Wayne Palmer

Wayne Palmer is a fictional character on the television series 24. He is played by D. B. Woodside.

The brother of former President David Palmer, Wayne came in to replace Mike Novick as the President's Chief of Staff, after Palmer had relieved Novick of his duties at the end of Season Two. He is a former Marine. He also has a sister named Sandra Palmer. After high school, he received a baseball scholarship to Stanford University, where he was a pitcher and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.

Before being employed by the President, Palmer was a member of the United States Marine Corps, though he did not see combat. At some point after being discharged, Palmer worked as an Attorney at Law for Anderson & Siebertz for a period of time. Afterwards, he served as a COO for Milliken Enterprises that was owned by Alan Milliken, a high powered businessman backer of his brother. While Milliken was hospitalized, recovering from a stroke, Wayne embarked upon an affair with Milliken's wife, Julia.

Day 3

During Day Three, Milliken finds out about Wayne's affair with his wife, Julia, and presents the information to President Palmer, demanding that he fire his brother as Chief of Staff.

Instead of allowing Wayne to resign, Palmer called in his ex-wife, Sherry, to dig up the dirt on Milliken. When she failed in her attempt to counter-blackmail Milliken, Sherry seized the opportunity to prevent Milliken from reaching his medication during a heart attack and convinced Julia not to help him. Milliken died from a heart attack in front of Julia and Sherry. President Palmer provided an alibi for Sherry to the police. She then attempted to expose the truth. Wayne had brought in a specialist to obtain evidence linking Sherry to Milliken's death. As they did so and the evidence was obtained, Milliken's wife, Julia, facing jail time, arrived at Sherry's house with the intent to kill her. Wayne attempted to stop the murder, but failed to do so. Julia then committed suicide. The events of this day led to President Palmer deciding not to seek his second term.

Day 5

At the start of Day Five, Wayne is helping his brother, former President David Palmer, to write his memoirs at Wayne's apartment. It is then that David Palmer is shot in the neck and killed by a sniper. Later, as the FBI comb the crime scene, Jack Bauer quietly infiltrates the apartment but is surprised by Wayne, who is under the assumption that Bauer was responsible for carrying out the assassination. After Bauer manages to convince him otherwise, Wayne helps to uncover information about his brother's death and a plot within the administration.

Shortly after martial law is declared by President Charles Logan, Wayne contacts Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce to discuss new information concerning David Palmer and the events of the day. As he approaches Logan's retreat, a van of armed commandos working for Christopher Henderson attack his car. He survives and manages to flee his assailants. Wayne escapes with the help of Pierce.

Wayne and Aaron walk into the Presidential retreat and confront Martha Logan's personal assistant, Evelyn Martin, then talk to her regarding e-mails that she exchanged with his brother, David Palmer. Evelyn reveals that she told David who was behind the plot in the government, and that a kidnapper (later revealed to be Henderson) has her eight-year-old daughter. Wayne calls Jack Bauer to assist him, and they rendezvous outside the retreat. Jack allows Wayne to come along to the exchange, where the both of them rescue Evelyn's daughter and kill Henderson's thugs, but fail to capture Henderson himself.

Wayne later helps Jack to break into a bank in order to retrieve evidence that demonstrates President Logan's involvement in his brother's death. After recovering the evidence, Jack takes Wayne to meet with Bill Buchanan, who leads him to a safe house as per Jack's advice. Wayne is not seen throughout the remainder of the season; later, according to President Logan, his whereabouts are still unknown. Wayne is also not seen at his brother's ceremony, which takes place in the final episode of the season, 6AM-7AM, but it is likely that he attended the funeral service in Washington DC.

Day 6

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President Palmer in the Oval Office with NSA, Karen Hayes, and White House Chief of Staff, Thomas Lennox

Wayne was elected President (it is unknown whether his opponent in the election was Hal Gardner or someone else) and was inaugurated 3 months prior to day 6. He negotiated Jack Bauer's release from the Chinese Government. He paid a high price to the Chinese for his release, only to trade Jack to Fayed as well as $25,000,000 for the location of Assad. It cost him a high emotional price, as he sold out an agent who was very loyal to his brother, he paid it, asking Jack to do it for the sake of the country.

While Jack was willing to die for something, he learned he'd die for nothing in day six. His motivation changed, and he got free. When the information he told CTU wasn't believed, he organized an escape plan for Al-Assad, the man believed responsible for the events leading up to day 6. He currently is in torment, but seems to realize Jack had always been honest with both himself and his brother David Palmer. Wayne trusted Jack, with collaberating evidence, enough to make him believe in the former agent.

Trivia

• Wayne is the first President on 24 to be seen within the Oval Office. All of the show's previous Presidents were seen conducting affairs from Air Force One, bunkers, Presidential retreats, or various government buildings in Los Angeles.