Adan Canto: Aaron Shore

Capacity

Aaron Shore

Aaron Shore: Hey, Hannah. You didn't answer my calls.
Hannah Wells: I was at the hospital.
Aaron Shore: Yeah, like, ten hours ago. Hey, you can't see the President like this.
Hannah Wells: He needs to know that Andrea Frost is the hacker. And a murderer!
Aaron Shore: We need incontrovertible evidence of that, not a circumstantial case.
Hannah Wells: Oh, the hell we do.

Aaron Shore: You think you can just waltz into the Oval with blood on your shirt and convince the president that his close friend...
Hannah Wells: I don't care who the hell she is, Aaron.
Aaron Shore: Hannah, I'm on your side here. But you'll have one shot at persuading the president. Go home, all right? Get cleaned up. Gather your thoughts. Keep working the case.
Hannah Wells: I have been working this for months.
Aaron Shore: Hannah, I'm sorry about Damien. I am. But this has to be bulletproof.
Hannah Wells: What, you want a smoking gun? We may never get that. Meanwhile, she's still out there.
Aaron Shore: Hannah, I'm not asking you.

Ethan West: Mr. Shore, do you have an opinion as to the president's conduct of the war against Kunami?
Aaron Shore: I'm not sure what you're asking.
Ethan West: How did he do, Mr. Shore? How'd he do?
Aaron Shore: Well, he brought to justice a leader of a regime that set off a dirty bomb on American soil and was about to gas its dissidents...
Ethan West: But we didn't find out about the gas until after we declared war.
Aaron Shore: Yes.
Ethan West: And the justification for war, the dirty bomb, the emir wasn't behind that, was he?
Aaron Shore: Not directly, no.
Ethan West: So what we need to talk about is how the president made his decision to plunge this country into war.

Ethan West: So he discarded advice. He refused to confer with his allies, and he started a war.
Aaron Shore: Which is his constitutional perogative.
Ethan West: To not verify facts before putting lives at risk? That's his perogative?
Aaron Shore: Yes.
Ethan West: And that's just irrational, yes?
Aaron Shore: We won the war. Removed a tyrant. If that's irrational, then sign me up.

Kendra Daynes: Mr. Shore, is war ever rational?
Aaron Shore: A conscious decision to kill other human beings may be necessary, but rational, no. I wouldn't call it that.
Kendra Daynes: George Washington. Woodrow Wilson. FDR. All took us into war. By that definition, they were all irrational, correct?
Aaron Shore: Correct.
Kendra Daynes: [pointedly to West] Then I think President Kirkman's in good company.

Tom Kirkman: Aaron, you were briefed on this from the beginning. What the hell?
Aaron Shore: Sir, Hannah Wells is the best agent we've got.
Tom Kirkman: I'm not disputing that. But she didn't prove anything. In fact, from where I sit, the only thing she managed to do was smear the name of one of our country's greatest entrepreneurs.
Aaron Shore: I grant you, sir, her case is not ironclad. But... but if you connect all the dots...
Tom Kirkman: And leap to every possible conclusion, you may - *may* - have found the hacker.
Aaron Shore: Sir, Hannah Wells took down Patrick Lloyd. She figured out who was behind the dirty bomb. If she says there's something here, I-I'm inclined at least to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Tom Kirkman: If you expect me to believe any of this, she needs to come back with more. A lot more.

Aaron Shore: There was no one else in the Oval besides Frost and the president.
Hannah Wells: And the president sure as hell wasn't cooperating with West, which means that Frost is undermining him.
Kendra Daynes: But the president was clear. We can't question her.
Hannah Wells: So Frost gets away with it.
Kendra Daynes: Unless you can find an ironclad way to incriminate her.

Aaron Shore: You know what White House employees can't do? Accost private citizens in public places and defame them. You're not getting any of this, are you? Hannah, I vouched for you. To the president. I put my neck on the line! What the hell were you thinking?
Hannah Wells: They're all dead, Aaron.
Aaron Shore: Who?
Hannah Wells: Scott Wheeler. Jason Atwood. John Foerstel. Damian Rennett. Everyone who gets close to me dies.
Aaron Shore: [heavy sigh] Yeah. I'm sorry.
Hannah Wells: I'm not gonna let Andrea Frost get away with this. I won't let her.
Aaron Shore: I'm pulling you from the hack investigation, Hannah. I have to. You've done enough.

Emily Rhodes: Is that the, um, Type-2 diabetes diet?
Aaron Shore: I mean, if everything goes south, I figure, you know, we'll have minutes to leave this building. And I wanted a souvenir that wouldn't amount to grand theft.
Emily Rhodes: A sugar shaker?
Aaron Shore: You remember Bernie from the cafeteria?
Emily Rhodes: Mm-hmm.
Aaron Shore: He put it behind the register. He said I was oversweetening my cortados.
Emily Rhodes: Sweet revenge.
Aaron Shore: Yeah.
Emily Rhodes: I'm, uh... I'm taking the scorpion paperweight the Governor of Guam left us.

Emily Rhodes: Do you ever think about us?
Aaron Shore: How do you mean?
Emily Rhodes: Well, we had that kiss last year. Once. And it was, you know, it wasn't bad as far as kisses go.
Aaron Shore: Definitely serviceable.
Emily Rhodes: You ever wonder what would've happened if there were a sequel?
Aaron Shore: I - I did. But I decided long ago not to pursue it.
Emily Rhodes: Why?
Aaron Shore: Because then you wouldn't be here in my office a year later, exchanging stories about how we're the two lowest-rent crooks in the history of the White House.