Factual error: The fighter jet alongside Air Force One has "NY" tail markings which designate it's with the 174th fighter wing, with a home base of Syracuse, New York. Surely, in this emergency over Washington, DC, jets from a more local base (like the 113th's F-16s at Andrews AFB) would have been dispatched to aid the President's plane. (00:13:05)
Factual error: At the end of the episode, the pilot says their runway has been changed to "runway 39." Runway headings are multiples of 10° from 01 up to 36. There cannot be a "runway 39."
Continuity mistake: Toby and Leo are in Leo's office talking about the friendly fire incident - Leo's glasses are sitting on his desk in front of him. He then picks them up and moves them to the far left. A couple of shots later, he picks them up from the right and puts them on.
Evidence of Things Not Seen - S4-E20
Continuity mistake: Will Bailey is wearing a military uniform for the only time in the show (as it is revealed he is a reservist Lieutenant in the USAF). On his uniform shirt there are three medal ribbons-bars. Those ribbon-bars (worn in the correct order from left to right) are as follows: 1. The Air Force Organisational Excellence Award Ribbon 2. The National Defence Service Medal Ribbon 3. The Air Force Training Ribbon. After the shooting incident outside the Press Briefing Room (where gunshots hit one of the windows), Lt. Will Bailey can be seen wearing his three ribbon-bars (incorrect) in the reverse order. Then following on in the two subsequent scenes Will's medal ribbons-bars are back in the correct order. (00:08:05 - 00:16:15)
Evidence of Things Not Seen - S4-E20
Continuity mistake: In the closing minute, when C.J. Is trying to stand the egg on its end, the camera pans to the clock for DC, and it reads 12:00. But as she sits at the table, her watch reads 7:15. Then, in the next camera shot, zooming in onto the egg, you can see that C.J.'s watch reads 7:25.
Continuity mistake: Newly hired Assistant White House Counsel Joe Quincy is looking over his new "office". He's told it is the office traditionally given to newly hired lawyers, and is known as the "Steampipe Trunk Distribution Venue". In prior episodes, Ainsley Hayes, the previous Assistant White House Counsel, was also given this office, but this space is significantly altered in size from the earlier appearances. Essentially, the length of the space has been cut in half and the intervening wall with door is gone. Yet the room is not newly remodeled. It's a basement space with old pipes and walls, etc. The makers simply shrank the set without explanation. (00:06:30)
Continuity mistake: When Josh, Joe, and Donna are in Josh's office talking about the NASA report, Josh's pen is in his left side of the shirt pocket. When the camera cuts to them walking out of his office the pen is on the right side.
Continuity mistake: When Donna and Amy are talking about 'getting' Josh, there's a cut from Amy rearranging the beer bottles on the table to a close-up of Donna standing a distance behind her. When this happens, a beer bottle is suddenly in Amy's hand with her holding it to her mouth. (00:36:30)
Twenty Five - S4-E23
Other mistake: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Fitzwallace tells Bartlet that he wants to attack targets in Qumar. The first he mentions is "the Bahji C3I" which he explains is "Communications, Command, Control and Intelligence." The explanation shows the actor John Amos flubbed his line and should have said "the Bahji 3CI", as in "C.C.C.I" or "Triple-C I." This is common governmental and military abbreviation jargon, much as the show often uses "D-triple-C" to mean the D.C.C.C. (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee). (00:16:50)
Suggested correction: C3I is similar to C2, pronounced "C two" and commonly used in military to refer to command and control.
Continuity mistake: When the plan to kill the Qumari defense minister is being contemplated, several times in the last episodes of Season 3, and at least once in season 4, he 's referred to the Sultan's brother. In season 5, he is referred to as both his cousin and his brother.
7A WF 83429 - S5-E1
Continuity mistake: Will, Josh, Donna and Toby are in Josh's office talking about Toby's twins; Josh leaves the office with his arms by his side, but when the shot switches to show him coming through the doorway, he is clutching his books to his chest. There was no time for the change.
7A WF 83429 - S5-E1
Continuity mistake: When Margaret walks into Leo's office and he sleeps, the screen says it's the sixteenth hour of Zoey's kidnapping. Leo asks Margaret what time it is and she says it's almost 5:00. At the beginning of the episode when Abby and the president talk at the residence, the president says it's 6:30, and the screen says it's the eighth hour of the kidnapping, then if we move another eight hours until we get to the sixteenth hour of the kidnapping, it would be 2:30, not 5:00.
7A WF 83429 - S5-E1
Factual error: In the television clip introducing the bombing in Turkey, the footage almost certainly comes from a Palestinian terror attack in the vicinity of Tel Aviv, Israel. Clearly visible in the frame is a Magen David Adom (Israeli Red Cross) ambulance marked with the Hebrew word "Dan" - a term for the area around Tel Aviv. The vast majority of raging fires that MDA ambulances responded to around Tel Aviv were the result of suicide bombings.
Plot hole: The Zoey Bartlett kidnap crisis cliffhanger that stretches across the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5 makes no sense in terms of time. Charlie pulls out a note from his wallet that says they will dig up a bottle of champagne on May 7 - Zoey's graduation night. They do. Later that night she is abducted. She is gone three days. Four days later (in "Jefferson Lives") Abby chews out Leo, saying, "It's only been four days and her bruises have not yet begun to heal." The date should be May 14th. However, "Jefferson Lives" supposedly occurs on the Fourth of July - Zoey says it's the Fourth and they all watch the Capitol Fireworks at the end.
Continuity mistake: Josh is in his office with Donna and Pierce and as Pierce says "you're the 101st senator", he's holding some papers that are stapled, and one is hanging apart from the rest. Josh says, "I'm impressed", and the shot now shows the papers are all together in Pierce's hands.
Abu el Banat - S5-E9
Continuity mistake: When the president is in the oval office with the first lady and they are called by Charlie to receive their daughter Liz, the office does not have a Christmas tree, however, in the next scene when he leaves his grandson to go with Leo and C.J. to the office, the Christmas tree is already set up.
Continuity mistake: Leo and his daughter could not go to the theater because the former president had passed away. Later, when his daughter tells Leo that her mother is getting married, he says that he is only sorry he couldn't spend more time with his daughter, who thought they would have a good time the other night at the theater, but that they had a problem with the Middle East. It doesn't make sense, they didn't go to the theater because the former president passed away, not because of problems with the Middle East.
Plot hole: As Josh arrives at the security gate of the White House, protestors are gathered, chanting and otherwise talking loudly. He enters the gate, makes his way to the north entrance of the West Wing, and as he enters the lobby, the crowd is still heard quite plainly, just as loudly as at the gate, as if they were right outside the door, yet the protestors are much too far away to be heard so loudly, if at all. (00:00:40)
Character mistake: Toby says that Judge Ashland is 82, but in 5-7 'Separation of Powers' he said he was 84. (00:18:00)
Continuity mistake: When Toby and Josh meet with Judge Ashland, a teacup and teapot appear in front of the judge without either him or anyone else putting them there. (00:20:20)
