Press‑Room Bargain — C.J. Trades Access to Quash a Leak
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
C.J. approaches Danny in the press room, attempting to discuss the cabinet meeting story.
C.J. realizes Mildred leaked the cabinet meeting details and considers firing her.
C.J. offers Danny a 30-minute interview with the President in exchange for dropping the story.
Danny warns C.J. that he will write about why anyone gets fired over the leak if she proceeds.
C.J. acknowledges Danny's warning, concluding their tense negotiation.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Controlled on the surface but visibly anxious and cornered; professional composure strained by urgent fear for the administration's reputation.
C.J. arrives quietly, sits beside Danny, opens the confrontation gently, then shifts to blunt, panicked managerial action—threatening to fire the staffer and offering presidential access as a bribe to stop the story.
- • Stop Danny from publishing or pursuing the cabinet-leak story.
- • Contain political damage by finding a living trade — access to the President — to buy silence.
- • Protect the implicated staffer or at least manage personnel consequence to minimize fallout.
- • Preserving the administration's public credibility is worth transactional compromises.
- • Journalistic access is a currency that can be spent to influence coverage.
- • A leak from within the administration will cause disproportionate political harm if exploited.
Mildly amused and professionally interested at first; then resolute and morally stern when the conversation turns to potential retaliation.
Danny is at his press table, stops typing to engage; he listens, bargains, accepts the joking demand for a song, but ultimately reasserts journalistic principle by warning he'll expose any retaliatory firing he sees as unjust.
- • Obtain information and access from the administration (thirty minutes with the President).
- • Protect his ability to report truthfully and to expose punitive actions against leakers.
- • Maintain leverage over the White House while preserving a working relationship with C.J.
- • Journalists must hold power accountable and expose retaliatory abuse.
- • Access is valuable but not worth covering up wrongdoing or punishment.
- • A light touch (humor) can disarm but should not obscure ethical obligations.
Mildred is not physically present in the press room; she functions as the implied source of the leak and the …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Danny's press table functions as the practical center of the exchange: he's typing there when C.J. arrives, using it as his workstation and conversational anchor. It frames the negotiation as a working, late‑night transaction rather than a public confrontation, reinforcing the intimate, off‑record quality of the bargain.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Bartlet's public rebuke of Hoynes leads to the media leak about the cabinet meeting, which Danny Concannon investigates."
"Bartlet's public rebuke of Hoynes leads to the media leak about the cabinet meeting, which Danny Concannon investigates."
"Danny's initial confrontation with C.J. about the leak leads to her offering him a presidential interview to quash the story."
Key Dialogue
"C.J.: I'm gonna fire her."
"C.J.: The President would appreciate it if you wouldn't pursue this story, and to show his gratitude, he can give you thirty minutes on any subject or subjects that you like."
"DANNY: Anybody gets fired over this, I'm gonna write about why."