Eli Raphelson

Eli Raphelson is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the House and the true antagonist of White House Down.

Biography
After John Cale saved his nephew's life from an IED explosion in Afghanistan, Eli seemingly felt bad for him, so he gave him a cushy job as a Capitol Policeman and his security guard. He seems at first to be a pretty solid and honest guy, affiliated with Carol Finnerty and President James Sawyer, but it isn't until the end of the film when he is revealed as a traitor, assisting Martin Walker (the secondary antgonist of the film) and Emil Stenz in their attempt to take over the White House and hold President James Sawyer hostage. It is also revealed that Eli secretly disapproves the peace treaty that Sawyer written up for many countries, believing that Sawyer is making their country vulnerable to terrorists. This led him into planning the attack to have Sawyer killed, as well as Vice President Alvin Hammond killed, so that he can be sworn in as President himself. The hit on Hammond was a success, but Sawyer remained alive, thanks to the efforts of Cale himself. During the climax, Eli sents Walker the nuclear launch codes to actiavte the nuclear football to lay down an attack on Iran to finalize their plan. Around the same time, Eli ordered an air stirke on the White House seemingly to eradicate the threat, but his own intentions were to destroy any trace of evidence regarding to his true goals. However, John Cale foiled this after killing Walker, and figured this out after looking upon Walker's pager. Also, John's daughter Emily manages to call off the air stirke with a flag sign. When Eli (who was "sworn in" as "president" previously) arrived at the scene following that aftermath of the attack, John deliberately lied to him that Sawyer was killed. Eli then revealed his plans to discontinue the peace treaty, and John confronted him with the information that he arranged the whole attack to protect his friend's defense contracts and destroy the peace treaty. John proves this by having Carol to dial the call-back number on Walker's pager, which then caused Eli's phone to ring, thus exposing Eli as the traitor. An angry Eli threatened John, taunting of the fact that the people would never believe that their current President would help a group of psychopathic terrorists open a nuclear football against a country. However, overhearing this, Sawyer reveals himself to be alive to Eli, and berates Eli for his actions, considering Eli's taking of the Presidency as a coup d'teat. Without hesistation, Sawyer orders several soldiers to arrest Eli on the charges of conspiracy to crime, terrorism, and treason. As he is taken away to face trial for his crimes, Eli angrily accuses Sawyer of being unfit for office and making their country vulernable to terrorism. Eli then swears revenge, saying that he's got friends to help him get back on Sawyer for this, only for Sawyer to retort that he will make sure all of Eli's friends will meet Eli in prison if they try to do so. Eli was a particularly nasty villain, and it wasn't until the very end of the film that his true colors were revealed and he was outed as a scheming, malicious, conniving, corrupt, and treacherous politician.

Quotes

 * "Carol, we have to end this. We have to. What if the next missile that he launches is aimed at Chicago or New York? We're talking about millions of lives."

Behind the Scenes
Eli Raphelson was portrayed by Richard Jenkins in White House Down.