House of Cards

This is the president.

- Put on Conway. - You will speak to me.

No, we only talk to him or we hang up.

Do you hear the helicopters yet? Or the dogs?

We're getting closer and we will find you.

The only question is will you work with us before we get there?

The money's not happening and neither is the military withdrawal.

But you're smart enough to know that.

The objective here is Ahmadi, and that's what I'd like to discuss.

Well, the choice is yours. You either meet our demands or you don't.

I spoke at length last night with Governor Conway.

I was of a mind to ignore your call this morning,

but he convinced me that we should keep talking.

Isn't that right, Governor?

- I just want a peaceful resolution. - As do I.

You wanted to include the Governor, I want to include Ahmadi.

- You're trying to stall. - You refusing to speak to your leader?

Is he on now?

You release the Millers, then we put him on.

No, you don't get to dictate terms.

We show good will when you show good will.

I'm giving you ten seconds to reconsider your position.

After that, we disconnect the call.

Insha'Allah. We'll kill them.

Ten seconds, starting now.

Five seconds.

- End the call. - One hostage.

- All three. - One.

Give us the daughter and the mother.

No, we keep the girl.

You managed to get the President of the United States on the phone

not once, but twice.

You will release the daughter and the mother

or you will never hear from me again,

and you will lose your chance to speak to your leader.

Tell me now.

They've disconnected, sir.

Stop.

Mr. Ahmadi.

You can shower upstairs. There's fresh clothes in the closet.

The only people who know are the Chairman

and the SEALs who escorted him.

- Do we have a secure line? - Direct to the Oval.

Mr. President...

I would have never condoned bringing Ahmadi into this.

Well, lucky for me, I'm not making decisions

based on what you would or would not condone.

Watch me tell the press you put words in my mouth.

Feel free.

I think they'll have a hard time believing you, though.

Check your messages. I'm sure your staff's been emailing you.

Arrange for a car to get the governor and his family to the airport.

Have a safe trip back to New York.

I've had lunch brought in.

I'm sure it's been quite a while since you've had a hot meal.

- I won't be eating it. - Aren't you hungry?

I don't wanna get sick while I'm being tortured.

No one's getting tortured. Please, have a seat.

You want me to tell these men to release the family, right?

If I don't, you'll do what you have to do.

If we had any intention of that, you never would have left Guantanamo.

Nor would I be here.

Where is here?

Virginia, in a government safe house.

And why you?

Out of respect... for the gravity of this situation.

I think your intention is to humiliate me.

You've been properly clothed, offered food.

How are we humiliating you?

I'm sitting across from a woman.

There's no reason to keep up the facade.

You and your brother are not fundamentalists,

nor are you Syrian.

This what the CIA's feeding you?

You're Iraqi. Your real name is Al Awad.

Actually, it says that you joined the Baath Party in 2000.

You were the assistant to the undersecretary of infrastructure,

2001, 2002.

Say whatever you want.

My brother will deny. You won't convince anyone but yourselves.

We expel the Baathists

and you go from a bureaucrat to an extremist.

But you're a well-educated man, Yusuf...

and you don't care about Islam or the caliphate.

You're just using that to radicalize soldiers.

Just as you use democracy and freedom.

So now we understand each other.

Yusuf Al Ahmadi remains in solitary confinement in Guantanamo.

If Caroline and Melissa Miller are released,

we will allow supervised contact with the kidnappers.

Mark.

Ahmadi has consistently encouraged acts of terror like this one.

What makes you think that any sort of dialogue

will lead to a peaceful resolution?

Well, the alternative is no dialogue at all.

We don't wanna leave any stone unturned.

Sara.

Will you comment on the Wall Street Telegraph article

about Governor Conway's alleged interference

with the House Intelligence Committee?

Well, it confirms what we suspected to be true,

but I think you want the governor's comment, not ours.

Congressman Walleck is misrepresenting events.

- You're saying he lied? - I'm saying he misrepresented.

I have a number of friends on the Intelligence Committee,

and do I speak with them sometimes? Of course.

But that's not the same as interfering.

So you never discussed the Russia plan with anyone on the committee?

We may have discussed it,

but it's not as though I was issuing orders.

And I have to say, everyone's primary focus right now

needs to be on the Miller family, not this.

Did the president ask you to leave the White House?

We agreed that I'd done my part, and that the rest is up to him.

Can you tell us about your conversation last night

with the president, regarding Ahmadi?

That'll be all for now. Thank you so much.

Question, sir.

Let's go.

Hold on, I'm still fastening Lily's car seat.

- Will... - Not a word.

Well, I have to tell you, the general's apeshit

over what you said about being ashamed of your service.

He may talk to the press.

Nobody does any press until we have a proper response to all this shit.

Daddy said "shit." Shit, shit, shit!

Stop it!

You need to bring me something on Walleck. We need to discredit him.

- Are you done yet? - You don't need to snap at us.

- Are you done yet? - Yes.

Let's go. Now.

That's if they're released.

We'll fill in the blanks once we have details.

This is if the worst happens.

Yates wrote these?

No, I... I took a stab at it first.

Also, Tom Hammerschmidt called.

He wants an interview with the president. He wouldn't say what for.

What outlet is he with now?

He's back at the Herald. Said he emailed you directly.

I need the room.

Everyone out.

Get me the Herald.

Tom Hammerschmidt.

Well, there's a cell tower here.

Typically very low traffic,

but it showed higher usage during the time of the call,

especially the southeastern antenna.

So we should be able to ping the hotspot, zero in?

It's hundreds of tower faces.

I can give you the general area, but pinpointing will take longer.

I can't even guarantee it's gonna be them.

I want every one of those towers analyzed.

Well, we're better off concentrating on ambient background sound.

If I can match that to other calls made in this area around the same time as...

I'm not asking your advice. I'm telling you what I want you to do.

Focus on the tower data.

We were concentrating on this area, but it looks like they're closer to here.

We've got ground teams setting up a search grid.

Can we use satellites?

We are, but there are over 100 possible structures within the zone.

- Each one of them needs to be checked. - How long?

If we get lucky, within hours. If not, could be tomorrow.

Sir, Mr. Stamper's here.

- He says it's urgent. - Thank you.

Hammerschmidt says they go online today,

whether you comment or not.

Travel logs are not hard evidence. These quotes are circumstantial.

But all of it combined... I don't know how we spin this.

He's got heavy hitters on the record.

Should I release the photos of Jackie and Remy?

They told him about the affair.

He's putting in the article that we threatened to expose them.

How did this happen?

This is as much on you.

I can put together a list of the people he hasn't gotten to yet.

And give him proof of a cover-up?

He's right. If we reach out to Tusk or Lanagin...

I want Hammerschmidt here.

- Sir, I wasn't suggesting... - Set it up as soon as possible.

The U.S. government will never recognize the caliphate.

No, of course not.

But we can reintegrate the Baathists into the government.

What government? There's no government in Iraq.

There is no Iraq. There's Baghdad.

Shia, Sunni, Kurd...

Syria is the same.

You maintained order before we shut you out.

Now, we can't support a theocracy,

but we can put the military back in control.

What do we do with all the soldiers we've recruited?

They won't accept a secular government.

You'll keep them in check.

With force, if necessary.

Use our guns on the men who carried it for us.

What does it matter... if you have back your power?

If this is your intention, why have you said nothing publicly?

Because you know that all of this has to be done behind closed doors.

We need to give the appearance that we neutralized ICO.

What happens if they don't release the hostages?