Factual error: It wouldn't have mattered that Ritter had his "autographed get out of jail free card" given to him by Cutter or authorized by the President, it was still an illegal operation that Congress didn't know about. Anyone involved in it would be going to prison regardless of position.
BaconIsMyBFF
12th Jun 2022
Clear And Present Danger (1994)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: The point Ritter is making is the operation was personally authorized by the President behind closed doors. If Cutter and Ritter were arrested for their involvement, they would be pardoned by the President. The President of the United States has the authority to pardon someone even before they have been charged with a federal crime, as Gerald Ford did for Richard Nixon. Jack doesn't have this protection because he is to be the scapegoat if the scandal is exposed.
10th Oct 2016
Clear And Present Danger (1994)
Corrected entry: Given the lengths that Escobedo is willing to go deal with people who have wronged him it's pretty hard to believe he would have wasted his time imprisoning the rest of Clark's team instead of killing them, especially after they caused so much damage to his cartel.
Correction: A choice that might seem out of character on its face is not a plot hole. Escobedo could have wanted to keep part of Clark's team alive to torture them, to get information out of them, to use them as leverage, to present them to the world as proof the U.S. Government was plotting against him, etc.
3rd Oct 2016
Clear And Present Danger (1994)
Corrected entry: The plot of this film relies on the notion that Cutter and Ritter (with the backing of the President) are able to conduct this illegal war against the cartels with this small team of soldiers blowing up planes and drug bunkers while making it appear to be coming from rival cartels. OK, fine. The problem though is when you bring an aircraft carrier into the story a lot more people are going to have to know what's going on that are not in the loop. You would have admirals, navy officials, possibly even the Joint Chiefs wanting to know why planes are taking off from one of their aircraft carriers just outside of Colombian waters. It didn't take Ryan any effort to find the operations report on the "car bomb" and put two and two together, so I find it very hard to believe none of the higher ups in the Navy were questioning Cutter or the President as to what was going on.
Correction: There is nothing in the film to suggest that nobody in the Navy questioned their orders. The film focuses on Jack Ryan and his efforts to uncover the operation, but that doesn't mean that the Navy wasn't also suspicious when an air strike was requested. It is plausible that Cutter and Ritter handed the Navy a credible cover story to authorize the air strike for Clark's team. We aren't shown any of this because it isn't relevant to the plot.