abstract
| - "Previously on the West Wing" spoken by C.J. Thorny issues encircle the White House as the President (Martin Sheen) and his staff grapple with breaking the news of his illness in an exclusive national broadcast while the newly elected president of Haiti flees for his life and asks for sanctuary in the U.S. embassy -- which would place the compound under army attack. C.J. (Allison Janney) and Leo (John Spencer) weigh the dicey arrangements of keeping the blistering news a secret until the telecast while White House counsel Oliver Babish (Oliver Platt) finds a disturbing detail in the First Lady's (Stockard Channing) medical treatment of Bartlet that could have huge ramifications. The President hadn't broken any laws that Babish can yet see, but Abbey violated medical ethics by treating her husband and not keeping medical records. Elsewhere, a frustrated Josh (Bradley Whitford) needs $30 million more from a Senate committee to continue the Justice Department's case against Big Tobacco companies but hits a roadblock when he solicits the crucial votes of two Democratic Senators. Toby (Richard Schiff) tells Donna (Janel Moloney) about the President's MS. Josh confronts Toby about this, and when Josh asks him how she's taking it, he responds, "If everybody out there takes it the way she did, we may be okay. If a few more people in here took it the way she did, that'd be all right, too." The President's long-time secretary Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten) pays sticker price for her first new car because she fears anything less will violate federal stipulations about receiving gifts. While driving the car back to the White House to show it to the President, she is struck by a drunk driver and killed.
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