Josh Reads the Leaked Quote
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Danny approaches Josh to apologize for the story involving Donna.
Josh reveals Donna's absence from the ball due to her embarrassment over the leaked quote.
Danny offers Josh a copy of the article, leading Josh to discover the full context of Donna's quote.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Righteously indignant on the surface; a protective fury that mixes professional alarm with personal betrayal underneath.
Josh is intercepted by Danny on the ballroom floor, accepts the newspaper, scans and reads the offending quoted passage aloud, and reacts with immediate anger and a declaration of intent to retaliate against the leaker.
- • Confirm the extent and exact wording of the leak.
- • Protect Donna and defend her from public fallout.
- • Identify and punish whoever leaked the off-the-record remark.
- • Off-the-record comments should be honored — the leak is a moral and professional breach.
- • Someone within or close to the White House circulated the quote intentionally or carelessly.
- • Donna did not intend to be exposed and deserves defense.
Neutral, buoyant — adds celebratory surface energy that deepens the scene's ironic contrast to the betrayal being revealed.
The band plays up-tempo jazz on the ballroom floor, providing a buoyant musical backdrop that contrasts with and temporally masks the charged private exchange between Danny and Josh.
- • Maintain lively atmosphere appropriate to an inaugural celebration.
- • Provide sonic cover that allows private conversations to occur without immediate public interruption.
- • Music in a ballroom is meant to sustain the party and smooth social interactions.
- • Background music will keep the scene's public face intact even as private tensions flare.
Contrite and uneasy; professionally culpable but keen to minimize damage and preserve access and relationships.
Danny weaves through the dancers, seeks out Josh, apologizes for the article, explains uncertainty about his editor knowing the off-the-record status, and produces a physical copy of the published piece to show Josh.
- • Mitigate the damage of the published quote and smooth over relations with White House staff.
- • Protect his access to sources and his paper's relationship with the White House.
- • Clarify whether the editor knowingly ran an off-the-record line.
- • Journalists must publish what editors decide; responsibility may not rest solely with the reporter.
- • Some of the story's other parts are defensible and the overall piece had balance.
- • Honest conversation with Josh may preserve future access.
Humiliated and anxious; overwhelmed by embarrassment and fearful of professional and personal consequences.
Donna does not appear physically; she is described by Josh as sitting alone in her apartment in a ball gown, mortified and absent from the ball because of the published off-the-record comment attributed to her.
- • Avoid the public spectacle and further embarrassment by staying away from the ball.
- • Minimize harm to her colleagues and career by not escalating the situation publicly.
- • Hope that Josh and others will contain and defend her.
- • She believed her remarks were off-the-record and would not be published.
- • Her loyalty to colleagues would be understood and protected.
- • Removing herself from the scene will limit damage.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Donna's ball gown is referenced as the physical emblem of her withdrawal: she sits in her apartment wearing it rather than attending the ball. The gown functions narratively as shorthand for personal humiliation, isolation, and the private cost of a public leak.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The inaugural ballroom functions as the public stage where private ruptures surface: amid dancing and jazz, Danny intercepts Josh and produces the printed article, turning a festive room into the site where betrayal is announced and emotionally detonated.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The State Department is present in the surrounding scene as an off-stage stakeholder — earlier conversation flags 'people at State' focusing displeasure, which frames the sensitivity of internal comments and the broader diplomatic consequences referenced in the published quote.
The White House is the implicit source and victim of the leak: the offending line is attributed to a 'White House aide,' making the institution both the origin point of the comment and the body that must now manage reputational damage and internal trust issues.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's advocacy for Will's formal appointment directly results in Bartlet announcing Will's promotion, showcasing Toby's influence and recognition of Will's potential."
"Toby's advocacy for Will's formal appointment directly results in Bartlet announcing Will's promotion, showcasing Toby's influence and recognition of Will's potential."
Key Dialogue
"DANNY: I have a copy here if you want to..."
"JOSH: You're walking around with a copy of it?"
"JOSH: '...where the White House won't give the D.O.D an extra ten billion so they have to go to the Hill and get it.' Said the same aide, 'Everybody's very loyal around here unless you wear a uniform,' said the same aide. I hadn't read the first part of the quote. Said the same aide? I'm going to kill her."