Tapper in 2009, South Carolina governor mark sanford was a republican rock star. His reputation as a budgetslashing deficit hawk family man had the gop betting on him to beat obama in 2012 until he became a missing person. The search for sanford threw his office into chaos and turned up a secret love affair and a bizarre set of lies that coined the phrase to hike the Appalachian Trail. But it also revealed something deeper how even the most tightly controlled political persona can mask the messy, imperfect reality of a human being. And counterintuitively, when the world was crashing down around him, baring it all might have been the savviest political move of Mark Sanfords career. Its monday night. Do you know where your governor is . Thats what the citizens of South Carolina are wondering Where In The World is our governor . A Mystery Tonight in South Carolina. The states governor, mark sanford, disappeared for days. Governor alert the search for mark sanford. In june 2009, South Carolina governor mark sanford became a missing person. News began to go out in South Carolina, get in the papers like, no one knows where the governor is. The South Carolina governor is missing. Where is he . Is he dead somewhere in a ditch . With each day that ticked by, the mystery grew. Reporter many in South Carolina dont know where he is, not even his wife. Reporter 2 its just so strange. This wellknown father of four young boys wasnt home for fathers day. Tapper and more and more people started asking. The headline in todays local paper says, sanford awol. Whos in charge . It was a complete dereliction of duty. Imagine if there was a mass shooting or a hurricane or, you know, anything. I think all of us are concerned. Were worried about where he might be. Speculation was rampant. Some people thought he was dead. A fringe few thought hed been abducted by aliens. It was only after hed be gone for nearly a week that sanford staff finally offered an explanation of where he was. His staff said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Tonight we find out this email coming through just a few minutes ago. The governors actually hiking the Appalachian Trail. The governor is said to be, clearing his head somewhere along the Appalachian Trail that stretches from georgia to maine. The governor is hiking the Appalachian Trail. Why would that be such a big secret . A reporter with the state newspaper had gotten a tip that mark sanford never went anywhere near the Appalachian Trail and goes nowhere near argentina, which is actually where he had been. What could compel a sitting governor to up and leave his state all the way to argentina without any kind of notice at all . The answer could only come from mark sanford himself. So the bottom line is this. I, um. Ive been unfaithful to my wife. I developed, um, a relationship with a dear, dear friend. Savage turned out he was a man in love. His cover is now blown. Mark sanford was not, after all, hiking by himself on the Appalachian Trail. Hiking the Appalachian Trail, which then instantly entered the lexicon as a euphemism for an affair. He was hiking on the Appalachian Trail, which is a trail that starts in maine and ends in an argentine womans vagina. [laughter and applause] it was all over the late night shows. It was every monologue. Hiking the Appalachian Trail. Where have you been, honey . Whats that lipstick . I was hiking the Appalachian Trail. It was just. It was such a huge contribution to the english language. So the guy had an affair and was really sloppy about covering it up. Hes hardly the first politician to do that. But there was something about this man dropping off the grid to see his secret International Lover that truly shocked people, myself included. Full disclosurei was friendly with mark and Jenny Sanford. I first met them more than 20 years ago when i was covering the South Carolina primary. My nowwife and i watched the super bowl at the Governors Mansion in 2004. Mark going awol, reading poetry and the bible while on a weeklong solo hike that, frankly, seemed totally believable. So when folks began speculating about seedy possibilities, i wrongly wrote it off as the worst kind of sensationalist journalism, and when it was proven true, i felt dumb. I felt duped for naively believing that i ever knew mark sanford the person, when i really only knew mark sanford the politician. And i wasnt the only one. Right there with me, caught between image and reality was sanfords closest aide his former chief of staff, scott english. Thank you so much for sitting down with us. You worked for mark sanford from 96 to 2015 . Is that yes. You know, i had my impression of him, which was that he was a nice, affable guy. Uh, he issued a proclamation for our wedding, which i do not have hanging up in my house anymore. But i mean, my point is i knew him and i liked him and jenny and marshall and bobo and blake, uh, and landon. Whatwhat did you think of him . You know, i love and respect this guy. I put in a lot of effort with this guy, okay . I missed a lot of my childrens life for this guy. Yeah. Which, by the way, is why ive never done an interview about this ever in my life. And. Until today. Right. But, you know, i could just never imagine him. Like, he had no game. I mean, he just didnt. And when someone threw out to me that maybe he had a mistress, i just laughed and said theres no way this guys got a mistress. You and i both thinking that he was actually on the Appalachian Trail is isis good. I mean, it made me feel better. Im like, yeah, that makes sense. Hes a weirdo. Maybe you think were being dramatic or exaggerating. How could we be so shocked at a politician having an affair . But you gotta understand. Mark sanford had one of the most convincing political personas in the game, and this was the guy we thought we knew. Time magazine named you one of the five most boring governors in america. [audience laughter] did that sting . What you learn in politics is theres gonna be some folks that dont like us, some folks that love us, and the real key is are we staying true to, you know, what we believe and whatwhatwhat, uh, we promised to voters in the first place. And then you can live with that and, uh, sort of leave it alone with the other 49 , cause you aint gonna please everybody. You are incredibly boring. [laughter] i was actually there when that was filmed, and heand it was like, yeah, youre boring. You are like manilaenvelope stapledtoabrownwall boring. Yeah. Yeah. Thats completely accurate, which is, again, why we were just, like, completely shocked that it was, like, this very, like, you know, passionate, emotional affair with this woman, you know, on the other side of the continent. It was just completely out of character or for what, like, we thought we knew about the guy. Heres the thing. I can accept that politics is a bit like professional wrestling. Candidates play a part to make headlines and win elections, but theres a fine line between marketing and outright deception. And Mark Sanfords scandal made me question is there any truth to a political persona, and whats the cost of keeping it up . So when you worked for him, you described him as saying, hes willing to say what he believes, act accordingly, and live with the consequences. But more recently, you have suggested that thats part of an image and a brand and not reality. So theres a duality to mark. One is the mark sanford that you meet, uh, in political life thats the brand guy. Thats thethe image that andand its not unique to mark. Its, you know, all all of these people have exactly the same thing. You know, it is about them. They are the brand. So you always had to be cognizant of the fact that you werent just working for an individual person, but you are working for this brand. What was his brand . His brand was focusing very much on limiting thethe size of government and balancing the budget. That wasfor him, that was his way of connecting with the audience. Reporter congressman mark sanford, republican of South Carolina, is the fresh face of this new breed. Ive actually got the remnants of last nights dinner here. [laughs] this is the new washington. This is not the 150 dinner that were accustomed to. I did save the crust. I mean, i didnt want anything to go to waste. The Fiscal Conservative thing with mark sanford was not an act. He was painfully fiscally conservative. For example, theres an infamous freakout there in the Congressional Office about him finding a discarded paper clip in the trash can, and he dug around in there and grabbed it back out and said, you can reuse this. Is he really making you save paper clips . Of course. [laughs] i remember Jenny Sanford in an interview complaining about he would not buy new suit jackets, and he would just wear the same clothes for years and years. He didnt just talk a big game about being frugal. He really was a frugal man. Tapper and while being frugal does not necessarily block a man from a little romance, mark inhabited this pennypinching, sweetly curmudgeonly character so thoroughly, i just could not imagine there were other aspects of him. You know, hes mark sanford, family man. Hes mark sanford, father of four boys. Right. Hes mark sanford, Fiscal Conservative. But thats the distinction between being the Character Actor and being the person. Theres Method Acting involved in politics, and theres a character they build thats real to them. But its not real. Its not real. Each one of these political figures theyre playing a character, and sooner or later, the fourth wall breaks. Reporter as a first step in reducing the 4. 7 trillion debt, Congressman Sanford is halting the delivery of ice to his Congressional Office. Why do we need ice . Why cant we just walk down three floors and get it from the Cafeteria Ourself . You cant just talk about it. I mean, you have to have actions in your own office that reflect that. English sanford, when he got elected, i could tell you exactly when i met him. We had a reception december 7, 1994. He had just been elected to the house . He had just been elected to the house. And we had a good conversation. The one thing that he and i share was a common philosophy about the world. You were just, like, taken with, like, he this could be a really good leader. You believed in him. Thati believed in the issues he believed in. Yeah. It really just, like, gets into my mind, like, it reallyi really didnt think mark was capable of doing anything slimy. Not mark. Yeah. Hes too afraid of jenny, and hes, you know, all of theseand hes they were, like, werent they, like, College Sweethearts . Theyd been together for 20 years. They had four beautiful kids. She was such an integral part of his professional and personal lives. They seemed great to me. That 20year journey together, you know, from congress to the Governors Office, when youre partnered with someone like that and youreyoure that relationships forged in steel, under fire. Theyre solid as a rock. You know that when you find a good one, you gotta help em, and you find a good one in mark sanford. But more importantly, the mom, Jenny Sanford, the great future first lady of the state of South Carolina. [applause] Jenny Sanford was invaluable to Mark Sanfords rise. She was a smart, skillful woman, a georgetowneducated, wall street vice president. I dont think that mark sanford, uh, would have had a political career at all if it were not for, uh, Jenny Sanfords help. Its not my love. Im not driven to run campaigns, but, um, but we worked well together. Jenny sanford had been a righthand woman throughout all of Mark Sanfords political career. She managed his congressional campaigns, and she also managed his First Campaign as governor something that she has said since she really tried to get out of doing because she had four sons, all of whom were still of school age, but, you know, she was free labor. [chuckles] and was somebody that he really wouldnt have toto hire on. On behalf of the people of the state, i wish you godspeed. Thank you. [cheers and applause] sure, mark and jenny made a great team, but it turned out there were some elements of the Sanford Union very few people knew about or even suspected. Right before we were getting married, when he said, you know, you know, theres your priest gives you a menu of different vows, and he says, well, you know, iiwith all due respect, id rather not use a vow that uses the word faithful in it, and i said, well, youve gotta be kidding me. And theres no question. I had my own thoughts about mark, but fidelity was the last thing i was worried about. But jenny brushed the red flags aside, and with her help, marks political brand grew until it seemed unstoppable. He entered the Governors Office as a sort of folk hero to South Carolina voters, a Saltine Cracker of a man on a singleminded crusade to save taxpayers money. When you have a 5 billion budget thats essentially A Billion Dollars out of out of balance, change is needed. But when he actually got to work at the state house, sanford found his passion for cutting budgets had also made him some enemies. Mark sanfordhes a republican. The legislature for years has been controlled by republicans, so theyre all in the same party, and ostensibly from the outside you would think, oh, okay. Well, these guys are all gonna get together and get a lot of things done. Thats not really what happened when mark sanford was in the Governors Mansion. Instead, mark sanford leaned further into character and started slashing his fellow republicans budgets with a vengeance. I mean, one year he vetoed the entire budget. I mean, just sent the entire budget back. We never got to a budget cycle where there werent dozens of budget vetoes. There was no democrat versus republican. It was, you know, us versus mark sanford, so he would send hundreds of vetoes back, and we would just get together and all override em, because it was mark. During one particularly volatile session in 2004, sanford kept vetoing budgets, and the legislature overrode 105 of those vetoes in 90 minutes. This is a republican legislature. A republican legislature. Uhhuh. And thatsi mean, thats how bad this was. And howd that go over . Uh. That morning, theres just, like, this Epic Freakout at the press office, and everybody is frantically on the phone dialing, and they look up, say, get on the phone and find some pigs. Im like, wwhat . Uh, get on the phone. Find pigs. Mark needs two pigs. Hes gonna take em upstairs and do a press conference. Im like, kay. And im just, like, googling, you know, where to find pigs, columbia, South Carolina. I, like, have no idea, right . They drove out to lexington county, which is a rural area outside columbia, and im still up on the house floor, working on legislation, trying to, you know, move the governors agenda to some other areas, and i can remember lots of people turning their heads and craning their heads and looking toward the lobby and then somebody said, oh, my god. He has pigs. When i was your age, we never had anything like this. What . Wifi . Wifi that works all over the house, even the basement. The basement. So i can finally throw that party. And invite shannon barnes. Dream do come true. Xfinity gives you reliable wifi with walltowall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. Maybe well even get married one day. I wonder what i will be doing . Probably still living here with mom and dad. Fast reliable speeds right where you need them. Thats walltowall wifi on the xfinity 10g network. I assume you had tipped off the tv cameras and such. No. No . We didnt tell anybody. You didnt tell anyone. You just walked up with the pigs. No ones aware of what were doing, and we just start telling everyone in the lobby that the governors got pigs, so it just creates this mass of people, and all the reporters just go and set up. Voters across South Carolina tuned in as their manila envelope governor seemed to reveal the one issue that could stir him to reckless passion protesting his fellow republicans bloated porkfilled budget with actual pork. The constitution lost yesterday, and pork won. I think pork won, and the taxpayers lost. You know, mark had one under each arm and was maybe squeezing them a little too tight, and so there was a trail of Pig Excrement as he went up the stairs. He gets it down his pants and on his shoes and on his coat. Oh, boy. Which, for a guy who owns one coat. Yeah. The House Majority whip is yelling at me that we have to clean this mess up. Yeah. I went up there with the with the spray and the rags and a little bit of elbow grease, and, uh, cleaned up pig dookie that day. And then he let the pigs go run free, and so the pigs ran free in the lobby and ran into the house and the room chamber andand, of course, all the lobbyists were around there. The press was there. And sure enough, it was the lead story on all three local television stations, and it was a huge hit in the public. Was it an effective punch in the face . It was good timing because we had a primary just coming up a week later, and one of the republicans who ended up losing their seat was the House Majority leader. And he said point blank that his Polling Numbers flipped completely because of that pig episode, so we had a number of incumbent republicans who ended up losing to challengers. They started taking him a lot more seriously now. It worked . Yeah, it was very effective. But at the same time mark sanford was becoming a political rock star for letting pigs loose on the capitol floor, a chance encounter was about to make a complete mess of his personal life. In 2001, sanford had taken a guys trip to uruguay, and there, at an outdoor dance, he met and instantly connected first as friends with a woman who saw the man behind the brand argentinean journalist maria belen chapur. English she was a very likeable person, and for a guy like mark sanford whos surrounded by people who are basically beating the shit out of him every day, you know, over in the senate, when you get this oasis of compassion, it can be appealing, and shes an attractive woman. Shes ageappropriate. Its the whole nine. And all of a sudden, hes in love. Hes got this email exchange with this woman. He prints these letters out and puts them in a file cabinet in his office at the mansion. His letters to his mistress . And the ones from her. Theyre in a file this dumbass printed them out and put Em In A Folder and then filed em away. [laughs] i mean. I just keep coming up to the. I. Its just so weird to me because all these politicians who work so hard. Right. And they throw it away for sex. And its just always so crazy to me as somebody who covers politics, its so common, and its so dumb, and i just i never truly understand it. The thing about a political figure that youve got to keep in mind number one is compartmentalization, their ability to isolate each segment of their world as though it didnt exist. They have to be able to do that. If you meet Jenny Sanford and you meet belen, theyre polar opposite people. All of a sudden, belen found a hole to get into the gap in his life and filled it. But then he compartmentalizes, and hes this method actor, so he goes back to being mark sanford, you know, actorgovernor, without ever letting on that hes having an affair. Yeah. To maintain his office and reputation, sanford had to hide his love for maria and continue to pretend to only long for balanced budgets. In 2009, he topped pork and barrel with a bigger stunt that would catapult him from South Carolina local legend to the national spotlight. South carolinas republican governor has become the nations first to reject some of the economic stimulus money. South carolina was still reeling from the 2008 recession when sanford was offered relief funds from president obamas economic stimulus plan. If we spend all this money, we end up 700 million in the hole 24 months from now, and then the question is, and then what . People started legitimately talking about him as a president ial contender to challenge obama in 2012. I was a White House Reporter at the time. Thats how it looked from where i was sitting. Oh, sanfords emerging to challenge obama, and it sounds like thats what you guys were thinking, too. Right . Next thing you know, weve got the tea party, and sanford is the man. [cheering] he had become a darling for Fiscal Conservatives. I met people who had moved to South Carolina just kind of quietly to begin forming what was going to be potentially a nationallevel bid for him. [cheering] you know, if mark sanford is a stock, like, in spring of 2009, youre buying, right . Anybody who knows anything about politics or about republican politics, youre buying Mark Sanfords stock in spring of 2009. Then fathers day weekend of 2009 was when everything started to fall apart. Because the governor disappeared. It was honestly one of the most bizarre things i have covered in 20 years of journalism. He left. He was gone from the state and didnt leave anybody else in charge. It seemed totally out of character, but his constituents would soon learn that they did not know the real mark sanford at all. This election is about who shares your values. Let me share mine. Im the only candidate with a record of taking on maga republicans, and winning. When they overturned roe, i secured abortion rights in our state constitution. When trump attacked our lgbtq and asian neighbors, i strengthened our hate crime laws. I fought for all of us struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. Im evan low, and i approve this message for all of our shared values. It was a thursday. So i had a scheduled meeting with him in the morning, except he didnt show up for the meeting. I remember i was standing outside the state house, and mark sanford told me personally that he was gonna be gone for a few days. Am i gonna be able to reach you on your cell . Uh, probably not. All right. If anything comes up, joel will handle it. Okay. But as the weekend came and went, no one had heard from mark sanford. Fathers day weekend, so im with my children and my family, and i get to work the next day on monday, and there are sort of these rumblings of, you know. Do we know where mark is . [telephone ringing] meanwhile, i had been calling him, trying to get ahold of him, uh, and i couldnt get him on the phone. All of a sudden, this Appalachian Trail story comes up. Where did it come from the Appalachian Trail thing . He planted that with a member of our staff. But even an eccentric guy like mark sanford would spend fathers day with his four sons whom he legitimately adores, right . Did you talk to Jenny Sanford . She didnt know where he was, and he wasnt home for fathers day. And the last thing she said to me is, hes your problem now. And she hung up. From there, the day got worse for scott, because one of sanfords enemies in the state senate was starting to ask questions. I get a call from someone with sled state Law Enforcement division, which is the governors security detail. Senator knotts is asking questions about sanfords whereabouts. Jakey knottshe singlehandedly blocked tattoos becoming legal in South Carolina. [southern accent] because if god had wanted you to have a tattoo, heda put it on your body himself. [normal voice] i mean, hehe is that guy. Jake knottshe was one of the top foils of governor mark sanford. They absolutely did not get along. Every day is another embarrassment with someone else thats popping up. It started out that he just simply took a vehicle and was missing. Jake was trying to stir up this idea that nobody at sled knows where he is. Nobody knows where the governor is. He didnt tell anybody where hes going. Hes missing. I know exactly where he is. Hes hiking. The state newspaper was tipped off by senator jake knotts. When we started calling and asking, wheres the governor . You know, at first, they were like, well, why do you wanna know . Well. Because hes the governor, and then of course, youre gonna get the medias attention, right, when you dont answer where our governor is. Reporter there is a mystery this morning surrounding the whereabouts of South Carolina governor mark sanford. The mystery is unfolding surrounding the whereabouts of South Carolinas governor. Reporter 2 reportedly, even his wife didnt know where he went, and he wasnt even around for fathers day. The very simple solution to this thing is, governor sanford, call back home. Come back home. The people of South Carolina wanna know where you at. Communicate. Tmz called all 170 members, i believe, of the state house. Ill never forget. I got a message from tmz, and the guy on the other end he was just, like, do you know where the governor is . And i was like, i do not, and he hung up. And so then i was like. All right, something somethings going on. At this point, im being bombarded from everywhere. Ive got news trucks all around the state house right now because where is the governor . I should know. I dont know. And so what did you do . I put the hiking the Appalachian Trail story out because, you know, ive got members of my staff confirming it. Reporter the mystery is actually growing deeper. South carolina governor mark sanford vanished last thursday. Well, yesterday, his office say he wasnt hiding. He was hiking. Reporter 2 his office said the governor had gone hiking along the 2,200milelong Appalachian Trail but wouldnt specify where. I can only assume hes been sustaining himself by boring wild game into collapsing at his feet. [laughter] tapper and heres where i must make my confession. The sanford story breaks. Im a White House Correspondent for abc news, and i know mark. Ive known him for a decade at this point. Uh, i completely buy the Appalachian Trail thing. And then, uh, Good Morning America asks me towe need to get the sanford interview. Its a mystery where he is. And they send me a copy of the story that nbc or msnbc had done inin which hes, like, basically talking about how shady and weird it is that the governors disappeared. I forwarded it to maybe to joel sawyer. I forget who ii sent it to, but i sent it to somebody probably joel, yeah. And said something like, pretty slimy stuff. Like, alluding to the fact that, like, dont give the interview to nbc or the today show. Give it to abc news and Good Morning America because nbc, whatever, theyre theyre casting aspersions. And then, of course, way after the truth of sanfords escapades had come out, my email was released in a Freedom Of Information Act request. I called the reporter and an executive at nbc and apologized. It was, to be clear, inexcusable. And beyond that, id been wrong wrong about this guy who i thought had been a devoted dad and husband. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Lesson learned. That was just embarrassing, and i also felt, um. Dumb for. Just automatically believing the best possible scenario when it came to a politician. Youyouve always been on the reporting side of things. Welcome to the hell we all had to live in. [laughs] by hour 144 of Mark Sanfords disappearance, pretty much everyone who knew mark sanford was starting to question how much we really knew him. As the day goes on, tuesday, little things, uh, little bits of information start coming out that maybe kinda say, hmm. We learn that his last Cellphone Ping was in atlanta. So im googling, you know, well, theres an Appalachian Trail trailhead, you know, just north of atlanta. We find out late in the day tuesday that his car is parked at the airport. Surely theres not Something Else at play here. Youre saying hes over here at the Appalachian Trail. We at the state had some information that led us to believe something different. So about a year before mark sanford mysteriously disappeared from the state, we had gotten an email, the subject that said this is your governor that appeared to be backandforth emails between mark sanford and aa woman in argentina. But they could not be proven to be legitimate until the governor disappeared. And here is an actual excerpt from one of marks many emails to belen. [romantic guitar playing] i could digress and say you have the ability to give magnificent, gentle kisses or that i love your tan lines or that i love the curve of your hips. The erotic beauty of you holding yourself or two magnificent parts of yourself in the faded glow of the nights light. But hey, that would be going into sexual details. So do you know what im saying . It sort of starts swirling at that point. We didnt know, but we hoped that we had put everything together correctly and he was going to be getting off of a flight from argentina there in the Atlanta Airport. And there was only one flight coming in from argentina that morning. I remember being at the Atlanta Airport at 6 a. M. That morning, and one of the last people off the escalator is mark sanford. And ii mean, i jump. Pick up my digital camera. [camera shutter clicks] just could not believe he was standing there in the Atlanta Airport. [laughs] so now the question was would sanford actually come clean . After being mia for days, the Appalachian Trailhiking governor finally turned up at the Hartsfieldjackson International Airport in atlanta. So im standing with my camera and my notepad. I went running up to him, and im like, you know, governor um, we thought you were hiking the Appalachian Trail. [laughs] what are you doing getting off a plane from argentina . And he said, well, you know, i. I was gonna hike the Appalachian Trail, but i had aa last minute. Change in plans. Wouldwould you like to talk about it . And i said, well, yes, sir. Yeah, yes, i would. He told me this story about the pressures of public life, and he just needed to get away, right . And he wanted to take this trip. Well, where did you stay . Do you have friends there . Who did you visit with . He told me he was alone, and i think it started dawning on him that i knew more than i was letting on, and hehe got up and left. And then im grabbing for my cellphone and calling my editor and yelling, uh, oh, my god youre not gonna believe what just happened i just found mark sanford in the airport knowing it was only a matter of hours before gina filed her story, mark sanford raced back to the capitol to get ahead of it all with a nowinfamous press conference. I was there, and i cant recall a time being more squished in in what is a very large atrium in the middle of the South Carolina state house. [camera shutters clicking] [amplified voice] somebody wanna help me here . How are we gonna. Do this one right here . [microphone clattering] i couldnt get i couldnt talk to the guy. I had no idea what a mess he was. Um. [camera shutters continue clicking] um. I dont see wheres gina smith . Man shes not here. Not here . Okay. So im standing there, and im off camera, and im watching this fiasco. So the bottom line is this. I, um. Ive been unfaithful to my wife. I developed, um, a relationship with a, um. What started as a dear, dear friend from argentina. He walked through this this experience and his relationship with this woman and how he feels about this woman. It began very, uh, innocently as i suspect many of these things do, um, in just a casual email, uh, back and forth in advice on ones life there and advice here. Uh. But here, recently over this last year, it developed into something much more than that. His explanation of where he was was so deeply narcissistic, so deeply about himself and his feelings. That is, i suspect, a continual process all through life of getting ones heart right in life. And so ii would never stand before you as one who just says, yo, im completely right with regard to my heart on all things, but what i would say is im committed to trying to get my heart right. I found love. Im sorry i you know, im sorry i lit the entire building on fire, but i found love, guys. Be happy for me. I mean, what the [bleep] . Yeah. I hurt my wife. I hurt my boys. I hurt friends like tom davis. I hurt a lot of different folks. Um. And all i can say is that i apologize. What was your reaction . cause he. I mean, hehe spoke from the heart, you could say. I mean. [laughs] you know, its the best thing i can say about it. I started with him in 1996. Were at 13 years later, and im just watching my entire career everything that i had built up for the last 13 years just fall into a flaming pile. Of pig shit. Basically, yes. He effectuated the escape, but then he didnt do the coverup well at all. If mark would have had any friends see, mark is kind of a loner. If mark would have looped them in, i mean, what would have happened . I think his only friend was probably jenny. It turned out she had discovered marks secrets ahead of the press, and, no, she would not be standing by her man for the photographers. To jenny. Now anybody who has observed her over the last, uh. 20 years of my life knows how closely she has stood by my side. It was very surreal, and for the part of a lot of the reporters who came in from out of town, theyre like, is it always like this . Is itis there always this kind of weird stuff thats happening . And i mean, the answer is yes, but this was definitely a different level, and it took us a while to figure out exactly what we had all just gone through. But it all might have gone away quickly, because Mark Sanfords news cycle was interrupted by, perhaps, an act of god. The l. A. Times is reporting that pop star Michael Jackson has died. The entire National Media apparatus turned their focus from mark sanford over to remembering Michael Jackson. All the governor has to do now is keep his head down, not say anything. [laughter]. And the whole thing will blow over. But then mark held abasically an almost 2day interview with members of the Associated Press on the record, in which he called, uh, belen his soul mate. He gave another interview . surely it couldnt be that bad, right . [sanford speaking] yeah, it was a lot. I think there was in mark this sense of trying as hard as he could to explain to people some very complex things that he was feeling. When you compared it to edwards or with spitzer, somebody had gone to a Crisis Management expert and say, okay, this is the way you go about explaining things in a way where you can salvage your career or a way you can position yourself to come back. Mark didnt do any of that. And that might just be what saved him. Is it possible to count on my internet like my Customers Count on me . It is with comcast business. Keeping you up and running with our 99. 9 network reliability. And security that helps outsmart threats to your data. Moaire dida twoo . Your data, too. Theres even roundtheclock customer support. So you can be there for your customers. With comcast business, reliability isnt just possible. Its happening. Get started for 49 a month. Plus, ask how to get up to a 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet package. Dont wait, call and switch today in the wake of the scandal, jenny left mark. Reporter South Carolinas first lady says shes filing for divorce. Jenny theres not room for three people in a marriage. Tapper and there were calls for his resignation across the state. Mark sanford said no because he felt he could still effectively govern. Critics then called for sanfords impeachment. They opened an ethics investigation in the hopes of finding that his trip to argentina contained criminal use of taxpayer dollars. I was on the judiciary committee. I was 22, 23 years old at the time, and i voted to impeach mark sanford, and i shouldnt have. When i think about it and look back at it, i dont think it rose to the level of impeachability. The majority of the state senate at the time saw it that way, too, because nothing mark sanford spent on that trip crossed over into criminal territory. After he paid a small fine and reimbursed the state, the hearings were dropped. Now he just needed to win back the public. He embarked on what i remember terming in a story at one point an apology tour, and he did that for months. I am compelled to say that im sorry One More Time for the situation that i created. The reality is none of us are perfect. And im moving forward. I think the people of South Carolina are ready, too, so. Mark sanford served out his full two terms as governor the maximum allowed by South Carolina law. In 2012, he got engaged to his soul mate, maria belen chapur, and then the following year he ran again and won his old congressional seat back. Reporter once left for dead in the political wilderness, mark sanford blazed a Comeback Trail that will take him all the way to washington. I just want to acknowledge a, uh. [cheers and applause] aaa god not just of Second Chances but third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth chances because that is the reality of our shared humanity. I think that weve learned that voters can be really forgiving, and we love to watch the fall. But, man, we really love a good comeback, right . Tapper marks reentry into politics wasnt stumblefree. In 2014, he broke up with maria via a 2,300word post on facebook. But after all that, it was in 2018 that sanford finally faced a foe he could not bounce back from when he denounced trumpism as bad for the republican party, and trump clapped back in a tweet. Donald trump endorsed sanfords opponent in the gop primary race, and for the first time in his entire political life, sanford lost. Sanford lost his primary race because to a degree, he stood up to donald trump. To a degree, no . If you need that narrative, thats fine. No, i dont if you dont think its true, tell me what you think its i think its bullshit. He doesnt have a campaign manager. He doesnt have campaign staff. He has a Campaign Account and doesnt spend it. The guy spent 300,000 on ads, and the night he was declared the loser in a republican primary, he had oneandahalf Million Dollars in his bank account. He took a dive. Why . He needed the universe to make a decision for him. He was unhappy in congress. Christ knows i watched him be unhappy in congress, but he cant he cant quit things. Lets go back to 2009 for a sec. Okay. He couldnt quit his marriage, so what does he do . He gives her the clue by disappearing for five days so that it becomes an international scandal. From the outside, the mark sanford scandal was an absurd comedy, but for insiders such as scott or me, if im being honest, it was a really hard lesson. Mark sanford seemed like the rare politician who is exactly what you saw on the podium. And thats because who he seemed to be was based on some real truths, but the persona was just one facet of who he was packaged up and made clean and comprehensible for the american public. The big surprise was that even after Mark Sanfords brand had dissolved so spectacularly, the South Carolina public embraced him even more, authenticity trumping perfection, ironically a lesson harnessed by his main detractor, the 45th president who took an aggressive brand of filterfree politics all the way to the white house. I could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody, and i wouldnt lose any voters, okay . Its, like, incredible. [laughter] i still occasionally talk to mark, who declined to participate in this documentary, i think because of how guilty he feels about what this all did to his four sons. He says hes working hard on those relationships, and maybe im a fool, but i believe him. Scandals decapitate people. Scandals take people completely out the game, and mark sanford that didnt happen to mark. Mark didnt get impeached. He finished his term, and he actually won another race, uh, for the United States congress. By being honest to himself, being honest to his conservative political values, and being honest with the public, the real mark sanford was able to shake the perfection of the past and Start Building a new story, even if it took him a long walk along the Appalachian Trail to get there. [birds chirping]