Designated Survivor

Previously on "Designated Survivor"...

My sources say MacLeish overrode the FBI, preventing them from taking Lozano alive.

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. Capitol.

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 Al-Sakar 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 a 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 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.

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.

I know, and the last time Leonard ran with a story that I thought was crazy,

and then POTUS confirmed it. Remember?

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. He's writing for the New York Standard,

- which has an audience 25 times the size. - 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