"Previously on "Designated Survivor"..." "My sources say MacLeish overrode the FBI, preventing them from taking Lozano alive." "I mean, why would he go out of his way to silence the man who attempted to murder the president?" "I brought this to show the White House that any effort to interfere in the Second Amendment rights will fail." "I know you're facing an uphill climb." "What if we could help?" " And what's in it for Hookstraten?" " Think about it." "Vice President." "Kimble, I'm not in a position to make promises right now." "I would be very grateful down the line." "That's all I need to know, Mr. President." "The yeas are 51, and the nays are 49." "It passes!" "We won!" "Congratulations." "These look like the bombs used to blow up the Capitol." "There's enough explosives in here to blow up three Capitols." "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "It is necessary to take precautions." "All right, I-I understand." "Thank you for seeing me." "Just..." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, just..." "Easy, easy, just so I can see, okay?" "And..." "And I'm gonna take notes." "That's it." "I'm old." "You understand." "I need..." "Oh, God." "Do you know who this man is?" "Mr. Lozano..." "He shot our President." "I was told by f-friends of yours that he was in contact with Al-Sakar, the group that blew up the U.S. Capital." "Al-Sakar blew up nothing." "They didn't?" "So, wha... who did?" "You don't know?" "The American Satan has enemies everywhere." "So, tell me, why would AlSakar take credit knowing the U.S. military would never stop hunting them down?" "He paid them." "He paid Al-Sakar?" "These aren't Army surplus explosives, Foerstel." "These are battlefield-ready." "Yeah, we're assessing it now." "What about "NVWS"?" "And "NVWS"?" "So far, no known terror organizations match those initials." "We also found a motion sensor with limited-range transmitter attached to it, so whoever's watching this place is within 20 miles." "Nearest town to you is Driggs, population 600." "Yeah, we're headed there next." "What about the silo?" "We'll maintain aerial surveillance, and we'll assemble a team to go in." "Not until I give you my word." "We need to seize this ordinance." "Well, we also need to figure out why this is here." "Until then, we can't tip our hand." "Foerstel?" "Affirmative." "All right, we'll be in contact when we get to Driggs." "Good morning." "Good morning." "I have some good news..." "Looks like the House is gonna pass the gun-control bill." "Speaker Hookstraten came through." "She still has a little bit of work to do with the Republicans, but she's assured me that she'll get there." "Aaron's gonna give me an update of vote count this afternoon." "Okay, great." "We should talk about the vice presidency, though." "There's a growing buzz of a quid pro quo in the works." "I was absolutely clear." "I made no promises." " Thank you." " Thank you." "I know, but we need to manage expectations." "I'd like to be clear when I speak to Aaron this afternoon that we are keeping our options open." "Okay, fine." "Unbelievable." "I was looking for these all last night." "Look, I want us to stay focused on the Supreme Court right now." "Absolutely." "Julia Rombauer is waiting." "Great." "Julia, please come on in." "Mr. President." " Getting any sleep?" " No." "But I managed to go six weeks without it so far." "Wouldn't want to break the streak now." "Your nine Supreme Court nominees, all vetted by the working group." "I can't believe this hasn't leaked." "I can't believe we've gotten this far." "It's all because of Julia." "Meaning I can still be intimidating when I want to be." "No, it's a testament to your leadership skills." "When I was an associate professor at Columbia," "Julia was in charge." "She was my role model." "She's the reason why" "I wanted to become President of the University one day." "Well, it's good training." "If you think national politics is tough, try academia." "Well, we're meeting with the Senate leadership in 20 minutes." "Assuming we get a consensus, the plan is to announce the slate to the press tomorrow night." "Well, I've kept the leadership informed throughout the process." "In principle, they all agree to the idea of four progressives to satisfy the Democrats, four conservatives to satisfy the Republicans, and a ninth judge, a true and impartial independent, like Tom here." "Now I just need to get them to sign off on the actual names." "And then go through the formal confirmation process." "Yes, but that should be reasonably short with the full support of both parties going in." "Let's hope you're right." "I haven't worked this hard to be wrong." "Joanne, get me actual numbers on the families who were impacted by the proposed estate-tax changes." "I want something more than estimates." "We'll have it on your desk by this afternoon." "I never liked "impacted" as a verb." "Geez." "Get out." "The only things that should get impacted are teeth." "Now." "Ah, good to see you, too." "What, you didn't miss me, huh?" "I didn't notice." "Oh, I've been working on a story, Seth." "Yeah, for the New York Standard." "That's a pretty good forgery." "Funny." "Fact is they sent me to the Middle East and Asia to look into Al-Sakar." "See, I would never publish a story so impactful without giving you a chance to comment first." "Can we please dispense with the dramatic pause?" "Al-Sakar didn't blow up the Capitol." "They didn't have the money." "They didn't have the people." "They didn't have the smarts to take it out." "You guys were played." "According to whom?" "Unnamed sources?" "No, I'll name them." "Meantime, you got today to get back to me with a response because this is going out tomorrow." "Tell the Secretary of Commerce we need more diversity for the young entrepreneurs presser next month." "Thank you." "Hey." "Hey, what's up?" "So, major flag for you." "Abe Leonard's running with the story that Al-Sakar didn't blow up the Capitol." "What?" "That's crazy." "We have the FBI, the CIA, and half a dozen other agencies on record saying they did." "Yes, I know, and the last time" "Leonard ran with a story that I thought was crazy, and then POTUS confirmed it." "Remember?" "I mean, if he's right about this, that means our seals took out the wrong guys and the real Capitol bombers are still out there." "Okay, slow down." "Do you have anyone at Teen Mode you can reach out to, see how real the story is?" "Abe's not at Teen Mode anymore." "Now he's writing for the New York Standard, which has an audience 25 times the size." "And you haven't seen the story?" "No, he wanted a reaction to the allegations first." "I'll flag POTUS." " Em." " Yeah?" "I don't want the White House embarrassed by this, especially now that things are finally going our way." "You and me both." "Good afternoon." "I want to take a moment to thank you all and congratulate you on accomplishing something that's never been done before..." "Seating nine justices to the High Court at the same time." "This is an act of bipartisan cooperation that I believe will go down in history." "So congratulations to you all." "Let's get started." "Senator Hunter." "Mr. President, I appreciate you including us in the process, and I commend Ms. Rombauer for her extraordinary leadership." "We believe you have come up with a well-balanced slate, including a Chief Justice who can act as an impartial, potentially deciding voice." "Thank you." "I think we might have a bit of a problem there, Mr. President." "What kind of problem?" "I'll let my distinguished colleague from Montana explain." "Thank you." "Mr. President, my staff has been looking into your choice for Chief Justice, Judge Borda, and we've made some disturbing discoveries." "These names have already been approved by a working group from within your own party." "Well, nevertheless, this nominee clearly shows liberal bias." "Senator, it's too late to pull this kind of stunt." "No, we have an agreement." "Our third branch of government needs to be reinstated." "Oh, yes, sir." "But you already have a Senate, one with a Republican majority." "And I'm saying that we need to start with a list of five justices acceptable to us and then go forward from there." " That is not what we agreed to." " We have the votes." "Sir, my approach will get you a speedy confirmation." "Otherwise, well, we might be forced to hold up all your nominees." "Mr. President, Senator Bowman might still be smarting from his loss on the gun bill..." " I object to that." " But if we go with his formula, our side will filibuster." "Then I guess we're done here." " I guess we are." " Everybody, please, just take your seats." "Please, take your..." "I said take your seats now!" "I'm sorry for losing my temper, but I have lost my temper." "Shame on you, Senator Bowman." "Shame on you." "Our nation is in crisis." "Do you have any idea how many cases are on the current docket that can't be resolved because we don't have a Supreme Court?" "126... issues that go to the core of our democracy." "Civil rights, immigration, campaign-finance reform." "Without a court to adjudicate the laws of this land, we are a broken government, sir." "Now, this was a fair deal." "Every single person in this room has something to claim victory over." "I'm not gonna let you hijack that, sir." "And if you're willing to play politics with people's lives, trust me..." "I am more than willing to walk down that hall to my press room and call you out in front of the entire world for trying to hold our justice system hostage at a time when we need it most." "I would think twice, Senator." "I would seriously think twice... before making yourself the poster child of obstructionism." "Excuse me, Mr. President." "But doing whatever I can to ensure a fair and balanced court hardly makes me an obstructionist." "Point of fact, it's doing exactly what I was appointed to do." "Gentlemen, this is obviously a very emotional issue." "Everyone in this room knows how hard you've worked on this," "Mr. President, but in the interest of all those involved, would it be too much to ask for you to put forward another name for that ninth seat?" "No, I can do that." "Thank you." "Thank you, sir." "For a second, I thought it was all gonna fall apart." "Who the hell says it hasn't?" "We need to find a name that son of a bitch can't say no to." "Not a lot of street life here." "Not a lot of anything." "Still, they get visitors." "New Mexico." "Georgia." "Texas." "People drive a long way to get to the middle of nowhere." "Hi." " Hey." " Hey." " Hear a storm's coming." " Really?" "Yeah, we, um... we haven't watched the weather report in a while." "So what brings you to Driggs?" "We're just, um... just heading up the mountain." " You take care now." " Okay, you, too." "Well, if that was a test," "I think we just failed that one." "Well, we're marked now." "New York plates." "Hey, Jason." "_" "What about Semegran?" "Yeah, he's got the qualifications, but he's 64 and he smokes two packs a day." "Just can't believe one man would exploit Constitutional crisis for political advancement." "He knows the list was balanced and that I wasn't trying to push a political agenda." "He's trying to put himself at the center of his own damn party." "How did Bowman get so powerful?" "Didn't he lose the Senate vote to you?" "Yeah." "He managed to win over a block of conservative senators, which consolidated his power, making him the darling of the far right." "So, when he claims he wants a balanced court, what he's really saying is that he just wants a court that agrees with him." "You cannot let him win this, Tom." "I'm not planning on it." "Hello?" " Hello?" " Oh, hey." "Hi." "You folks need some menus?" " Sure." " Sure, thank you." " Can I ask you a question?" " Yeah, sure." "Is there a ski area around here?" "You see any mountains nearby?" "No, we just see a lot of cars with out-of-state plates." "Just curious." "You're talking about the True Believers." "The what?" "Well, that's what we call them." "They get together on a private property three or four times a year, maybe." "They stick together." "Hmm." "They pay cash, though." "No credit cards." "Strange bunch." "So what exactly do they do out there?" "Nobody knows, really." "Uh, a bit of camping." "You know, they light bonfires." "How do you know they light bonfires?" "Well, you can see the glow." "Where exactly is this property?" "Well, it's a huge spread." "Used to belong to the Air Force." "Oh." "Where the missile silos are." "Hmm." "I'm former Air Force." "E-5 with the third bomber wing at Clarendon." " For real?" " Yes, sir." "Well, man, I miss those Stratoforts." "They moved them all up to Minot years ago." "We keep thinking they might reopen the base." "Uh, you hear trucks moving through at night occasionally..." "Choppers, too." "Ah, who am I kidding?" "Air Force is never coming back." "Yeah." "So, tell us..." "What's good?" "Hartnett and Sherburne put us 20 votes on top." "Gun bill will pass." "You think Kirkman's gonna come through with VP?" "Well, I'm meeting with Emily Rhodes today." "That's the next thing on the agenda." "Knock, knock." "Come on in, Abe." "You know my new strategist..." "Aaron Shore." " Abe Leonard." " Hey." "It's a pleasure." " Pleasure's mine, Mr. Shore." " I've been wanting to ask you why you jumped off the good ship Kirkman as Chief of Staff." "It was amicable." "Well, you didn't answer my question." "And I don't intend to." "I'm happy with my current position." "He's good." "Is it all right if he hears this?" "I trust him, if that's what you mean." "Okay, 'cause I got a few torpedos to fire in his old boss." "Abe, you are aware that I am allied with the President on this gun legislation." "Yeah, smart move, too, setting yourself up as a moderate alternative to Bowman, but this isn't about politics." "This is about our old friend, the late Vice President Peter MacLeish." "MacLeish?" "I heard you delayed his confirmation vote as VP." "Who told you that?" "Does it matter?" "What I want to know is why." "My sources say you were waiting for some evidence from an FBI agent." "We're getting into matters of national security here." "Yeah, I'll make it easy for you." "Her name is Agent Hannah Wells." "Does that name mean anything to you?" "I can't comment." "Can't or won't?" "You're crossing a line, Abe." "All right, look." "If I'm wrong, just tell me so, but I'll use your denial in my story." "I refuse to comment on an ongoing investigation." "That'll work." "Be seeing you." "That guy's dangerous." "Which is why I keep him close." "Yes." "Agent Hannah Wells, please." "Mr. Shore." "What do you want?" "It's what you want." "You called Hannah Wells twice in the last three hours." "How'd you know that?" "She's on administrative leave." "Her calls get bounced to me." "Whatever it is, you can say it to me." "You know we'd get along a whole lot better if you just accept the fact that we're on the same side." "Oh, now we're on the same side?" "You..." "You interrogated me like I was some sort of criminal." "You want me to apologize for that?" "You more than anybody should appreciate the magnitude of what we're dealing with here." "So, you want to tell me what you know or not?" "Abe Leonard knows that Agent Wells tried to delay Vice President MacLeish's confirmation vote." "Speaker Hookstraten tell him?" "Mm, according to Aaron Shore," "Leonard tried to get her to confirm." " And did she?" " No, she refused to comment." "But, Mr. President, bottom line..." "We can't allow Leonard to go public with what he knows." "It could completely derail our investigation." "What do you suggest?" "I'm suggesting we bring him in." "On what grounds?" "Someone is feeding him classified information." "We need to find out who." "And if he refuses to give up his source, we get him on contempt." "Lying to a federal officer is a felony." "Absolutely not." "We're not arresting reporters for doing their job." "This is not a First Amendment issue." "This is an issue of national security." "If Leonard publishes, the people behind this conspiracy are gonna go dark, and we are never gonna find them." "Mr. President, we don't have a choice." "We have to bring him in." "Director Foerstel, we always have a choice." "I'm afraid we're gonna have to let this one ride out, see what Leonard comes up with." "Price of living in a free society." "So how's it going over there with Hookstraten?" "Not bad." "Could be better if she heard from POTUS." "What do you mean?" "She delivered on her promise with the gun bill, so we feel the President should deliver on his." "Whoa." "President didn't promise the Speaker anything more than gratitude." "What, are you kidding me?" "No." "If the bill passes..." "When it passes." "If it passes, then the White House will definitely owe the Speaker a debt." "Well, yeah, the VP slot." "It's a possibility, Aaron." "It's not a certainty." "Well, that's not her understanding, Emily." "Well, then, she wasn't listening." "Well, she's gonna be very disappointed to hear that." "Well, the Speaker's a big girl." "And backing the bill made sense for her without quid pro quo." "She's drawn moderates and independents into her corner." "Now suddenly," "Bowman has serious competition within his own party." "Well, getting his bill out of the Senate was largely due to her efforts." "It was a big factor, but it wasn't the only factor." "Are..." "Are you really gonna play hardball on this?" "Absolutely." "It's my job to protect the President." "You know that better than anyone, and we've got to keep our options open." "Get the bill passed, and we can talk again." "Bad news, Abe." "New York kicked this back." "What?" "They like the direction you're going, but they say it's not enough." "Not enough that Al-Sakar didn't blow up the Capitol?" "It's conjecture." "Wh..." "I got named sources." "Yeah, two terrorist leaders." "Yeah, exactly... who I risked my life to get to, by the way." "I know, and it's excellent color." "But it's not news." "New York says these terrorist groups all hate each other." "Of course they'd say Al-Sakar didn't do it." "Well, what about Mohammed Sherif fingering Nestor Lozano as the middle man?" "I've run with far less in the past." "I know." "Shoddy sourcing is what got you fired off the Herald." "You got another shot here." "Don't blow it." "Unbelievable." "Calm down." "I'm the one who hired you for this assignment, remember?" "My ass is on the line here, too." "Look, if this checks out," "I'll back you all the way." "But New York is right on this." "You don't have enough to challenge the White House narrative." "What's the big picture behind your story?" "Because I don't see it here yet." "There is a connection between MacLeish and Lozano." "And this FBI agent, Hannah Wells, was on to it." "So go find her." "Connect the dots." "Get me domestic sources on record, and I'll get you on the front page." "But until then... dig deeper." "Trucks on the road at night..." "That could be transport moving munition in and out of the silo." "And don't forget the helicopters." "Jason, no credit cards." "They don't talk to locals." "This is it." "We found a cell." "Yeah, most likely." "Uh, uh..." "Uh, excuse me." " Yeah." " Sorry to bother you." "Uh, we are looking for a local campground." " Um..." " Stranger here myself." "Sorry." "Oh, shoot." "Because the, uh... the guy at the restaurant said that if we headed down this road..." "I told you." "I..." " You're not from here." " I can't help you." "Okay, thank you for your time." "Oh!" "Look at this!" " Oh." " That's all right." "So sorry." "Oh, my goodness." "I apologize." " It's okay." " Okay." "Have a nice day." "I saw that." "Good job." "_" "_" "Yes, we are that desperate." "_" "What the hell?" "Where is this from?" "Oh." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Wait a minute." "Whoa." "Huh." "I got you." "I'm sorry, but my meeting with the Secretary of Energy ran over." "I hope you haven't been waiting too long." "There are worse places to wait." "Does it go away?" "Does what go away?" "Being here..." "The awe of it all." "No." "Not for me." "When I signed on," "I tried to read every book about the White House I could." "Did any of them explain why this office is oval?" "Most people think the architect did it so that when foreign leaders came to visit the White House, they'd be disoriented, but the truth is it goes all the way back to Washington." "His house in Philadelphia..." "He was the one who wanted the walls to be built like this." "Once an architect, always an architect." "Got that right." "Mr. President." "Julia." "Emily, come on in." "Any word from Bowman?" "Yes, but unfortunately, not what we want to hear." "He said no to Clemens." "Okay, on to plan B." "Plan B?" "Julia, the President and I were speaking earlier about a name we haven't brought up, a name we think Bowman would be hard pressed to say no to." "Who?" "You." "What?" "I..." "I'm..." "I'm not a judge." "I..." "Neither was Earl Warren when President Eisenhower appointed him, and he was an outstanding Chief Justice." "Also, you clerked for Justice Gray." "Alex tells me that some of the opinions you wrote are mandatory reading for Constitutional law." "Tom." "I'm flattered." "Julia, I'm not trying to flatter you." "I honestly think you'd be the best person for the job." "Look, before you say no, just tell me you'll at least think about it." "There's a series of vehicles heading to the property with the silo." "Whatever the hell they're doing, they're definitely doing it out there." "What's with the book?" "Well, there's no author and no copyright." "It's obviously self-published, but listen to this." ""All democracies from ancient Athens to the Roman Republic to the city-states of the Renaissance end." "And they end the same way..." "As corrupt alliance of extreme wealth and centralized power." "Ordinary citizens are deprived of liberty." "What's rightfully theirs is taken away, and their children are sent to die in rich men's wars."" "This is a manifesto, Jason." "This is a... a manual for a new American order." "I mean, look at this." ""Pax Americana..." "An American empire to replace our own constitutional government."" "And check this out." ""No victory without sacrifice."" "It repeats over and over in the book." "NVWS." "Yeah." "We got to get back to that property." "Come in." "Am I interrupting?" "No, no, please." "Tom." "I need to tell you something." "What is it?" "I can't be your ninth judge." "Okay, why not?" "The fact is I have earlyonset dementia." "What?" "I, uh, started noticing symptoms about year ago." "Small things..." "Names, dates." "I suddenly couldn't remember." "Oh, my God." "I, uh..." "I-I-I don't know what to say." "Do your kids know?" "Yes." "I believe in what we're doing, Tom." "I want to see it through." "I have to." "Just can't be with me on the bench." "Of course." "I'm sorry, Julia." "I am so, so sorry." "Silo property's coming up." "SUV coming up." "Looks like we have some company." "Good afternoon." "Hi." "You two lost?" "No, I don't think so." "You must have missed the signs, then." "This is private property." "Oh, the map says that this is public land." "It's not anymore." "What are you guys hunting?" "If you circle back, there's a sign around two miles down the road." "Should lead you back to the highway." "Appreciate it." "Whatever it is they're doing out here, they're willing to kill for it." "I've got it." "If we can't get through Bowman, we go around him." "Explain it to me." "We think there are about 25 to 30 of them." "They also have armed lookouts posted." "The sat survey's showing 10 to 12 vehicles parked in a cleared area." "It's almost like they're waiting for something." "Those license plates come back?" "Yeah, they're all bogus or stolen." "You're kidding." "And we don't have ears on any of these people." "We have no idea who they are." "Yeah, they don't seem to be in anything electronic." "No cellphones, no radio chatter." "No, they're very old-school when it comes to infrastructure." "Signs and..." "And countersigns..." "Very analogue when they want to be." "We're going to have to observe them up close and personal." "No unnecessary risks, Hannah." "Just the necessary ones?" "We're putting together a task force at Grand Forks..." "FBI and ATF..." "But that's still over an hour's flight from you." "I'll tell you when to send them." "Until then, keep them the hell away from here." "Please don't get up." "Thank you all for coming back on such short notice." "I assume have another name to put forward." "Actually, we've chosen not to provide any more names." "But I'll let Professor Rombauer explain that." "It was her idea." "Thank you, Mr. President." "The problem before us has been finding a ninth judge, a deciding voice that can preside over split decisions." "But it's worth noting that in recent history, only a quarter of Supreme Court cases have come down to a single vote." "A far greater number have been unanimous." "So, rather than delay the wheels of justice any longer debating the merits of a potential Chief Justice, we propose to proceed with the eight already considered and approved." "I'm sorry, Professor, but the Constitution sets the number of judges at nine." "Actually, Senator, the Constitution does not specify a number." "That's up to Congress." "In fact, when the Supreme Court first began in 1789, there were only 6 judges, then 7, then 9, then 10." "The numbers have fluctuated over the years." "Intriguing." "So, we leave it to the next president to pick the Chief Justice?" "Not necessarily, but our nation needs a Supreme Court up and running as quickly as possible." "Senator?" "Okay." "I can wait you out, sir." "Mr. President, looks like you've got a deal." "Thank you, Senator." "Thank you, all." "Well-done." "I'll buy you a beer." "Look, as I said, the President had an extremely successful meeting with Congressional leaders about the Supreme Court, and he'll be addressing the nation later today." "Okay?" "That's all I have for now." "Thank you, everybody." "Let's get a better answer for Gary on the tax-policy question." "I just said we can e-mail him by the end of the day." "Just pick somebody and have something in writing we can forward..." "You think you can intimidate me?" "What are you talking about?" "Tell your boss to get the FBI to lay off." "Abe, seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about." "Crap." "You're having me followed." "You're delusional." "Yeah, all it means is I'm getting close to the truth, doesn't it?" "That's what it means." "Will you excuse us for a second?" "Abe, seriously, you should see somebody." " Aw, come on." " This is... this is paranoid." "Are you kidding me?" "Really?" "Nice try, Seth." "Great." "Just back off." "In what is being called a master political stroke... a shortcut around the expected party battles and culture wars." "The Court's most urgent cases can now be dealt with." "The country will likely have to wait until the next election for a Chief Justice, but in the meantime, President Kirkman has fulfilled his promise to restore the nation's highest court." "To you." "To the Court." "I can't thank you enough." "Mr. President, it was my honor." "Oh, God." "Is that really the hour?" "I got to get back to New York." "I got a con law class in the morning." "I wonder what we're gonna talk about." "Julia." "Remember me like this." "Yeah?" "You're interested in Nestor Lozano." "So are we." "Who is this?" "A friend." "Yeah, I don't have any friends." "The same friend who sent you that link about Hannah Wells and Speaker Hookstraten." "Okay." "You got my attention." "In front of the Roosevelt Island footbridge, one hour." "Whoa, hold on, pal." " Listen..." " One hour." "I count 35 to 40." "Damn." "Jason, I don't think these are just bonfires." "I think this is a landing zone." "And I'm picking up a chopper." "Oh, my God." "What?" "It's Lozano."