Rare and exclusive footage/interviews are among the cornerstones of “The End: Inside the Last Days of the Obama White House,” a new CNN Films production, chronicling the last days of the Obama administration as seen through the eyes of his inner circle.
The film presents viewers with an intimate look behind-the-scenes and inside offices, meetings, gatherings, press conferences etc., peppered with interviews with the president’s staff and closest advisors including Cody Keenan, director of speech writing for the White House; Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor; Angella Reid, chief usher of the White House; Tina Tchen, assistant to the President and chief of staff for First Lady Michelle Obama; Josh Earnest, White House press secretary; and Jen Psaki, White House communications director, among others, to create a historical portrait of Obama’s White House team.
The film is set against key moments throughout Obama’s presidency including the 2008 election, the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the racially-motivated shootings in Charleston, S.C.; the passage of the Affordable Care Act; and the last Christmas celebrations of “the mobile White
House” in Hawaii, among many others.
The two-hour films premieres at 8 p.m. on CNN (it will encore at 11 p.m. Jan. 19).
Here’s an exclusive clip from the film, featuring Cody Keenan on the road with the First Family on Jan. 12, 2017 in Hawaii, writing Obama’s farewell address, and describing some of the thought process he went through for the speech: