Truth Page #15

---

DAN:

(to Burkett; gently)

Whenever you're ready.

Burkett nods. Finishes with the water. Nicki takes it from

him, not pleased with how this is going.

DAN (CONT'D)

You say you knew this would cause

problems.

92.

BURKETT:

I know it did, I didn't know it would.

DAN:

So, again, why didn't you just tell

us the truth when you gave us the

memos?

An exhale from Nicki on the sidelines. Not happy with this.

BURKETT:

I was trying to protect people, Dan.

People who were trying to tell the

truth about what happened back then.

Betsy, writing again -So you decided to lie about where the

documents came from? Mary shakes her head. Not doing it.

DAN:

And you believe these documents are

telling the truth?

BURKETT:

I do.

Betsy hands it to Dan herself. Dan looks at it. Frowns.

DAN:

We have that already.

BETSY:

I want to make sure we have enough

so it'll cut-

DAN:

(sharply)

We have it. I'm moving on.

Betsy moves back to her chair, chastened. Across the room,

Nicki Burkett stares at Mary, furious.

INT. HOTEL ROOM -- AFTERNOON

After. Mary, Betsy, Smith and Roger sitting silence. Passing

a package of potato chips back and forth. Smith exhales.

SMITH:

He's a good guy, you know.

93.

BETSY:

You think I enjoyed that? We should

cut something for Nightly, get it

out immediately. Andrew agrees.

COLONEL CHARLES:

F.E.A.

BETSY:

You guys and Dan always say that,

what the hell does it mean?

A knock at the door.

MARY:

It's open!

The door opens to reveal Nicki Burkett. Lips pursed and

eyes glistening. A beat.

MARY (CONT'D)

How's Bill doing?

NICKI:

(softly)

Don't you dare ask how Bill is.

Bill is sick. He's a sick man. And

you don't give a damn about him.

You just spent two hours trying to

destroy him. You made him crawl on-

camera. You made him say, again and

again, that he lied and it still

wasn't enough for you. You wanted

more. You wanted to put the blame

on him for all the things you did

wrong putting this story together.

You want to wrap it all up in a neat

package and say "It's all Bill

Burkett's fault." Well, it's not,

and you know it. And you promised

when we came here to do this

interview, we would get a fair shake

and we got nothing from you but lies.

She's so mad she's shaking. Everyone else is too.

MARY:

Nicki

94.

NICKI:

You may think I'm some stupid hick

who doesn't know a damn thing about

a damn thing and you are so smart

and such a big shot. But I keep my

promises and I don't destroy people

to protect myself. I don't destroy

people and humiliate them and then

pretend I give a goddamn about how

they are. To answer your question,

Bill is not good. But then, you

knew that already.

Silence. No one else can summon a word.

Nicki turns and leaves them. Betsy crumples up the chips

bag and tosses it on the table. Not hungry anymore.

EXT. LAGUARDIA AIRPORT -- NIGHT

As a plane touches down...

INT. CBS NEWS -- LOBBY

Dan walks in, hefting his overnight bag. Andrew Heyward

stands waiting for him. Dan sees the look in his eyes.

ANDREW HEYWARD:

We need to talk.

INT. PIERRE HOTEL -- MARY'S ROOM -- NIGHT

Late. A knocking at the door. Mary clicks on the light and

goes to answer it. Dan, in his trench coat.

DAN:

What are the chances you have

something alcoholic in there?

MARY:

Better than average.

INT. PIERRE HOTEL -- MARY'S ROOM -- LATER

Dan sits on the sofa as Mary pours him a drink from tiny

mini-bar bottles.

DAN:

How long have we known each other?

95.

MARY:

Oh, Jesus, it's that bad?

Mary hands him his drink and sits on the bed.

DAN:

There is going to be an investigation.

CBS is going to appoint an independent

panel to look in to how the story

was put together. I'm to make an

announcement about it tomorrow.

(pause)

And I'm going to apologize for the

story on air.

MARY:

Andrew asked you to apologize?

Dan looks up at her.

DAN:

He did not ask.

MARY:

It's surrender.

DAN:

Since Burkett changed his story,

Andrew says CBS will no longer risk

its reputation on this.

MARY:

He knew. Even before we went down

there. He just wanted Burkett on

tape...

DAN:

I need you to do me a favor. I need

you to stop worrying about me.

MARY:

That's not gonna happen-

DAN:

You need to protect yourself now.

We all do.

He puts his drink down and withdraws a BUSINESS CARD. Leaves

it on the table. Mary looks at it. It is for a lawyer.

96.

INT. MARY'S OFFICE -- EVENING

Mary sits on her couch. Josh across from her. ON TV - The

feed from the EVENING NEWSCAST downstairs.

DAN:

Last week, amid increasing questions

about the authenticity of documents

used in support of a 60 Minutes

Wednesday story about President Bush's

time in the Texas Air National Guard,

CBS News vowed to re-examine the

documents in question, and their

source, vigorously. And we promised

that we would let the American Public

know whatever the outcome-

Mary clicks off her TV. Can't watch anymore. She looks at

Josh. Then:

MARY:

I'm sorry this was your first story

here.

JOSH:

I'm thinking next week we should

just have Dan shoot the President.

Would cause much less drama.

Mary laughs. Josh smiles. A nice moment. Broken by Betsy

coming through the door, a strange look on her face.

BETSY:

Mary? USA Today wants to know if

you put Burkett in touch with the

Kerry campaign in exchange for

documents?

MARY:

I know what this is about. Josh,

remember when I told you Burkett

wanted to give the Kerry campaign

advice on the swift boat stuff?

Josh just stares at her.

MARY (CONT'D)

I wanted to do a bullshit check on

Burkett after he said he'd talked to

(MORE)

97.

MARY (CONT'D)

Howard Dean? You said I could contact

the Kerry people to check and then

Burkett wanted me to give them his

phone number and you said I could,

so I did.

(pause)

Do you remember any of this?

JOSH:

(softly)

I must not have made myself clear.

You must have misunderstood what I

said you could do.

Mary looks at him, stricken.

BETSY:

Jesus Christ! What else is going to

f***ing happen here! Unbelievable!

MARY:

Betsy-

BETSY:

No, you know what, Mary? Maybe it's

best if you just went home.

Mary looks from one of them to the other. Josh won't meet

her gaze. A beat. She gathers up her things...

INT. CBS NEWS -- LOBBY -- EVENING

Mary's heels clack on the marble floor as she heads for the

exit. TV's on the wall play the CBS EVENING NEWS. Dan's

voice, echoing all around her...

DAN (O.S.)

After extensive additional interviews,

I no longer have the confidence in

these documents that would allow us

to continue vouching for them

journalistically. I find we have

been misled on the key question of

how our source for the documents

came into possession of these papers.

That, combined with some of the

questions that have been raised in

public and in the press, leads me to

Rate this script:4.0 / 1 vote