hour." "Slip 216." "Yes." "Foerstel." "I need an HRT en route to the Port of Baltimore, Slip 216." "I'm gonna meet them there." "Mr. Leonard, thank you for coming in." "My pleasure." "Should we get started?" "Do I have to answer that?" "You don't agree." "That's not what I'm saying." "But you don't think it'll work." "What I think doesn't matter right now." "It's what the president thinks." "And I support the president." "Now, Prime Minister Massett has agreed to give you five minutes." "So..." "Make 'em count." "See you in five minutes." "Thank you." "Thank you, Madame, for seeing me." "You understand why we took the initiative off of the agenda." "I did not agree with it, but, yes, I understand." "I need to earn your trust." "Oh, not just me." "All of NATO." "Fine." "But I would like to start with France." "We began this dream of weapons reduction together." "And I will need you there to finish it." "And how do you expect to do that?" "By proving to you that the United States is serious about reducing the nuclear threat." "My country has 200 missiles in bunkers scattered across Europe." "Russia has twice that number." "The old dogmas of mutually assured destruction versus secondary strike capabilities need to be seriously re-examined, especially given the threat of our control systems being hacked." "It's a terrifying thought." "Yes, it is." "And the more weapons that are out there, the greater chance something could go wrong." "For me, it is very simple." "What kind of a world do we want to leave our children?" "You are a dreamer, sir." "Yes." "Yes, I am." "And I won't apologize for that." "I have asked Secretary Moss to begin bilateral negotiations with Russia in the hopes that you will join us soon." "Madame..." "I do hope you join us." "Because I believe wherever France goes, NATO will follow." "I hope we can discuss this more fully at the next summit." "I would like nothing more." "Ritter." "We got the son of a bitch." "Where is he?" "The West Wing." "Okay, our guy's on the move." "Go straight and take a right." "Yeah." "Keep going." "How much farther?" "Take a left at the end of the hallway." "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." "Actually take a right." "Um..." "No." "Wait." "Where am I going, Chuck?" "No, no, no, no." "Come on." "Come on." "What happened?" "Our guy." "He cloned his digital fingerprint." "Hey." "Hey." "Poor guy." "Not quite the trip he expected." "Not quite the trip anyone expected." "True enough." "Thank you." "What for?" "For standing by me." "Well... you didn't give me much choice." "If you go down, I go down with you." "I'm being serious." "Well, I am, too." "You know, you drive me nuts, Tom." "You're just so damn..." "academic at times," "I want to slap you upside the head." "But damn if I don't see something special in you, something that might..." "Well, might even approach greatness... if you don't trip over your own feet." "Thank you." "I think." "But we're not out of the woods yet." "Not by a long shot." "You may have salvaged some credibility with NATO for the time being, but we're gonna have a whole new firestorm waiting for us when we land." "I know." "You ready for it?" "I'm gonna have to be." "President Kirkman returns this afternoon to a very different political landscape than the one he left just yesterday." "Abe Leonard's bombshell story, which asserts Al-Sakar was not responsible for the attack at the Capitol, sent shock waves through Washington, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for the president, who's at the height of his first international trip." "Many are calling this the worst day of Kirkman's young presidency." "Let's go!" "Let's go!" " Let's go!" " Move up on my six." " Let's go." " Follow 'em up." "Go, go, go." "Go." "Go, go." "Here we go." " Freeze!" " FBI!" "See those hands!" "Go!" " Nothing." " Nothing, nothing." "Hey, hey." "Your right." "To your right." "Eyes open." "FBI!" "Put your hands up!" " Don't move!" "Do it now!" "Now!" " Hands up!" "Get down!" "Down!" " Let's go." " Take him downstairs." "We're all clear, sir." "I want every container opened and searched." "Wells is somewhere on board." "Find her." " Yes, sir." " Let's go!" "Let's get them down there now." "On the ground!" "This one's clear!" "All clear!" "All clear, sir." " Let's check the others." " What about this one?" "It's welded shut, sir." "Well, blow it." "Yeah, we're set here." "Here we go." "We're all set here." "Let's go!" "Fire in the hole!" "Cover!" " Go." " Door's open." "Hey, hey!" "On the ground right now!" "Get your hands behind your head!" " Get on your knees!" " Get down!" "Now!"