The following takes place between 4pm and 5pm. Events occur in real time.
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Haffley begins his opening arguments against president Donovan.
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Haffley: President Donovan says he was elected by the people. But I'd be willing to wager that if he were to ask for a show of hands right now, the american people would be all for military retaliation. This war has been long, the old strategies didn't seem to be working. So he tried a new strategy, it failed. It would be one thing for the president to acknowledge a mistake and move forward. But even after these savages attacked us yet again, he wants to negotiate with them. We cannot negotiate with terrorists, it will only encourage future terrorist acts if we tell the whole world that terrorism works. The only way to deal with them if through violence, because it is the only language they seem to understand.
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Gaines is granted full immunity as he requested.
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Doyle: I feel I should remind you that this immunity is dependant upon your full cooperation. If you lie, or conveniently forget things, you will be prosecuted, we will seek the death penalty. Tell us everything you know.
Gaines: That could take awhile, so we better get started. First of all let me say again that Jamey Farrell is completely innocent. She only worked with us after I kidnapped her son.
Doyle: What about the girl Adaeze, was she a bomber?
Gaines: I honestly don't know. Dubaku said he would recruit homicide bombers from his contacts in the sangalan-american community. I provided him with two sets of explosives, but he never said who he was giving them too.
Doyle: Who is your employer?
Gaines: Jonas Hodges.
Doyle: The defense contractor? Why would he want to attack America?
Gaines: Because his company has contracts in Afghanistan worth billions of dollars. Hodges feared that peace with Hekmetyar would hurt his profits. So he hired me to recruit Dubaku and Sabzi, let them recruit people, take the fall for everything. And ofcourse I was suppossed to eliminate those two to clean up loose ends. Ofcourse this derailed my plans to eliminate Sabzi, he's still out there somewhere, I doubt he'll go down quietly.
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Jonas Hodges watches the news from his office. He hasn't heard back from Gaines, and this worries him. If Gaines were dead, he could not be easily replaced. But if he were captured, that would be even worse for Hodges and his friends. Still, he has heard some good news recently. Donovan hasn't yet authorized military retaliation, but speaker Haffley is attempting to use the 25th amendment to become acting president. Either Haffley will succeed, or Donovan will bow to the pressure and retaliate. Either way the war in Afghanistan will continue, and Hodges will continue to profit.
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At CTU George Mason goes to see Jamey Farrell.
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Mason: I want you to know that Gaines was granted full immunity. He said you're completely innocent. Ofcourse Navi Araz still claims you were a willing participant.
Jamey: So what happens now?
Mason: You're being released, but don't leave town. At the very least I have reasonable doubt that you're a traitor. Hopefully, no charges will be pressed against you, but we can't take the chance.
Jamey: You're firing me?
Mason: Yes. You will get a severance package, but you have to leave now.
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4:08