Plot summary
The episode opens on President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) giving a press conference in which she denies that she lobbied against her Families First bill.
Several of Selina's associates are shown being sworn in at House Judiciary Committee hearings: ex-staffers, Amy (Anna Chlumsky) and Dan (Reid Scott), are together with White House Aide Jonah (Timothy Simons); Sue (Sufe Bradshaw), her secretary, is alone; Ben (Kevin Dunn), her chief of staff, is alone; and her daughter Catherine (Sarah Sutherland) is in a private deposition. Ben vehemently denies any intent to kill the bill. Amy and Dan state they were consultants hired to lobby people to vote against the bill.
Leigh Patterson (Jessie Ennis), a former White House aide, testifies that she was fired to conceal that someone used a confidential data breach to target bereaved parents for President Meyer's campaign. She states that only President Meyer's campaign consultant, Bill Ericsson (Deidrich Bader), and bag man Gary Walsh (Tony Hale), knew about the data breach while the President did not. Ericsson and Kent (Gary Cole), Selina's campaign manager, appear together before the committee. Ericsson becomes visibly agitated when the committee members state that his name has consistently been brought up. Kent acknowledges that Leigh was fired because she was scapegoated.
Selina, in a deposition, denies any knowledge of the campaign data breach. She refers to Jason, Catherine's fiancé, as a consultant, and the interviewers correct her, noting that he is a lobbyist. Selina lies and states that she thinks that Catherine has split up with Jason and visits Cathrine forcing her to break up with Jason. Sue sits before the committee and denies that Selina had a meeting with Congressman Pierce, who cast the vote that killed the bill. When asked about voice memos, she states that the Press Secretary, Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh), is responsible for them.
The Committee members note a witness saw Mike with Dan, Amy, and Congressman Pierce in the parking lot. Mike states the meeting was by chance. Selina returns to her deposition and states that Catherine has confirmed she broke up with Jason.
Now in a deposition, Gary admits he asked Dan and Amy to lobby against Families First and states that Bill Ericsson paid them for the job. In her deposition, Catherine also states Ericsson was responsible. One by one, each staffer is shown naming Ericsson as the responsible party.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Testimony (Veep). Paragraphs and formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers, block quotations and non-story material omitted.