" Previously on "Designated Survivor"..." " Gun!" "No!" "Several bullet fragments lodged in your chest." "We need to operate as soon as possible." "you're now the acting president of the United States." "They found the shooter." "They're waiting for you at Command Ops." "President Kirkman would have wanted to take him alive." "That's a mistake." "Give the order." "Shoot to kill." "Execute." "Target neutralized." "your son will be safe as long as you do everything I tell you to do." "Hannah Wells?" "That's who they have in custody?" "Find out what she knows." "I'll give them to one person." "The president himself." "Clear the floor!" "I understand you have some things you want to tell me about Peter MacLeish." "sir." "I do." "MacLeish was hiding in a bomb shelter? there was a 34-second gap in the broadcast feed." "He knew exactly when to leave his seat." "He was involved from the very beginning." "What a monster." "MacLeish knew him?" "Yes." "They served together in Afghanistan." "code name "Catalan." "but I did feel I had enough to go to Speaker Hookstraten before MacLeish was confirmed." "Damn right you did." "What exactly happened there?" "I was attacked on the way to the hearing." "I was on my way to meet Speaker Hookstraten at the Rayburn Building." "tried to strangle me." "but he took my file." "Agent Ritter was able to secure another copy from the agency." "I feel so stupid." "sir." "Not her." "She saw right through him." "Mr. Vice President." "I thought you'd be at the hospital." " Just got back." " How is he?" " Recovering rapidly." "The president should be back in the residence by the end of the week." "Great news." "we noticed your team... that your team scheduled a press conference for later today." "I think the people need reassurance that their country remains in capable hands with President Kirkman in charge." " It's an admirable sentiment." "curious about the timing." "Perhaps we could take a look at your remarks." "Seth." "Thank you." "MacLeish was working with Al-Sakar." "Al-Sakar isn't behind the bombing." "I beg your pardon?" "he told me that he took responsibility for the attack in order to divert us from the real conspirators." "if it wasn't Al-Sakar..." "MacLeish couldn't have done this on his own." " Who is he working with?" " We don't know yet." "Charles Langdon is involved." "President Richmond's Chief of Staff?" "I thought he died in the bombing." "I can personally verify that he survived the explosion." "he's hiding out in some..." " Hey." " I'm sorry." "Alex." " Pleased to meet you." " Ma'am." "Please continue." "this information is only for you and your security team." "Tom." "I'll come back." "I assure you that wasn't necessary. but I have to agree with Agent Wells." "The First Lady isn't a part of your security team." "She doesn't have code-word clearance." "She knows about the threat assessment... sir." "You didn't say that at the time." "I'm saying it now." "we're dealing with a conspiracy so dangerous that nobody's safe." "And not only is sharing information with outside personnel a threat to national security." "It also puts the people you confide in at risk." "you need to tighten your circle." "Okay." "What do we do now?" "I want MacLeish in custody as soon as possible." "I'd say we consult with the Attorney General." "But we don't have an Attorney General." "I know someone we can trust." "Can I reach out to him?" "good." "I've got an office you could use." "We can get you in and out through covert access and maintain your cover story you're still in police custody." " You need to stay in the shadows." " Okay." "I want you to come back to me with a plan on how to get MacLeish." "The son of a bitch is gonna pay." "You can't stop him?" "The vice president has the authority to schedule his own press conferences." "what's this about a MacLeish press conference?" "The vice president has the authority to schedule but why now?" "You'd have to take that up with MacLeish." "but I have a laundry list of action items from POTUS." " When did you speak to him?" " About an hour ago." "he didn't say why you were looking into the phone calls I made" "I didn't think it was the right time to ask." "all right?" " Am I missing something here?" "Anyone?" "Why me?" "Because you're a former U.S. attorney." "You're a man of absolute integrity." "the president needs a legal advisor who's above reproach." "What you're asking is just a little above my pay grade." "it's above all of our pay grades." "What we're talking about is completely unprecedented. and I might have already told him that we can count on you." "So... can we?" "how can I refuse?" "President Kirkman a leader who has the virtue and strength and I couldn't be more thrilled to be welcoming him back to the helm." "The assassination attempt and the Capitol bombing were attacks on the very foundations and they failed..." " Did you know about this?" " Seth gave me a heads-up." " Time and time again..." " Wow..." "He's got some nerve going out on his own like that." "Woven together through common values." "I'd like to thank the brave law-enforcement officers who brought the..." "I need to go back to the White House." "you'll be out of here soon enough." "No." "I mean now." "I can't just sit here." "you just got shot." "You are lucky to be alive." "the people that are behind this are still out there." "There's a traitor in the White House." "I'm not gonna find them by just sitting here." "I need to tell you something." "What?" "Emily found out that it was Aaron" " who made that call to the Pentagon." " What?" "Why the hell is Emily talking to you about stuff like this?" "Why didn't she come to me?" "This is the first opportunity that we've had. there has to be some kind of explanation." "any number of people could have asked him to make that call." "but we have to consider the possibility that it is him. - and he can explain himself." " You can't." "you yourself said just the other day we can't trust anyone." "I watched Aaron fight tooth and nail to protect and secure my presidency." "I know." "I know." "If Aaron is involved with the terrorist - if - you're putting yourself at even more risk." "It's not exactly like I can freeze him out until I get to the bottom of this." "I need his help." "But there has to be a way to keep him at arm's length without arousing suspicion." "This is unbelievable." "the resources involved and the planning... a conspiracy that reaches all the way to the vice president." "I'm sorry I doubted you." "It's not just the Bureau." "The whole country owes you a great debt." "sir." "this isn't enough." "What?" "Why?" "It's one thing to know MacLeish is guilty." "It's another one to nail him for it." "What more do we need?" "I have the photos." " I have the..." " You're talking about accusing the vice president of the United States of being involved in one of the greatest crimes in history." "We need direct evidence tying him to the conspiracy." "much less make him sweat." "Then we find grounds." "We..." "We get someone and we flush him out." "Who?" "The gunman was our best bet." "He's dead." "MacLeish has other partners." "Right." "I thought you said you didn't have a lead on her." "I don't." "But Jason Atwood might." "Jason." "Hannah." "Leave us now." "Thank you." "I had them turned off." "just you and me." "It's good to see you." "How..." "How are you?" "What happened to you?" "It's nothing." "I'm okay." "How are you?" "How's my family?" "How's Luke?" " Nobody told you?" " Tell me what?" "I've been in solitary." "What happened?" "Luke is still missing." "What?" "Oh." "that wasn't the deal." "listen to me." " No. the blueprints." "There is nothing left for you to protect." "Tell me what you know about her." "Jason?" "Where did you get that?" "remember?" "The Weddle case." "I knew they had Luke." "I also knew this is how they got you to confess to Nassar's murder." "take your statement back." "Tell me everything you know." "if they know" " that I'm cooperating with you..." " They won't." "They had Nassar in a federal maximum-security prison and still got to him." "They're exposed now." "We know about MacLeish." " Jason..." " Hannah..." "Please." "We need your help." "You want to help me... find my son." "All I know is what the White House switchboard operator told me." "That Aaron made the call to the Secretary of Defense right before the threat-assessment memo" " was recalled by the Pentagon." " And he confronted you?" "Yes." "He found out I was making inquiries." "He was very upset." "He asked what I was doing." "I told him he needed to talk to you. but I'll handle it from here." "Are you sure you don't want me to follow up?" "I've got it." "Thank you." "Emily." "I need you to keep this conversation between us." "Understood?" " Of course." " Thank you." "do you?" "No." "I don't." "and so do you." "We're living in a different world today than we were yesterday." "sir." "send her in." "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice." "Madam Speaker." "I can only give you a few minutes." "This will take 30 seconds." "I need to see the president." "Ma'am..." "I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important." "but the president's still in recovery right now." "he's still conducting business." "but..." "So..." "I need to see him." "Why don't you tell me what it's regarding?" "And I'll relay it to him." "What this is regarding is strictly between me and the president." "All right." "I'm his Chief of Staff." "It's my job to know what's going on." "but not from me." "He'll know what this is about." "but I'm not gonna betray his confidence." "I'll try and schedule you in." "Thank you." "Try hard." "Absolutely not." "I can help find Luke Atwood." " Let me liaise with state police..." " Don't make this personal." "It is personal." "I promised Jason I would do everything I can." "and the boy has been a state-wide priority since he was taken." "You just saw me put three more agents on it myself." "each one of them is more qualified in missing persons than you." "Your job right now is to come up with a plan for the president." "You can't afford to have feelings." "I'm right." "And you know it." "Now let's get back to work." "let me say again how relieved Beth and I are to know you're okay." "That means a great deal." "You catch my remarks this morning?" "and I appreciated them." "Thank you." "you may have heard that there was some internal disagreement." "I gave the shoot-to-kill order 'cause I didn't want to see more innocent people get hurt. he wasn't gonna be taken alive." "I understand." "I might have handled it differently." "But if there's one thing I've learned it's how difficult it is to make life-and-death decisions under extreme pressure." "sir. but it did make me appreciate everything you've done for this country." "And then what did he say?" "He thanked me." "Then he told me he wants me to take over that's excellent." " That's what you'll do." " Yeah." "we lay low until further instruction." "What kind of instructions?" "Another attempt?" "I doubt it." "I think we consolidate our gains in the short term." "there are so many loose ends." "Peter." "Catalan is dead." "Agent Wells is in custody." "She'll be taken care of." "We'll get through this." "We always do." "I've never felt anger like this before. not even in grade school." "I was always the peacemaker." "I wanted to reach out and strangle him." "I think I could have killed him." "sir. not to mention a phalanx of Secret Service agents." "We just got to be patient." "lower his guard." "And when he does..." "He's mine." "Mr. President?" "Much better." "Thank you." "All right." "Where would you like to start?" "Let me begin." "I understand there's some tension between you and Emily." "She's been looking into my phone records." "At my direction." "I also asked her to keep you out of the loop." "May I ask why?" "Of course." "You..." "You deserve an explanation." "You're my Chief of Staff." "I have had to re-vet my entire inner circle." "Because of the bombing." "and... and it left more questions than answers." "sir." "I asked Emily to coordinate your background check." "she couldn't divulge what she was doing because it was classified." "Understood. not Emily's." "there's no need for apologies." "It all makes perfect sense now." "Okay." "Great." "What have you got? that you would know what it's about." "Something's here." "it'll fall out." "How can you be so sure?" "The eight surviving members of MacLeish's army unit have all been lying for a decade. something." "So what are you thinking?" "but carefully." "We can't afford to tip MacLeish off." "not shatter it." "Right." "No!" "Help!" "No!" "Hey." "I'm sorry." "I didn't mean to scare you." " Hey." " Hey." "Daddy?" " Yeah." "uh..." "I had a bad dream." "What do you got there?" "I drew it for you." "For me?" "Wow." "It's beautiful." "Did you steal it from a museum?" "No." "I drew it." "Daddy screamed." "He did not." "how... how long have you been standing there?" "Long enough to hear how good you are." "I didn't even know you played." "but now I just play to release stress." "And does it work?" "Sometimes." "I just got back from the hospital." "I-I get why you're being so cagey." "It was a matter of national security." "he asked me to vet you. he told me." "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "I-I was a bit of a jerk." "I get it." "It was stressful for both of us." "Yeah." "uh..." "You take any requests?" "I should get back." "Yeah." "me too." "See you around." "Yeah." "XL1200C Sportster." "That's a nice ride." "I can get you a good price on her once I'm through." "I think it's a little bit too much bike for me." " Alvin Joyner?" " Yeah." "FBI. about Captain MacLeish." "Alvin. especially when it involves the vice president of the United States." "But I need to cross a few T's and dot a few I's before we can officially close the file." "Is that okay?" "sure." "Shoot. your after-action report says you set out with 20 men." "Is that correct?" "Yeah." "Three squads." "But we weren't full strength." "and Rodriguez... was on family leave." "why does the outbound-helicopter manifest say 21 troops?" "I don't know." "Maybe somebody made a mistake." "so I asked and he said absolutely not." "He said they can't afford to make mistakes like that." "Lives depend on it." "I don't know what to tell you." "Alvin?" " No." "No." "No way." " You sure?" "Because the warrant officer said that sometimes outside personnel will be assigned to missions." "stuff like that." "Nope." "Never happened." "All right." "I guess we're done here then." " Good luck." " Thanks for your time." "Tell the president it's game on." "He's gonna run to MacLeish. but I wouldn't be doing mine if I didn't advise you against leaving the hospital so soon after surgery." "I understand completely." "But I really do have to get back." "It's a matter of national security." "And you were the one who said you were really happy with my progress." "but I also cautioned against undue stress." "I'm afraid I've got the wrong job for that." "See?" "You're not gonna win with him." "I will do everything I can to take it easy." "I think I outrank you." "but I really do need to get back." "You're gonna have to trust me." "I saw the way you looked watching that press conference." "What is going on?" " Is it MacLeish?" " I can't tell you." "you're not hearing me." "I can't tell you." "You mean the president can't tell me." "we're one and the same." "we're just coming back from Norfolk now." "it was fine." "broke a champagne bottle on a destroyer's bow." "It was strictly routine." "too." "Hey." "I saw your chalk mark." "What's up?" "It's Joyner." "He wants to see you." "Why?" "The FBI came to see him again today." "Again?" "What about?" "something to do with a helicopter manifest on the Kunar mission." "Helicopter manifest?" "Yeah." "It sounds like bureaucratic busywork to me." "it sounds like the end of it then." "Cap." "He took it harder than the rest of us." "He's been in and out of rehab." "Wouldn't take much to push him over the edge." "insisted that he had to... no." "Of course I'll see him." "Captain." "It's okay." "right?" "uh..." "Yeah." "21:00." "Roger that." "Okay." "I told the president you wanted to see him." "And?" "And he said he'd get back to you when he can." "Not good enough." "ma'am." "He's getting out of the hospital tonight." " Tonight?" "Why?" " Because he wants to get back to work." "if what you want to share with him just tell me." " It's about the gunman." "What about the gunman?" "I want to know why the FBI blew away our own Lee Harvey Oswald." "The suspect posed an immediate threat to law enforcement." "come on." "It was a cluster of epic proportions." "part of a group?" "We'll never know now." "But there was Vice President MacLeish this morning turning it into a victory lap." "ma'am." "Aaron." "What happened?" "yes or no?" "Even the President has his suspicions about MacLeish." "He told me so himself." "Or didn't he fill you in?" "What are you talking about?" "Of course he told me." "then you know that he asked me to keep an eye on MacLeish." "Aaron." " I'm sorry." "I can't... I'll just call a congressional hearing... or maybe a press conference." "You can't go public with this." "What are you trying to protect?" "Or should I say who are you trying to protect?" "it was you who pushed MacLeish for V.P." "that's low." "But accurate." "What happened last night?" "Fine." "I'll see you in committee." "We had the shooter contained. but MacLeish overruled them." "Why?" "He said he wanted to protect the lives of the men on the ground. but he... he gave the order anyway." "What order?" "Shoot to kill." "all right?" "Of course." "We start by limiting his access to national-security documents and intelligence briefings." "We do it under the guise of a staff-wide security review." "Aaron won't know he's being targeted." "good." "I want to keep it that way." "I also recommend we renew his TS/SCI clearance." "personal contacts." "not bury him." "sir." "Where does that put us with MacLeish?" "Trap has been set. just waiting for him to make a move. should he request it." "I guess the only thing left to do is wait." "sir." "Yeah." "You can't be serious." "I told you every move we make now has to be cautious." "it's too risky." "We've been down this road with Joyner before." "Peter." "You're a heartbeat away from the presidency." "Let someone else fix the problem." "I'm the only one he'll talk to." "That's not what I mean." "No." "we'll be doing him a favor." "Peter." "We pledged ourselves to a higher cause." "he's one of my men." "We've been through hell together." "And now he becomes another casualty of war." "A casualty of war?" "Are you hearing yourself?" "Are you?" " The FBI came to see him." " On a routine follow-up." "The guy just needs some reassurance." "I can give it to him." "Fine." "Talk to him this once." "the problem has to be eliminated." "remember?" "I remember." "Atwood." "I got nothing to say to you." "it's about Luke." "Jason." "Wait." "Sir." "Sir!" "No!" "Let him go!" "Let him..." "Yeah?" "Mr. Vice President." "Rich." "sir." "I'll be right down." " Hey." " Hey." " You okay?" " You got anything to drink?" "huh?" "Go ahead." "that..." "Okay." "help yourself." "Thank you." "Is this about Aaron?" "Okay." "I'll take "political malaise" for $20." "you suck." " Thank you. but it doesn't make sense anymore. it doesn't matter." "right?" "I don't know." "Maybe I'm wrong." "Maybe I'm naive." "Maybe I'm both." "Who knows?" "Did I ever tell you about how I got my first job at the White House?" "Harvard Lampoon connection." "I told you?" "nobody can have a personal conversation with you usually within the first 30 seconds." "Not true." "I always say I went to school in Cambridge." "I'm ignoring that. all right?" "I couldn't walk more than 50 feet without stopping." "right?" "I couldn't believe..." "Wait." "Hold on." "I thought your dad's a successful engineer." "Don't interrupt." "What I'm saying was I couldn't believe that I was here." "and reality reared its ugly head." "And I started to realize why Washington is the way it is." "And then I bump into Tom Kirkman in the bathroom and he's nothing but decency and compassion. integrity above expedience." "And it reminded me what it felt like to be part of something bigger than yourself... what it felt like to be part of the kind of America that you want to believe in." "I still feel that way tonight." "So how come I don't?" "'Cause you're a perfectionist." "And suddenly things don't seem so perfect." "Seth." "I know things aren't perfect." "but you think you can make things perfect." "Well..." "It's not that I..." "Maybe." "Maybe." "come on." "You're doing a great job." "Even perfectionists have their ups and downs." "but I think you're probably sad." "We're all really sad." "There's nothing wrong with that. get a really good night's sleep." "That is all of my advice at this hour." "You get more tomorrow." "no." "Shut up." "Good night." "Good night." "can I help you?" "I hope so." "My name is Angela Lindsay." "and Gossett." "Hannah Wells." "We've been retained by her family." "please." " Yeah." " It's Beth." "You shouldn't be calling me." "who was it?" "was it a man or a woman?" "I think he said." "Why?" "Peter." "Pick up." " The subscriber you are trying..." " Damn it." "these are Agents Damashek and Palmer." "sir." "gentlemen." "Be with you in a few minutes." "Let's take a walk." "Cap." "don't be sorry." "What's going on?" "you know?" "Someone's gonna find out." "The FBI..." "They got this manifest." "red tape." "but the truth..." "Alvin." "not in here." "what we did." "man." "Captain." "come on." " I swear." "I wish I never came back." "What happened that day was not your fault." "remember?" "We had to defend ourselves." "We did what we had to do to save each other. so I need to know... can I count on you?" " John 8:32." " Oh." "no." "Alvin." " "And you will know the truth."" " This is important." " "And the truth will set you free."" " You don't know how important." "That's the Bible." "It's not the government." "The government's not interested in truth." "It's the government that lies." "They sent us and then they covered it up." "so we used them." "Alvin." "to protect you." "You got to live up to your end..." " That's it." "Go." " Of the bargain and protect us." "you're not only gonna destroy us..." "FBI!" "Freeze!" "Don't move!" "I'm arresting you for perjury in front of the United States Congress." "Put your hands on your head." "Cap!" "Let's go." "Target is 200 yards out." "The next one counts." "You're not gonna shoot me." "Put your hands on your head." "Wells." "On your knees." "On your knees." "I'm the vice president of the United States." "You're just a cop." "No!" "Thank you." "Don't work too hard." "Thank you." "Take care." "I have to meet you at the car."