Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Page #3

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in two days.

You've got 48 hours.

Thank you.

Nice to see you.

What brings you back?

Two words.

Re... Venge.

WAITRESS:
Was everything all right, Daniel?

DANIEL:
It's great as always.

WAITRESS:
Your total's going to be $47.70.

DANIEL:
Thanks, darlin'.

WAITRESS:
There you go.

I'll see you next time.

DANIEL:
Say hi to your mama.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RADIO)

You look like hell.

Have some food.

- WAITRESS:
How are you, sir?

- Just coffee, thanks.

So, what does this look like to you, Sandy,

and your pals at Time magazine?

Oh, the Watergate thing?

Honestly, I...

No one at Time magazine or any newspaper

I know can figure it out.

Ex-spooks get caught planting bugs?

Does have a particular odor to it though.

I bet your old pal Bill Sullivan

sure misses the FBI.

Because I heard the White House

gave him some bullshit job,

waiting for Hoover to kick off.

Sullivan wants back in.

The president wants him back in

to run the FBI their way.

Nixon and Sullivan.

Those two were made for each other.

WAITRESS:
Here you go.

Could we have some pie, please?

WAITRESS:
What kind?

We have apple, blueberry...

You pick.

What are we doing out here, Mark?

I was given 48 hours.

To do what?

Wrap up the Watergate investigation.

By who?

Gray?

Pat Gray, the director of the FBI,

ordered the FBI

to stop its own investigation?

There are calls we are not allowed to make

and phone and bank records we can't go near.

(WAITRESS APPROACHING)

MARK:
Thank you.

In all the years I've known you,

you've never given up a single,

real secret.

Nothing but the company line.

These are uncharted waters for you.

So, one more time. What are we doing?

You looking for a little help?

Payback?

I want the FBI left alone to do its job.

That's all I want.

And you want me to light a fire

around the edges

with a story.

Well, I can see why

they didn't give you the job.

They must be terrified of you.

(LINE RINGING)

- Come on, come on.

- WOMAN:
Washington Post.

I miss you.

I know I'm not supposed to say that.

- MARK:
It's okay to say that.

- No.

It's too touchy-feely.

I need you too much.

Where were you tonight?

The switchboard said

they didn't know where you were.

Because I didn't tell them.

Well, what about Mrs. Tschudy?

She didn't know either.

But you taught her

to always say that, didn't you?

MARK:
Have you been making the calls

about Joan?

AUDREY:
I've called all her friends.

They haven't heard from her in nearly a year.

(SIGHS)

Are you looking for her?

Is the most powerful law enforcement agency

in the world looking for her?

I can't do that.

Oh.

It's against the rules?

We don't know what they will find.

Do we?

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

Where the hell did they get that?

Mr. Bates.

This Washington Post story says

we know who the Watergate ringleader is.

Then, this morning,

our Time magazine pal, Sandy Smith,

called the acting director

to say that he is prepping a story

that the FBI is plotting a whitewash.

He said the director has put

a 48-hour cap on the investigation.

- What's your point?

- Is that true?

Someone in this office

is talking to the press.

The point, Mr. Lano,

is that leaks kill investigations.

- Whoa, whoa. Okay.

- Take it down, Angie.

You want to conduct

a leak investigation, be my guest.

But you got 200 field agents from

here to LA all chasing down leads,

so you're gonna have to ask them all, too.

Tone, in front of Mr. Felt.

I can guarantee it wasn't me

or any of the guys in this room.

Donald H. Segretti.

You pulled that name

from Howard Hunt's phone records.

He called Hunt a few dozen times, yeah.

This says Segretti used to be a lawyer

in the Treasury Department,

paid out of the account

that funded the Watergate.

An account belonging to

the Committee to Re-elect the President.

- Who is the head of the committee?

- John Mitchell.

Former Attorney General, John Mitchell.

The best we can make out is

Segretti's some kind of prankster.

You know, like he's spying on the Dems,

sending their wives dirty pictures.

- It's all bottom-feeder, frat boy stuff.

- Indictable under election laws.

Forget the plot of the story, Mr. Kunkel.

What's the theme? What's it saying?

What does it mean?

Like Angie, like Mr. Lano said,

we are still vetting the leads.

All the ugly politics,

all the dirty money, all the sleaze.

(SHOUTING) It means the goddamn punks

are running the country!

Keep going.

LANO:
You might want to talk to

the White House about those leaks.

- Why?

- 'Cause whenever I'm lucky enough

to get someone over there

to actually talk to me,

they know what I'm gonna ask before I ask it.

It's like they already know

what I want to know.

Mr. Felt, I have the White House

on the phone. Mr. John Dean.

MARK:
Put him through.

Mr. Dean.

DEAN:
The White House is concerned

about these press leaks.

Of course.

We think the source

must be someone in the FBI.

Why FBI?

DEAN:
That's where the information is.

MARK:
Those stories could have come

from someone in the White House.

(EXHALES)

We want you to do something

about it, Mr. Felt.

- MARK:
Okay.

- Now.

Fine.

But I don't understand.

- Which part?

- The part about you calling me.

The White House

has no authority over the FBI.

- We can...

- At all, Mr. Dean.

But we can suggest...

I'm afraid the White House

has nothing to suggest to the FBI.

- Thank you, Mr. Felt.

- Thank you, Mr. Dean.

(CLEARS THROAT)

(FLUSHES TOILET)

I want you to disappear

our investigation on these two names.

Get them off the interview list.

I don't get it. They're nobody.

Just do it.

(FLUSHES TOILET)

Then make sure you say you did it

in Monday's memo for the director.

Thank you.

Your daily Watergate briefing.

Thanks, Charlie. May I call you Charlie?

How much of what we are getting

on Watergate am I actually seeing?

Mr. Felt gives me the headlines.

I type them up.

I give Mr. Felt the original

and bring you a copy.

Mr. Felt doesn't want

to waste your time with details.

Okay.

Okay, Mr. Gray.

(SIRENS WAILING IN DISTANCE)

Mr. Kunkel!

Director Gray wanted you to know

he understands you and your boys

are doing a hell of a job.

Well, thank Mr. Gray, and not to worry.

We'll gather the whole ball of yarn.

Mr. Gray also wanted you to know

that there was gonna be a small change

in procedure in the information flow.

How and, more precisely, where it flows.

Not just the headlines, but the story itself.

The details, as it were.

Does Mr. Felt know?

Of course.

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

Angie Lano called me last night.

He told me that he called the White House

to set up a round of interviews.

Half hour later the White House called back

to tell me that we can't talk

to two of the guys

because their names were taken off the list.

The two names you told me.

How would the White House know?

I guess somebody told them.

The only people who knew were me and you.

And Mr. Gray.

And Mr. Gray.

BATES:
We need to find out what Gray has,

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