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  • - Presidents have these moments

  • in the course of their time in office,

  • where people are looking to them for leadership,

  • they're looking for them for direction, for meaning.

  • And you have to call upon yourself

  • to not only deliver words that capture your point

  • but that also inspire people to act.

  • Hello, my name is Valerie Jarret

  • and I am a former senior advisor

  • to President Barack Obama.

  • I served in his administration for all eight years.

  • [dramatic music]

  • - Members of Congress.

  • - This is "VEEP"

  • and the episode is directed by Chris Addison.

  • - I'd like to begin today.

  • - In this scene,

  • Selina Meyer finds herself in a very awkward spot

  • when her teleprompter goes down

  • at the beginning of the State of The Union.

  • Every person who speaks before a teleprompter,

  • that is your worst nightmare.

  • And usually and certainly in a State of The Union,

  • the way you protect for that happening

  • is you have a hard copy of the script in front of you.

  • There isn't a time President Obama went to the lecture room

  • where there wasn't also a book right there

  • because inevitably teleprompters go down

  • and I will say it went down

  • for President Obama at times,

  • but not at a State of The Union.

  • And what you'd see is him just open the book

  • and start to read.

  • And oftentimes what you'll do is keep the book open

  • and turn the pages as you're going

  • to try to keep up,

  • so that would, if it does go down

  • you're not scurrying to find your place

  • but I can just imagine what went through her mind

  • when she's looking at a black screen.

  • There's a teleprompter operator

  • and usually they work with the candidate.

  • You know them, you trust them, you have confidence in them.

  • You want the teleprompter to go at the speed

  • that the person who's reading it is comfortable

  • and he can go too fast

  • or you can go to slow, and it loses a rhythm.

  • It's really a team effort.

  • - So today I don't just want to talk about the present.

  • I wanna talk about the future.

  • Whatever we have in store

  • - And you can see what's on the teleprompter

  • from some of the remote locations.

  • You can look right at the teleprompter.

  • They now it's beginning to sink in

  • that it's not a current draft

  • but it becomes very clear in a minute.

  • - No, I think this version

  • still has President Hughe's old spending plan in it.

  • We will invest $60 billion

  • in the new N620 submarines fleet.

  • - It's beginning to sink in to everybody

  • that she's announcing a policy

  • that's actually not her policy.

  • There's no way President Obama would

  • have read something that wasn't what he meant.

  • He would have just changed it

  • at the last minute on the fly,

  • but that's hard to do.

  • And I think for somebody like Selena Meyer,

  • who doesn't necessarily know that much

  • about what her policies are to begin with,

  • but you can tell on the expression on her face

  • that she thought

  • "This isn't what I'm supposed to be saying,"

  • but she kept saying it anyway

  • - You were supposed to take the submarine cuts out,

  • not spend an extra 10 billion on them.

  • - Gary-

  • - After a mistake is made the senior staff come in together

  • with the President and then try to figure out how to fix it.

  • Now we would have also met on our own

  • without President Obama in the room.

  • First, to try to come out to him

  • with some options available

  • and give him the benefit of our best thinking.

  • President Obama was so disciplined

  • and he knew his policies in backwards and forwards

  • that he didn't tend to misspeak.

  • That's not to say that everything was flawless.

  • I mean, I can think of an example of

  • where he was in a press conference

  • on the Affordable Care Act

  • and at the very end of the press conference,

  • he gets asked a question about Skip Gates

  • and police arresting him in his own home.

  • - My understanding is,

  • is that Professor Gates then shows his ID

  • to show that this is his house.

  • And at that point he gets arrested for disorderly conduct

  • - That wasn't according to plan

  • so then you have to figure out what to do about that.

  • But he really stuck to his speeches.

  • So we spent a lot of time and effort making sure

  • that we crafted President Obama speeches

  • in his words, and reflecting his policies

  • we would send drafts up to him the night before at home

  • and if it was a serious speech,

  • like the State of The Union,

  • he would have received multiple drafts

  • over the course of several weeks,

  • and so by the time he actually delivered the speech,

  • he was absolutely sure about every word that was in it.

  • - Gary glasses.

  • - Well, as the nation's first female vice President

  • I don't think she did right by our gender.

  • I think that this show really

  • was a caricature of what a woman would be

  • and not necessarily the best role model.

  • And I'm happy to know that reality will be very different.

  • - I'll be with you in a second.

  • [door knob clanking]

  • - This is the "American President" directed by Rob Reiner.

  • This scene with Sydney played by Annete Bening.

  • Think she's in a little bit of trouble

  • when the President asked to see her privately

  • in the Oval Office.

  • [door creaking]

  • - Sorry to keep you waiting.

  • - Mr. President I-

  • - Is all right if I call you Sydney.

  • - Of course, Mr. President

  • - First of all, what happened before this scene

  • is the President walked in

  • and overheard Sydney being critical

  • of the President in a meeting.

  • Now Sydney's a lobbyist

  • and so her trade is that

  • she's gotta stay on good terms with everybody

  • while she's pushing for her agenda.

  • - Mr. President, what you saw in there

  • was nothing more than vanity run amok.

  • I was showing off for a colleague

  • who doesn't think very much of me.

  • It would be a real injustice

  • for you to hold the GDC accountable

  • for my behavior today on top of which I am monumentally

  • sorry for having insulted you like that.

  • - So, first of all,

  • I can't think of a single time President Obama was alone

  • in the Oval Office with a lobbyist.

  • You always wanna have

  • somebody else in the room with you,

  • particularly with a lobbyist

  • to double check and make sure

  • that nothing gets repeated that isn't actually true.

  • So it would have been very unusual.

  • - The GDC is asking for 20%, sir.

  • - It's not gonna pass at 20%

  • it's a long shot at 10.

  • - How do you know that

  • until you put the full weight

  • of the White House behind it?

  • - We had very strict restrictions on what lobbyists

  • could and could not do

  • because we'd seen far too often

  • where lobbyists use their influence

  • to try to sway policymakers,

  • to do what wasn't in the best interest

  • of the American people.

  • And so walling ourselves off from them

  • was really important to President Obama.

  • The President's private time

  • totally depends upon the President.

  • President Obama always asked us to put on his schedule

  • time during the day where he could just think.

  • Now I will say,

  • when we all saw that time on the schedule,

  • we violated that wish all the time,

  • 'cause we thought, while he's in there on his own

  • we can go and ask him about X, Y, and Z.

  • But I do think it's really important

  • that a President has time to reflect

  • and to think because otherwise you can just be reacting.

  • There were many times when President Obama wanted to escape

  • and I remember one time he said

  • "Well, what would happen

  • "if I just started to walk

  • "towards the Gates of the White House?

  • "And do you think the secret service would stop me?"

  • And I said, "Yeah, I don't think you'd get very far."

  • But there were also times where he said

  • "look, I'm going for a walk."

  • And there had to be a lot of preparation

  • that went into that walk.

  • But I remember he just walked outside

  • of the gates and started walking up to everyday People

  • and they're like, "Oh my gosh, there's the President."

  • It was unusual though

  • to allow somebody into the Oval Office

  • particularly a lobbyist to an empty room.

  • And the fact that the President was still

  • in his private quarters in the back

  • while Sidney's wandering around the Oval Office,

  • that would never happen.

  • What I like about this scene

  • is that the camera's shooting from the ceiling.

  • And I think oftentimes when people see the Oval Office

  • they don't realize how high the ceiling is

  • and it is a magnificent ceiling.

  • - Mr. President pardon-

  • - Did you know the city planners, when they sat down

  • to design Washington DC,

  • their intention was to build a city that would intimidate

  • and humble foreign heads of state?

  • It's true.

  • - I didn't know that.

  • - The white House is the single greatest

  • home court advantage in the modern world.

  • - I don't know whether the White House was designed

  • to intimidate foreign heads of state, but it certainly does.

  • I have seen the most confident, powerful,

  • arrogant leaders walk into the Oval Office

  • and just crumble before your very eyes.

  • It is by design, very intimidating.

  • And he's trying to figure out,

  • well how can I make her comfortable?

  • So he's not trying to intimidate her

  • he's really just trying to hit on her.

  • - Are you hungry?

  • I skipped breakfast.

  • You wanna have a donut coffee or something?

  • - Sir, I'm a little intimidated by my surroundings.

  • And yes, I have gotten off to a rocky

  • and a somewhat stilted beginning

  • but don't let that diminish the way to my message.

  • - It's very hard to be a single President

  • for the reasons,

  • in this instance, in this movie, there are obvious

  • which is you have potentially

  • an inherent conflict of interest,

  • particularly if the person who you fall in love with

  • is a lobbyist.

  • - The GDC has been at every President

  • for the last decade and a half,

  • that global warming is a calamity.

  • The effects of which will be second, only to nuclear war.

  • The best scientists in the world

  • have given you every reason to take the GDC seriously

  • but I'm gonna give you one more.

  • If you don't live up to the deal you just made

  • come New Hampshire

  • we're gonna go shopping for a new candidate.

  • - So what you were seeing

  • is a negotiation between the President and a lobbyist,

  • again, unprecedented in my mind

  • in terms of what President Obama did

  • while he was in office,

  • but people do make deals all the time.

  • And I think the point he was trying to make to her

  • is I'm not gonna make this happen for you,

  • unless you can get a substantial number of votes.

  • And if you can get well on the way,

  • I will help push it over the top.

  • So deals do happen all the time, but deals change.

  • - You can't do that Sydney

  • - With all due respect Mr. President,

  • who's going to stop me.

  • - Well, if you go through that door

  • the United States Secret Service,

  • that's my private office.

  • - Ah!

  • You have to go out that door over there.

  • [door slamming]

  • - The room is confusing

  • because the doors blend into the wall

  • and there are three doors

  • and I could see she came in one door

  • and she just started heading towards the door.

  • And you can't really tell the difference

  • between the door that goes to the outer oval,

  • the door that goes to the hallway

  • and the door that goes to the private office.

  • And she clearly got confused.

  • And so it was a funny way

  • of putting her in check

  • that you can't go out the wrong door

  • or bad things can happen.

  • - Well, it's in the bag.

  • You have someone here to show off for.

  • - [Valerie] This is the TV show, "The West Wing"

  • directed by Alex Graves

  • in this scene, President Bartlett's wife

  • cuts off his tie just moments before the debate.

  • - Either way I feel bad.

  • I don't think I've done enough

  • to help you prepare for this debate.

  • - Why are you telling me this now?

  • - Just 'cause.

  • - Oh my God, you're insane.

  • You're insane, Charlie!

  • - Obviously what Abby was trying to do

  • is take his mind off of what was about to happen.

  • It sent the staff scurrying looking for the tie

  • [people chattering]

  • I loved it when CJ said,

  • "This color hasn't been tested."

  • Well, who cares?

  • It's just a tie,

  • but it's the kind of attention to detail

  • that the senior staff has paid a lot of attention to

  • and then suddenly it erupts into chaos.

  • And it really did achieve what Abby was trying to do.

  • Well, President Obama is really hard to ruffle

  • under any circumstances.

  • And so I'm sure he would have just leaned over

  • and said to Reggie Love, who was his body guy at the time?

  • Hey, Regg, give me your tie.

  • But I could easily see how Michelle Obama

  • would have tried to do something

  • to just distract him, settle him

  • remind him that this is just a chance to speak

  • directly to the American people and ignore all the noise.

  • The President I knew best President Obama

  • prepared very diligently, he took it seriously.

  • He went through a lot of briefing books

  • to make sure that he had his message,

  • affirmative message that he wanted to deliver out.

  • And also of course prepare for the inevitable incoming

  • from your opponent.

  • - Americans are tired of partisan politics

  • [audience clapping]

  • - Mr President.

  • Actually what you've done in Florida

  • is bringing the right together with the far right.

  • And I don't think Americans are tired of partisan politics,

  • I think they're tired of hearing career politicians

  • diss partisan politics, to get a gig.

  • - Every President does it differently.

  • I can just say for sure,

  • that Vice President Biden is going through the same process

  • that President Obama went through.

  • Some of the same people who prepared President Obama

  • are on vice President Biden's team

  • and Senator Harris's team.

  • But ultimately it's the test to the candidate

  • and I know how seriously Joe Biden takes this as well.

  • I can't really speak for his opponent.

  • Moments leading up to the debate

  • are a nightmare for the senior staff.

  • You're trying to think

  • was there anything I forgot to say

  • but you also don't wanna let your stress

  • bleed into the President.

  • And so I know we work really hard

  • to cover up our anxiety

  • and I can remember sitting next to

  • former first lady Michelle Obama

  • at several of the debates.

  • You know the cameras are on you, you can't react.

  • You can see the look on both of our faces.

  • I'm sure we meant to smile,

  • but it's just, it's a terrifying moment.

  • - You've used the word liberal 74 times

  • in one day, it was yesterday.

  • [audience applauding]

  • - Most of the advisors are backstage.

  • I sat next to Mrs. Obama

  • because in addition to being an advisor

  • I was a close friend.

  • We didn't do it in every debate.

  • Sometimes she would sit with other folks

  • and I would be backstage with the rest of the team

  • but whenever we could, we tried to hang out together.

  • We did not mix with the opponent's team.

  • It looks like everybody's team is in one room together.

  • We had our own room, we had our own communication

  • so that they could overhear what we were saying.

  • But the sense of anxiety amongst both teams was apparent.

  • - The rules for tonight's debate are as follows.

  • A candidate will be asked a question

  • by one of the panelists

  • and he will have 90 seconds to respond.

  • - Now I will say listening to the rules

  • that were being described

  • and then seeing the candidate follow those rules

  • that's unusual in our current climate,

  • but I will say in President Obama's races,

  • both in '08 and '012

  • his opponents were all pretty respectful of the rules.

  • It didn't mean that they always stayed within their time.

  • Didn't mean that they didn't interrupt each other ever

  • but certainly not the kind of food fight we saw

  • in the first debate of this year's Presidential race.

  • - Good morning.

  • - This is independence day directed by Roland Emmerich.

  • In this scene, the President gives a stirring speech

  • to those who are on the way to fight an alien invasion

  • - Mankind,

  • that word should have new meaning

  • for all of us today.

  • We can't be consumed by petty differences anymore.

  • We will be United in our common interest.

  • - This is a great scene

  • in that it shows there are moments

  • where the President is trying to motivate

  • and inspire and convince people to put in harm's way

  • and to lift their spirits up.

  • And you can see from the expressions

  • on everybody in the crowd's face

  • they're hanging on his every word

  • as one would do for the President of the United States.

  • They're all scared.

  • We'll put aside for a minute that they're battling aliens

  • but they're going into battle

  • and the question is.

  • Is he able to inspire them?

  • And I think Presidents have these moments

  • in the course of their time in office,

  • where people are looking to them for leadership

  • they're looking for them for direction, for meaning

  • and you have to call upon yourself

  • to not only deliver words that capture your point

  • but that also inspire people to act.

  • - The 4th of July will no longer be known

  • as an American holiday.

  • But as the day when the world declared in one voice,

  • we will not go quietly into the night.

  • We will not vanish without a fight.

  • We're going to live on.

  • We're going to survive.

  • Today, we celebrate our independence day.

  • [dramatic music]

  • - I can remember countless times

  • when President Obama gave speeches

  • that were intended to inspire.

  • The speech he gave after the shooting down

  • in Charleston at the Emanuel church where Reverend Pinckney

  • and his eight parishioners were murdered

  • and it was a tragic, tragic occasion.

  • And President Obama lifted everyone's spirits

  • by singing amazing grace

  • and talking about how important it was

  • for us to heal the racial wounds

  • that had been a part of our country for so long

  • and not just by tearing down a Confederate flag

  • but by getting rid of the tensions

  • between police and communities of color,

  • by rebuilding our schools

  • by making sure that we have places

  • that are safe for people to live

  • by bringing us together.

  • And so I think Presidents should seek out

  • those opportunities to bring people together

  • as opposed to separate us

  • and show our differences are, but rather inspire us.

  • [crowd applauding]

  • - Let's go.

  • - The only thing that was troubling afterwards

  • is when the President gets in the airplane himself,

  • that that would not happen.

  • He would be led by the Secretary of Defense.

  • And it would all be coordinated though

  • through the situation room, which is able to communicate

  • across our wide network of military all around the world

  • - I'm a Combat Will,

  • I belong in the air.

  • - A global pandemic as a threat on the world

  • and it is certainly a time

  • when we should be coming together.

  • And I guess you could draw a analogy

  • between a alien invasion and a virus

  • that's infecting so many countless people

  • across our country and across the world

  • and it is a time to put aside political differences.

  • It's a time to listen to science and evidence

  • and develop an honest strategy

  • and speak truthfully to the American people.

  • This country is extraordinarily resilient

  • and so are our people, but you have to be honest with us.

  • - Okay, before we get started

  • a couple things I'd like to go over in the budget.

  • - This is "Dave"

  • directed by Ivan Reitman

  • in this scene "Dave", played by Kevin Klein,

  • takes over a cabinet meeting

  • in order to figure out

  • how to afford to pay for children's shelter.

  • - The homeless section of the Simpson Garner Works Bill

  • - Mr. President, I don't believe

  • that's on your agenda today.

  • - There is no way that anybody sitting

  • in the back bench would interrupt a cabinet meeting

  • particularly with the press in the room,

  • it's unprecedented.

  • But in this case of course,

  • he thinks that he's the one who created this President,

  • so he has the right to influence him

  • but I have never ever seen anyone interrupt a President

  • in the middle of a cabinet meeting.

  • - Now the way I see it

  • we need $650 million in order to keep the project.

  • - So this is a great scene in that

  • I think it's what everybody's fantasy

  • is that this is what a President should be doing.

  • Should be working with the cabinet

  • to achieve his goals.

  • The sausage being made right out in public

  • with the press there to see it.

  • A couple of things strike me about the scene.

  • Normally the President would say

  • "look, these are my priorities."

  • And then he would ask his cabinet

  • and his staff to come back to him with some recommendations.

  • But in this scene instead,

  • "Dave who the only two people in the scene

  • who know he's not actually the President

  • are the ones who are very unhappy with what he's doing.

  • - Changes in our cash management.

  • For example, according to the OMB

  • we've got 17 defense contractors

  • who are delinquent in their contracts.

  • - [Dave] Is this true Frank?

  • - I believe so, yes.

  • - So even though they're late,

  • we keep paying them on time.

  • - One of the things that struck me

  • as different about this cabinet room

  • than President Obama's

  • was the complete lack of diversity around that table.

  • It's just a bunch of White guys

  • who were making important decisions

  • affecting all of our lives

  • and very few women that you saw in the back benches.

  • It was realistic to see the press

  • all bunched together in one corner,

  • always very very close,

  • all trying to get that exact same shot

  • bumping into each other

  • the cameraman and the reporters

  • kind of jockeying for position

  • but the working meeting

  • as you will in the way that this happened

  • is very unusual.

  • Well, one of the disadvantages

  • of making decisions on the spotlight like this

  • is that you haven't necessarily thought through

  • all of the implications of it.

  • He's asking his cabinet to respond

  • without the benefit of advising and counsel

  • from their advisors.

  • It doesn't allow for the kind of due diligence

  • and thoughtful deliberation

  • that usually leads to better decisions.

  • - Now, Instead of giving them money

  • for something they haven't finished,

  • we could hold back that cash,

  • stick it in some interest bearing saving account-

  • - Mr President.

  • - Yes.

  • - Well, as a senior advisor,

  • I would have been sitting in the back row

  • where you saw the two guys

  • who were actually objecting to what was going on.

  • And it would be very unusual for me to offer my opinion

  • unless the President turned around and asked for it.

  • The President runs the cabinet meeting

  • according to his wishes,

  • which is why I think everybody turned around

  • because that just doesn't happen in a cabinet meeting.

  • [flying saucer revving]

  • This is "Mars Attacks" directed by Tim Burton.

  • In this scene, the Martians attack the White House.

  • [brooding music]

  • - Theodore, I simply do not feel the linkage.

  • - It's a full-scale invasion.

  • Mr. President we're gonna need to get you to safety

  • - There are enormous precautions that are taken

  • to keep the White House safe.

  • Obviously I'm not gonna discuss

  • a lot of those security cautions

  • but anytime anything comes into the sphere

  • around the White House, there are alert systems

  • and the military would have been scrambled,

  • you would have seen jets up in the sky.

  • It would have been a lot more of a presence of our military

  • long before you saw flying saucers,

  • get that close to the Washington monument,

  • let alone to the White House.

  • He would have been swooped out of that Oval Office

  • long before the very last minute.

  • And I can't imagine a situation where you'd see

  • flying saucers so close to the window of the Oval Office

  • and the President and his family still in the Oval Office.

  • [brooding music]

  • - Shouldn't we go this way?

  • - Sorry Mum,

  • there's a tour going through here.

  • - The secret service would have thought

  • about the route that they wanted the President to take

  • long before an attack was underway.

  • They have all kinds of plans for figuring out

  • how to keep the President as safe as possible.

  • And they would have led the way

  • so there wouldn't have been the case

  • of the President's wife trying to go in one direction.

  • There would have been secret service in front

  • of the President and behind the President

  • ushering him in the most efficient way

  • and the safest way possible

  • - The house.

  • In fact, it is often used by the President

  • to receive guests.

  • It is furnished to represent the period of James Monroe.

  • - And what's that?

  • - That is the portrait of James Monroe.

  • [laser gun revving]

  • - If there were any alert systems that were triggered

  • the tours would have been shut down

  • the building would have been evacuated.

  • It would have been on lockdown

  • and people would have moved away from the windows.

  • And we would have seen a lot more presence

  • of secret service in every room of the White House.

  • And so the fact that the Martians got that close

  • without any seeming recognition

  • about what was gonna happen, pretty unrealistic.

  • [brooding music]

  • They looked like they were on the State Floor

  • going under the stairs.

  • I'm not sure how they got all the way

  • from the West Wing to the residents building.

  • You didn't see them going through the Colonnade.

  • They missed a whole bunch of steps

  • between where they started out

  • and where they ended up.

  • [brooding music]

  • - We lost Taffy.

  • [laser gun revving]

  • - Well, we're in sad shape

  • when we need to rely on the children

  • to keep the President safe.

  • And the thought that the first lady

  • would have been left standing on her own,

  • that would have never happened.

  • The President and the first lady

  • had their own details, not one detail.

  • So hers would have been surrounding hers.

  • His would have been surrounding his

  • they would've had a clear path to go.

  • There would not have been twists and turns.

  • It would have been a straight line

  • to the safest possible place

  • they could take 'em,

  • the bunker's reserved for the President

  • and his family and senior teams.

  • So they would have segregated visitors

  • to go into one place

  • and then the President into a secure location.

  • And we absolutely did drills to make sure

  • that we prepared for every possible scenario.

  • And there were incidents.

  • I mean, I remember once someone came

  • to the West entrance of the White House

  • and I was shooting and we were put on alert

  • and everybody had to go to a safe location.

  • So there were actual real examples as well as drills.

  • The whole point is to be prepared and to keep

  • both the people who work there,

  • mostly the President but certainly the rest of his team

  • and family as well as any visitors

  • who happen to be there safe as well

  • and to protect the outside of the building.

  • This is, as we said in the beginning,

  • a really important building

  • its symbolic known the world over

  • and great lengths are gone to keep it

  • and its occupants safe.

  • - [Male Voice] I'm told we got 24 dead and over 200 injured.

  • - This is "The Comey Rule" directed by Billy Ray

  • in this scene, James County is interviewed

  • by President Barack Obama

  • for the position of FBI director.

  • - Good to meet you Mr. President.

  • - You too.

  • - I should confess Sir.

  • I supported John McCain and Romney.

  • - I know.

  • So why should I hire you to run the Bureau?

  • - I was not there when President Obama

  • interviewed Mr. Comey,

  • the outside office, isn't realistic.

  • It doesn't look like the area

  • where people are held for meetings.

  • And it's interesting 'cause I got the interior area

  • pretty well done.

  • President Obama would say, "Come on in."

  • And go out and read him the way he did

  • it showed his demeanor pretty well

  • and being perfectly willing to consider somebody

  • with whom we might disagree on certain issues

  • if he thought that his character

  • was the kind of character

  • that he wanted in that spot

  • and that he had a great reputation.

  • - Still, it might be easier for me

  • to have an FBI director who agrees with me.

  • - Oh, that's true.

  • But you've always struck me as one of those leaders

  • who gains just as much from thoughtful disagreement.

  • - You've garnered a lot of attention,

  • taking on the mob as prosecutor

  • and defending the DOJ in '04.

  • - I suppose that's true.

  • - It wouldn't be uncharacteristic

  • for President Obama to say,

  • this is what I've heard about you

  • and give Comey a chance to agree with it

  • or refute it in this case, he agreed with it.

  • - You need a lot of attention?

  • - It's not a huge driver for me.

  • - No interest in politics down the line.

  • - None

  • - Good

  • - I can't speak to the conversation

  • 'cause I wasn't privy to it.

  • Obviously it's Jim Comey's

  • recounting of the conversation

  • but I think the directness and openness and transparency

  • with which the two talk is probably pretty realistic.

  • - If you were to get this job

  • conversations like this would be impossible.

  • The President and the FBI director

  • have to be at arms length.

  • - I thought that was a really important scene

  • and it showed President Obama's respect

  • for the independence of our investigative units,

  • the FBI the CIA, the justice department,

  • all of those were treated at arms length.

  • President did have a friendship with Eric Holder

  • but never discussed ongoing matters with him.

  • And those important lines of demarcation of responsibility.

  • I would give to see the American people

  • confidence that those investigations are being conducted

  • with integrity.

  • And it certainly was the way I saw those two behave.

  • They were absolutely at arms length

  • Comey would've never discussed

  • an ongoing investigation.

  • President Obama would have never asked him

  • for his loyalty to him personally

  • he asked him for his loyalty to our country.

  • And the independence is a way

  • of evidencing that loyalty to the country.

  • There would have never been a conflict

  • of interest between the two

  • - One day you might be called upon investigate something

  • someone in my party may have done

  • or someone on my staff or-

  • - Or you.

  • - Well, for those investigations to be credible

  • we can not be close.

  • Mr. President, I hope I can look forward to years

  • of not being close with you.

  • - President Obama wouldn't have had him in the Oval Office

  • unless he was being seriously considered for the job.

  • And so it was really at that point Comey's to lose

  • and also President Obama to say

  • "Look, is this somebody who I can trust

  • "and have an independent relationship with

  • "and know that he's gonna do the job

  • "of looking out for the people."

  • And I thought it was really important

  • that President Obama signaled to him,

  • we're not gonna have a cozy relationship.

  • And you know, we might've gotten along in this interview

  • but we're not gonna have

  • any more conversations like this.

  • And to my knowledge, I can't think of a time

  • he met alone with Comey after that.

  • Yeah certainly President Obama may have had

  • a very calm exterior temperament

  • but he did know exactly the kind of FBI director he wanted.

  • He wanted somebody who would be independent

  • who would follow the facts wherever they would lie

  • who would not be intimidated

  • or influenced and who didn't have any ulterior motive

  • which is why I think he said

  • "Are you interested in politics?

  • "And do you let your own ego get out ahead of you at times?"

  • And he was looking for that direct assurance that

  • that wasn't the case

  • so that he could trust him to do his job.

  • The Obama's remained two of my closest friends.

  • And so we are in regular contact.

  • I spent a fair amount of time helping them

  • with the Obama foundation

  • which is gonna be an extraordinary beacon of hope

  • on the South side of Chicago.

  • I'm working with Michelle Obama

  • on our organization called When We All Vote

  • designed to change the culture in our country

  • around voting.

  • In the last Presidential election

  • a hundred million Americans did not vote.

  • And there are certainly efforts

  • that are out there intended to suppress the vote

  • but don't disenfranchise yourself.

  • And in this current climate

  • I would also encourage you to make a plan today

  • whether you're comfortable voting

  • by mail or are taking advantage of an early vote

  • make a plan and execute it right away.

  • Your voice is your vote.

  • Our democracy is only gonna be as strong

  • as we the people demand that it be.

  • That's why our constitution begins with that phrase.

  • "We the people," it's all about us.

- Presidents have these moments

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