Bartlet Rejects Circumstantial Evidence Linking Shareef to Terror Attacks
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Fitzwallace connects the bomb signatures and presents a witness, Shareef's son-in-law, and the money trail as evidence while Bartlet examines photos.
Bartlet dismisses the evidence as insufficient for an indictment, asserting that Shareef is a terror kingpin in ally's clothing, akin to Capone.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Clinical focus concealing underlying alarm at Shareef's ruthless cover-up tactics.
Colonel Lee briefs precisely on Shareef as controlling partner of Bank Al-Hassan, details massive timed transfers ($97k to Tunisia's King's Bank pre-embassy strike, $65k to Saudi Merchant's Bank pre-Port Al Alzoud barracks bombing) to Bai operatives, and reveals Shareef's execution of suspect intelligence officers to silence them.
- • Link financial trails explicitly to Shareef and Bai attacks for prosecutorial weight
- • Underscore Shareef's executions as proof of guilt and obstruction
- • Shareef's bank control and timed transfers irrefutably fund terrorism
- • Executing suspects demonstrates guilty knowledge and kingpin control
Determined persistence edged with urgency, undeterred by presidential skepticism yet respectful in deference.
Admiral Fitzwallace delivers the clinching evidence punch—matching bomb signatures of ammonium nitrate, fuel oil, and dynamite triggers from Tunisia and Port Al Alzoud—then summarizes the case with Chechen witness, Shareef's son-in-law Abdul Razi, and money trail, persisting with 'Sir...' as Bartlet rejects it.
- • Convince Bartlet of evidence strength to greenlight indictment or strike
- • Highlight Shareef's direct ties to build irreversible case momentum
- • Bomb signatures and timed money trails prove Shareef's culpability beyond doubt
- • Legal hesitation endangers lives against a proven terror financier
Visibly frustrated and morally burdened, sighing with weary resignation masking deeper outrage at legal impotence against evident evil.
President Bartlet silently reviews graphic victim photographs, then sighs audibly, stands abruptly prompting all to rise, and verbally rejects the presented evidence as insufficient for Justice Department indictment, likening Shareef to Capone while decrying the loss of civilians, Marines, and agents.
- • Demand airtight proof before pursuing indictment to uphold justice standards
- • Expose weaknesses in evidence to force consideration of alternative actions like assassination
- • Circumstantial evidence alone cannot convict a sophisticated kingpin like Shareef without risking injustice
- • Allied status cloaks terror financing, demanding extraordinary measures beyond standard prosecution
significantly referenced as Qumari Defense Minister, bank controller, and terror kingpin funding Bai attacks while executing suspects to cover tracks
reports NSA echelon tracing money from Geneva bank account to dummy corporation linked to Bank Al-Hassan
- • present financial money trail evidence originating from Shareef-linked accounts
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Sultanate of Qumar framed via its Defense Minister Shareef's bank control and terror ties, transforming U.S. ally into suspect regime as evidence mounts of funding Bai attacks under diplomatic cover.
NSA's Echelon intercepts trace 18 million from Geneva's Bank of Commercial Finance account—opened via Star of the Levant dummy—to Shareef's Bank Al-Hassan, fueling the intel briefing's money trail core, providing electronic backbone to circumstantial case against terror funding.
Bank of Commercial Finance in Geneva holds the 18 million account origin point for terror funds, NSA-traced as conduit from Shareef's dummy corp, anchoring the money trail evidence that Colonel Lee and Fitzwallace hammer to implicate Qumar's minister.
Star of the Levant International exposed as dummy corporation fronting transfers to Bank Al-Hassan from Geneva, key link in NSA's money trail dissecting Shareef's terror financing, briefed to forge circumstantial chains Bartlet deems insufficient.
Bank Al-Hassan identified as Shareef's controlled terror vault, source of massive timed transfers to Bai operatives pre-Tunisia embassy and Port Al Alzoud bombings, central to Colonel Lee's briefing exposing the minister's Capone-like operations.
Bai terrorists positioned as recipients of Shareef's timed bank transfers pre-Tunisia embassy and Port Al Alzoud Marine barracks bombings, their matching bomb signatures sealing the intel case's explosive core.
Merchant's Bank in Saudi receives $65k from Shareef's network one week before Port Al Alzoud barracks bombing, cited by Colonel Lee as precise money trail to Bai operatives, amplifying evidence web.
Joint Chiefs of Staff physically present with Fitzwallace, absorbing and endorsing the intel barrage on Shareef's terror links, their silent solidarity underscoring military push as Bartlet stands and rejects indictment path.
Department of Justice invoked by Bartlet as the gatekeeper demanding airtight proof for indicting Shareef as terror kingpin, its standards dooming circumstantial evidence and forcing moral pivot.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Bartlet's initial frustration over insufficient evidence to indict Shareef evolves into his reluctant authorization of Shareef's assassination, showcasing his moral struggle and ultimate pragmatic decision."
"Fitzwallace's presentation of evidence against Shareef in the Situation Room directly connects to his later argument with Leo about the necessity of assassination, using historical parallels to justify killing Shareef despite legal protections."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"FITZWALLACE: "There's the witness of the Chechnyan the Russians have in custody. There's Abdul Razi, Shareef's son in law. And there's the money trail.""
"BARTLET: "([sighs]) You haven't got it.""
"BARTLET: "We want to ask the Justice Department to indict Qumari Minister of Defense. We're saying he's a terror kingpin. We're saying he's killed I don't know how many civilians and how many of Tommy's Marines... This isn't a cave dweller. This is Capone. You haven't got it.""