Lynne Kresge

Lynne Kresge was a high-ranking foreign policy and crisis management advisor to President David Palmer during Day 2.

Day 2
During Day 2, Chief of Staff Mike Novick, Press Secretary Jenny Dodge, NSA Deputy Director Eric Rayburn, and his boss Roger Stanton dealt with the nuclear bomb threat in Los Angeles.

From the moment the threat was called in, Lynne and Rayburn clashed. Whilst trying to deal with the threat Lynne was contacted by CTU Los Angeles agent Jack Bauer, who was working undercover with some terrorists. He informed her that the terrorists were planning to blow up the offices of CTU LA, and she needed to tell the President to order an evacuation. However, Rayburn prevented Lynne to tell the President as he believed it was better to let everyone at CTU Los Angeles die rather than tipping the terrorists off to the fact that Jack was undercover with them, as ultimately they could lead him to the nuclear bomb.



When the President found out what Rayburn did, he sided with Lynne in that what Rayburn had done was inexcusable and he was let go, allowing for Roger Staton to arrive and take his place. Soon after this Sherry Palmer arrived and confronted Palmer about a supposed military evacuation he had ordered. Palmer excused himself and asked Lynne about the evacuation, which she, as well as Palmer, had no knowledge of. Palmer soon found out that it was Stanton who ordered the evacuation, against Palmer's orders. He recalled the evacuation and went to see Sherry who assured Palmer that she could keep digging to find out more about the threat. Palmer grimly agreed.



Lynne was constantly suspicious of Sherry which led to them arguing several times. As mentioned by Patty Brooks in Day 1, Sherry can be "pretty scary sometimes," and very intimidating. Lynne, however, not easily intimidated by Sherry's antics, held her ground. At 6:00pm, Palmer had Stanton tortured and found out Sherry had been working with him. Even though she claims she did it to help David, he asked her to leave.

Later, Lynne discovered evidence of a secret meeting between the Vice President Jim Prescott and the cabinet. The purpose of the meeting was to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Palmer from the Presidency. When Lynn asked for Mike Novick's help, it turned out that he knew what was going on, and had her imprisoned in a storage room so she could not inform the President.



She hatched an escape plan involving a fire, but the agent guarding her chased her. While she was attempting to escape down the stairs, she fell from the stairwell and sustained neurological damage. When she was found, she attempted one last time to point to Mike in the presence of Palmer, but Mike cupped her hand, allegedly to comfort her, avoiding to be pointed out by her. Lynne was then taken away by ambulance to the hospital in critical condition.

Memorable quotes

 * Lynne Kresge: Please see me if you need anything.
 * Sherry Palmer: (laughs) You want me to run everything by you?
 * Lynne Kresge: I'm more familiar with the internal politics, I --
 * Sherry Palmer: You'll be able to do what, Lynne?
 * Lynne Kresge: I am just trying to maintain some form of protocol --
 * Sherry Palmer: No, no you're not. You're trying to position yourself between me and David's inner circle because you don't trust me.  Instead of talking about protocols, why don't you just say what's on your mind? You don't want me here.
 * Lynne Kresge: Mrs. Palmer, I --
 * Sherry Palmer: You don't want me here, so let's just quit playing games.
 * Lynne Kresge: How dare you speak to me this way. I was appointed by the President of the United States of America because of my qualifications in foreign policy and crisis management, and I don't know what kind of credentials you have that makes you think you can lecture me. Fine, you don't want to play games? I don't like you. And I don't like you being here.
 * Sherry Palmer: Well, now we're communicating.

Background information and notes

 * In the DVD commentary of episode four, Michelle Forbes mentions her position is "Special Assistant to the President."
 * The writers intended that Lynne die from the fall she suffered, however her death was never confirmed on camera. In an interview prior to the start of Season Six, she was listed as a character who may come back, yet she never did make an appearance.