24 (TV Series)

Day 5: 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (2006)

John Allen Nelson: Walt Cummings

Photos 

Quotes 

• Walt Cummings : Mr. President, we need to talk.

  President Charles Logan : What is it Walt?

  Walt Cummings : I was hoping to spair you this but I'm afraid Jack Bauer is forcing my hand to this.

  Walt Cummings : He's on his way here with Mike Novick

  President Charles Logan : Bauer? Why?

  Walt Cummings : He's going accuse me of helping the terrorists acquire the nerve gas.

  President Charles Logan : That's ridiculous.

  Walt Cummings : No Sir, it's... it's the truth.

  President Charles Logan : What did you say?

• Yellow Tie Man : [Over cell phone]  We know you've altered the arming codes, Mr. Cummings.

  Walt Cummings : We can negotiate something.

  Yellow Tie Man : I don't negotiate with my enemies. I eliminate them. Your country is about to pay a very steep price for betraying us.

• President Charles Logan : Have you found my wife yet?

  Mike Novick : No Sir, but Secret Service is "confident" she's still on the grounds

  President Charles Logan : [Irritated]  if they're so damn "confident", why can't anyone find her? What the hell are they doing?

  Mike Novick : I'm sure it's just a matter of time Mr. President

  Walt Cummings : [as Walt enters the room]  sorry I'm late

  Mike Novick : I was just setting up the video

  Mike Novick : [while playing the intelligence video]  this was made by terrorists to document the effects of exposure to nerve gas: it was recovered from a training camp two years ago. Disorientation occurs moments after exposure, now the video jumps forward, no more than a couple of minutes we estimate but in that time, there's permanent damage to the central nervous system. Violent seizures take over, Bronchial membrane blister, and death occurs

  Mike Novick : [after the video ends]  now according to DOD, the Sentox Six nerve gas stolen from the airport is far more lethal than the gas we saw just used. If released in a town or city for example, the cloud will remain lethal for much longer

  President Charles Logan : Are we any closer on finding the canisters?

  Mike Novick : There haven't been any reports on progress

• Walt Cummings : Through a proxy, I leaked information to the terrorists on where the nerve gas was hidden: you have to understand Sir, this gas was never going to pose a threat

  President Charles Logan : [Interrupts him, raises his voice]  "Never pose a threat?" people died in the airport, hostages were killed

  Walt Cummings : We had hoped to limit the collateral damage

  President Charles Logan : Collateral damage? What're you thinking? This is an unspeakable crime

  President Charles Logan : [after Walt is silent, while picking up the phone]  you have to answer for this

  Walt Cummings : Mr. President, it's in your best interest to hear me out: don't make that phone call

  President Charles Logan : [Hangs up the phone]  what'd you mean? "My best interest"?

  Walt Cummings : Sentox gas is being smuggled out of the country by separatists, who think they're going to use it against the Russians. However, that nerve gas will never reach Russian soil

  President Charles Logan : And you know this how?

  Walt Cummings : We control the remote detonators on the gas canisters. As soon as they reach the terrorist base, we'll trigger the canisters by satellite to release the gas

  President Charles Logan : So everything that happened today was to just kill some terrorists?

  Walt Cummings : No, the goal is to produce a "smoking gun", proof that the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Central Asia

  President Charles Logan : [Attempts to walk away from Walt]  this is unbelievable

  Walt Cummings : [Grabs his arm]  no, it's necessary this will finally give us a pretext to increase our military presence in the region and guarantee the flow of oil for the next generation

  President Charles Logan : [Pulls his arm from Walt's grasp]  how dare you, how dare you act without my consent? How dare you put this Administration, this entire country in jeopardy? You're a traitor

  Walt Cummings : [Raising his voice]  no, I am a patriot, doing what needs to be done for the continued safety and well being of this nation

  President Charles Logan : My God, you gave the order to have David Palmer killed?

  Walt Cummings : That was an unfortunate but necessary intervention: he found out too much, we had to...

  President Charles Logan : [Interrupts him]  your rationalizing the murder of a President, you're going to contact these people and recover the nerve gas before it leaves the country

  Walt Cummings : I'm afraid I can't do that

  President Charles Logan : Why not?

  Walt Cummings : I don't know where the nerve gas is and the man I have working inside has gone "dark," his unreachable. Now you'll let things play out as they are otherwise your Administration will be implicated and your Presidency will be destroyed: it's your choice

• Walt Cummings : [after hanging up the phone]  Novick and Bauer have been taken into custody

  President Charles Logan : So we're just going lock Mike Novick up?

  Walt Cummings : For the time being

  President Charles Logan : What good would it do? Eventually his going to get out and his going to talk to the press

  Walt Cummings : What can he say? He doesn't know anything

  President Charles Logan : I thought you told me he talked to Jack Bauer?

  Walt Cummings : We stopped Bauer before he could tell Mike any details

  President Charles Logan : What's his going to think? We're detaining him

  Walt Cummings : Bauer was about to divulge national security secrets: Mike's not authorized to hear, that's why Mike's being detained

  President Charles Logan : What about Bauer? He must've told other people at CTU what he knows?

  Walt Cummings : As soon as this nerve gas leaves US soil, it's going to be very difficult to prove either of us is connected to this in any way

  President Charles Logan : And you're sure these detonators will work? That the Sentox nerve gas will be released before it can be used against the Russians?

  Walt Cummings : Yes, right now all you need to do is to authorize me to terminate CTU's involvement in matter: we'll tell them we've got the situation under control and we'll deal with Bauer. After all, they're not officially affiliated with him any longer

  President Charles Logan : [after thinking it over]  alright

  Walt Cummings : Good

• Walt Cummings : [after hanging up the phone]  that was NSA: CTU hasn't transferred the search operation to their jurisdiction yet

  President Charles Logan : What's the problem?

  Walt Cummings : I don't know. You need to call Lynn McGill, make sure we're in charge of this

  President Charles Logan : [Raises his voice]  I've been avoiding his calls because his just going to ask why I'm pulling CTU off the search operation and I don't know what to tell him

  Walt Cummings : You don't have to tell him anything, you're the President