Toby Runs the Press From the Fingerprinting Desk
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Toby reassures C.J. over the phone that he and Charlie are fine and instructs her to proceed to the event without them.
Toby continues giving instructions to C.J. over the phone, focusing on the President's speech and acknowledgments, while the officer grows impatient.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Quietly vigilant and task-focused; professional concern about executing orders under disrupted circumstances.
C.J. is the phone recipient of Toby's instructions (not heard speaking in the scene); she functions as the operational endpoint for his messaging orders, implied to be coordinating the President's acknowledgements and handling Andy's movements.
- • Execute Toby's instructions to preserve event optics
- • Keep Andy away from the station and route her to the event
- • Ensure the President's acknowledgements include key stakeholders (AFL)
- • Toby's instructions are operationally necessary and should be followed
- • Protecting the President's event messaging takes precedence over the arrest's embarrassment
- • She can still manage the media and logistics remotely
Surface control and brisk competence masking anxiety and embarrassment; flustered but relentless in preserving political order.
Toby is on the phone from the booking area, issuing precise messaging instructions for the President's rope line, requesting a NEC one-pager be faxed to his cell, and negotiating jail logistics even while processing continues.
- • Protect the optics and messaging of the President's event
- • Keep Andy and staff away from the station to avoid complications
- • Secure necessary policy material (trucking one-pager) for immediate use
- • Minimize political fallout from the arrest
- • Maintaining message discipline will prevent political damage even amid personal crisis
- • Operational control is possible and necessary regardless of personal circumstances
- • The President's appearances must be tightly managed for political advantage
- • Procedural interruptions are secondary to messaging priorities
Defensive and uncomfortable; mildly exasperated but trying to keep the focus off himself.
Charlie is being fingerprinted at the desk, contesting the assault charge and trying to minimize the incident while Toby directs operations by phone; he alternates between defensive explanations and deadpan commentary.
- • Avoid escalating the legal charge or making the situation worse
- • Signal that the nightclub incident was not serious
- • Make clear he does not want to appear on the rope line
- • The altercation will be blown out of proportion if treated as assault
- • Keeping a low profile reduces political risk
- • Toby will try to manage optics even now
Professional detachment with mild impatience; sees the detainees as routine rather than politically significant.
A processing officer at the booking desk fingerprints Charlie, gives curt legal timing estimates, and enforces custody protocol—demanding the phone and snapping instructions back into the practical register of law enforcement.
- • Complete fingerprinting and booking efficiently
- • Maintain control over detainees and station procedure
- • Prevent interference with police processing
- • This is a routine arrest that should be handled by standard procedure
- • Political status does not exempt individuals from booking
- • Control must be asserted to avoid complicating processing
Not depicted directly; represented as the object of staff anxieties and protective maneuvers.
President Bartlet is invoked repeatedly as the focal point of Toby's instructions—he is the subject of rope-line choreography and acknowledgement planning but is not physically present in the station.
- • Maintain successful public engagement at the rope line (implied)
- • Project stability and competence to the public (implied)
- • Public appearances must be tightly managed for political effect (as assumed by staff)
- • The President's agenda should not be derailed by staff missteps
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A cell phone functions as Toby's lifeline to C.J. He uses it to issue detailed instructions about acknowledgements, the rope line, and to direct logistical moves (Andy, NEC fax). It is demanded by an officer mid-processing, punctuating the clash between White House urgency and station procedure.
Toby requests a NEC one-page briefing on trucking be faxed to his cell so he can use policy detail from jail — the one-pager is invoked as an operational tool to keep policy hits precise and ready for the President's event.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Presidential rope-line event is the off-stage objective around which Toby orients his instructions; it is the political arena whose optics and acknowledgements he is trying to protect despite the arrest.
The Newport Police Station is the concrete stage for the clash between bureaucratic enforcement and political operations: booking, fingerprinting, phone demands, and offhand jail jokes happen here, converting political urgency into procedural comedy and menace.
The corner cell with a loft is referenced when Toby asks if he can be placed there; it serves as a tangible image of confinement Toby gingerly inquires about, turning a personal humiliation into a pragmatic preference.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The AFL is invoked by Toby as a constituency that must be acknowledged during the President's rope-line remarks; it exists in this moment as a political audience whose inclusion matters for optics and coalition politics.
The National Economic Council (NEC) is invoked as the technical source for a trucking one-pager Toby requests; its role is as a policy resource capable of producing rapid, authoritative briefing material to support on-the-fly messaging.
The Police Department executes booking procedures: fingerprinting, custody decisions, and enforcing rules (including phone confiscation). It grounds the scene in civic procedure and enforces the blunt realities that counterbalance political maneuvering.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby and Charlie's intervention in the bar confrontation results in their arrest, removing them from active duty during a critical period."
"Toby and Charlie's intervention in the bar confrontation results in their arrest, removing them from active duty during a critical period."
"Toby and Charlie's intervention in the bar confrontation results in their arrest, removing them from active duty during a critical period."
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: "Don't come here. Turn around, go to the event. We're fine. C.J., we're fine. And tell Andy not to come here. We'll meet her there as soon as we're done.""
"OFFICER: "Assault-- six to 20 months." CHARLIE: "It wasn't assault. He slipped on a thing.""
"TOBY: "Is there any chance I could get a corner cell or anything possibly with a loft?" OFFICER: "They're solitary." TOBY: "Perfect.""