Frost/Nixon (7/9) Movie CLIP - When the President Does It, It's Not Illegal (2008) HD — Transcript

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1. 0:01Look, Iet me just stop you now right there,
2. 0:02because you<i>'</i>re doing something here
3. 0:04which I am not doing, and I wilI not do
4. 0:07throughout these entire broadcasts<i>;</i>
5. 0:09You<i>'</i>re quoting me out of context,
6. 0:11out of order<i>;</i> And I might add,
7. 0:14I have participated in alI these interviews
8. 0:16without a single note in front of me<i>;</i>
9. 0:18WelI, it is your Iife, Mr<i>;</i> President<i>;</i>
10. 0:19Now, you<i>'</i>ve always maintained
11. 0:21that you knew nothing about any of this until March 21 <i>;</i>
12. 0:24But in February, your personal Iawyer came to Washington
13. 0:27to start the raising of $219,000
14. 0:30of hush money to be paid to the burglars<i>;</i>
15. 0:32Now, do you seriously expect us to believe
16. 0:35that you had no knowledge of that?
17. 0:37None<i>;</i> I believed the money was for humanitarian purposes<i>;</i>
18. 0:40To help disadvantaged people with their defenses<i>;</i>
19. 0:43WelI, it was being delivered on the tops of phone booths with aliases,
20. 0:47and at airports by people with gloves on<i>;</i>
21. 0:49That<i>'</i>s not normalIy the way Iawyers<i>'</i> fees are delivered, is it?
22. 0:52Look, I have made statements to this effect before<i>;</i>
23. 0:54AII that was Haldeman and Ehrlichman<i>'</i>s business<i>;</i>
24. 0:56I knew nothing<i>;</i> Okay, fine<i>;</i> Fine!
25. 0:59You made a conclusion there<i>;</i>
26. 1:00I stated my view, now Iet<i>'</i>s move on<i>;</i>
27. 1:02Let<i>'</i>s get on to the rest of it<i>;</i>
28. 1:03No, hold on<i>;</i> No, hold on<i>;</i>
29. 1:04No, I don<i>'</i>t want to talk<i>;;;</i>
30. 1:05If Haldeman and Ehrlichman were the ones realIy responsible,
31. 1:07when you subsequently found out about it,
32. 1:10why didn<i>'</i>t you calI the police and have them arrested?
33. 1:12Isn<i>'</i>t that just a cover-up of another kind?
34. 1:14Yeah, maybe I should have done that<i>;</i> Maybe I should have<i>;</i>
35. 1:16Just calIed the feds into my office
36. 1:17and said, <i>"</i>Hey, there<i>'</i>s the two men<i>;</i>
37. 1:20<i>"</i>Haul them down to the dock,
38. 1:21<i>"</i>fingerprint them and then throw them in the can<i>;"</i>
39. 1:23I<i>'</i>m not made that way<i>;</i>
40. 1:25These men, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, I knew their families<i>;</i>
41. 1:28I knew them since they were just kids<i>;</i>
42. 1:30Yeah, but you know, politicalIy,
43. 1:31the pressure on me to Iet them go, that became overwhelming!
44. 1:34So I did it<i>;</i> I cut off one arm,
45. 1:37then I cut off the other, and I<i>'</i>m not a good butcher!
46. 1:40And I have always maintained what they were doing,
47. 1:43what we were alI doing, was not criminal<i>;</i>
48. 1:45Look, when you<i>'</i>re in office,
49. 1:47you gotta do a Iot of things sometimes that are not always,
50. 1:50in the strictest sense of the Iaw, Iegal, but you do them
51. 1:53because they<i>'</i>re in the greater interests of the nation!
52. 1:56Right<i>;</i> Wait, just so I understand correctly,
53. 1:58are you realIy saying that in certain situations,
54. 2:00the President can decide whether it<i>'</i>s in the best interests of the nation
55. 2:03and then do something ilIegal?
56. 2:06I<i>'</i>m saying that when the President does it, that means it<i>'</i>s not ilIegal<i>;</i>
57. 2:13I<i>'</i>m sorry?
58. 2:14That<i>'</i>s what I believe<i>;</i>
59. 2:17Oh, my God<i>;</i>
60. 2:24But I realize no one else shares that view<i>;</i>
61. 2:31So, in that case, wilI you accept, then,
62. 2:36to clear the air once and for alI,
63. 2:39that you were part of a cover-up
64. 2:41and that you did break the Iaw?
65. 2:54Oh, my God, we got him<i>;</i> <i>NIXON; I;;;</i>
66. 2:57Shit!
67. 2:59Okay, Iet<i>'</i>s take a break there<i>;</i>