Toby's Gentle Probe — Zoey and the Leak
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Toby reveals a sensitive issue involving Zoey Bartlet's sociology class and indirectly references the sex-ed report disposal.
Toby checks on C.J.'s emotional state before leaving, hinting at unspoken concerns beneath professional exchanges.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Externally calm and professionally crisp; privately watchful and mildly irritated, masking concern about reputation and internal trust.
Sitting on her office couch reading a stapled report, C.J. receives Toby's items, answers with clipped, controlled responses, deflects suspicion about leaking, and signals immediate triage for the Zoey problem.
- • Contain and triage the incoming issues quickly and efficiently.
- • Maintain personal and institutional credibility by denying any role in leaking stories.
- • Leaks harm the administration and must be contained.
- • She is not the source of the leak and must assert that fact to protect herself and the office.
Controlled concern with an undercurrent of skepticism — testing C.J.'s account while conveying urgency about potential political fallout.
Enters, sits across from C.J., delivers the two news items with clipped phrasing, probes the provenance of the golf story, and presses for immediacy on getting Zoey out of class before leaving.
- • Confirm whether there's an internal leak and its direction.
- • Trigger an immediate operational response to shield Zoey and limit exposure.
- • Leaks are politically dangerous and need to be traced and stopped.
- • C.J., as press secretary, is central to managing both the message and the internal discipline.
Not present in the scene, but implied embarrassment and need for protection; she is a contingent casualty of political scrutiny.
Mentioned as the President's daughter implicated by association: her sociology professor's curriculum will draw attention and she will be removed from class — she is the human center of the potential optics problem.
- • Be kept out of the center of a public controversy.
- • Have staff shield her from scrutiny and preserve family privacy.
- • Staff will act to protect her from political consequences.
- • Academic or campus matters can rapidly become national political problems due to her status.
Not present; implicitly vulnerable, likely defensive if confronted, and at risk of reputational and career consequences.
Named by Toby as the advance man who allegedly used a Navy helicopter for a golf outing; he is the focal point of the minor scandal and an object of administrative damage-control efforts.
- • Avoid public censure or career damage.
- • Distance himself from allegations or minimize their significance.
- • His actions may be defensible but can be politically costly if publicized.
- • The administration will manage fallout to some degree, but exposure threatens that protection.
Not physically present in the office but invoked as the intermediary who obtained the golf story from a White House …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A stapled report is physically present and read by C.J. at the start of the scene — it anchors her posture and signals ongoing briefing work. The report functions as the mundane paperwork backdrop against which the urgent verbal news arrives, emphasizing that crisis management interrupts routine duties.
The two-seat couch serves as the physical stage for the exchange: C.J. is seated and reading, Toby sits across from her. Its worn cushions and intimate placement compress the scene, making the conversation feel private and proximate while also underscoring the informality of high-stakes staffing decisions.
The 'trash' is a rhetorical object invoked by Toby ('You can dump that out with the trash') to describe discarding or burying the Zoey story. As a metaphor it functions as a proposed strategy for reputational triage — an administrative decision to sideline a story rather than litigate it publicly.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"C.J.'s boundary-setting with Danny regarding leaks persists across scenes."
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: You remember Chad Magrudian?"
"CJ: Danny got it from a White House source."
"TOBY: There's going to be a thing with Zoey. Her sociology professor's teaching some things, and we're going to get her out of class."