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Freedom is never lost. I am always free. They can't cage me.

— Jake to Olivia Pope

Jacob Hamilton Ballard, formerly Pete Harris, was the White House Chief of Staff, and Command of B613. He is also the former director of the NSA. He is currently being held in a Supermax Prison in Illinois after the public discovery of B613.

Jake Ballard lives to serve his country, first as a U.S. Navy captain and now as the head of the NSA, though not always at the pleasure of the President. Jake is the former stand-in-the-sun partner of Olivia Pope. Not to mention, he was Command of the black-ops team B613. You can take the man out of the darkness, but you can't take the darkness out of the man. Jake sees the laws of the country as mere guidelines—which means no one can ever predict what he'll do next to save the people he loves. [1]

Jake Ballard was a supporting character for the last half of the second season, first appeared in the season two episode "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", and became a main character in the beginning of season three.

Spying on Olivia

Jake served in the Navy together with Fitz Grant during the Operation Remington time. Fitz assigned Jake to look out for Olivia through video surveillance and while following the order, he started to develop personal feelings for her.

Meeting Olivia

Jake bumped into Olivia at a coffee shop. He told Olivia what he does and where he works, but she held back. Olivia came to him when she needed help with acquiring information about her latest scandal. He was cryptic but willing to help her without breaking any laws. Back at Jake's apartment, he turned on his TV, which revealed that he has cameras all throughout Olivia's apartment. (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)

Jake finally gets his first date with Olivia, which she refers to as a "meeting"; they meet at a restaurant, but Jake takes her somewhere more romantic. Unfortunately their date is cut short when Olivia gets called away for work. Jake travels up to the The White House to pay a visit to his old Navy buddy, President Fitzgerald Grant. After a bit of catching up, Fitz asks Jake how is Olivia doing. Jake insists that Olivia is sad and keeps busy with work, but does not pose any danger. Jake is curious why Fitz has him surveying her. Fitz insists that it's not personal.  While Olivia is working with her latest client while she's a fundraiser, which Fitz is attending, Jake gives her a call and they flirt over the phone. Fitz watches her as she's talking to Jake. When Jake returns to the Oval Office again, President Grant asks him, "Who's the guy?" Jake lies to Fitz, telling him there is no guy. (Boom Goes the Dynamite)

Olivia visits Jake in his office and gives him crucial intelligence regarding the hostage crises. Jake goes to see Olivia while she is working at her latest client's residence to question her about the information he received. After they talk and flirt a bit, a photographer shows up at the side of the house and snaps a picture of the two. Jake is not happy; he goes to the photographer's place to wipe the memory card of his picture, but the photographer comes home before he can finish, and they get into an altercation. Later that night, he goes to Olivia's apartment for help, where he lies and tells her he was mugged. (Top of the Hour)

Meeting with "Mysterious Man"

Jake covertly meets with a Mysterious Man late at night where he updates him about how things are going with Olivia Pope and her digging for the mole. (Snake in the Garden)

Olivia finally lets Jake in more after she has to cancel on their date; she shows up at his apartment, surprising Jake, who's watching his surveillance cams of Olivia's apartment with a gun out. After hastily hiding this, he lets her in, where she reveals she brought some burgers. After eating, things get intimate between the two, and they end up in bed together. However, soon after, Olivia discovers what Jake really likes to watch on TV and accidentally drops a glass in her hand from shock. He comes out from the bedroom and tries to explain to her why he's doing this but when she tries to get away, she falls and bumps her head, gets cut by some shards of glass, and suffers a concussion. Jake takes her to the hospital and calls the President, but before Fitz comes into her room Jake tells Olivia that it's very important she not tell Fitz that they know each other, meaning Olivia and Jake. (Molly, You in Danger, Girl)

Fitz asks Jake to continue to follow Olivia around, but closer, acting more as a body guard. Jake stays at Olivia's side at all times, until Fitz relieves Jake.(A Woman Scorned)

Jake realizes he's been compromised but he doesn't know by who. He discovers it's Charlie. When he reports this to the Mysterious Man, Jake is ordered to take care of it, without killing Charlie, but the Mysterious Man, although he recognizes Charlie, does not tell Jake he knows who Charlie is. (Any Questions?)

Jake is a current member of the CIA black ops team B-613. He explains to Olivia that it was his mission to get close to her and to sleep with her; but when she asked why, Jake says he was never told. Liv does not appear to buy Jake's explanation. Before he leaves for his unknown fate, she tells him to close his eyes and gives him a tender kiss goodbye. Jake is thrown in the infamous "hole" - the same that Huck was in - for disobeying a direct order from "Command". (White Hat's Back On)

Months later Jake is finally released from the "hole" after Olivia makes a deal with her father, Eli Pope. He's dropped off at Olivia's apartment, weak, fatigued and in desperate need of a shower! (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)

After some time of helping O.P.A. trying to solve the mysterious death of Olivia's mother, Jake leaves the gladiators and moves on to take over B613; with the help of Fitz, they get Rowan fired from B612, thus making Jake the new Command. (A Door Marked Exit)

When rumors about Olivia's "alleged" affair with President Grant come up again in the media, Olivia asks Jake if he's a patriot. They are later seen together in public getting their picture taken by paparazzi. They are together again, but only for appearances sake. (Ride, Sally, Ride) When Fitz learns about this, he is not happy, resulting in him getting into an argument with Olivia that Jake and Tom overhear. Olivia begins to use her new "fake" boyfriend to get information. Later when Jake comes home to her apartment, he's not too happy, but it appears that they are living together. (We Do Not Touch the First Ladies)

Jake takes his role as Command seriously. When learning the truth about how Daniel Douglas Langston really died and who figured it out, he realizes that he has to do what is necessary to keep the republic intact and keep the citizens of the great nation none the wiser. He executes Vanessa Chandler and Shelby Moss, and murders James Novak by making it look like a carjacking, only leaving one witness, David Rosen, who Jake asks to cover this up. Because he needs to make James' death look like a murder from a carjacking, James' execution isn't quick, so Jake stays with him until his last breath, assuring him that Ella will not be harmed. He later buries the bodies of Vanessa and Shelby in a deep hole.

Olivia, with the help from her gladiators, comes to the realization that B-613 is behind James' death. When she confronts Jake about it, he does not deny what had been done; he admits that he carried out the order himself, leaving Olivia in utter shock! (No Sun on the Horizon / Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

As Command, Jake sends Charlie and Quinn to follow Maya, Olivia's mom. With Charlie and Quinn's intel, Jake finds out about Maya's plans to bomb one of the president's events. Jake is about to discover when Maya was going to detonate the bomb, but Olivia and her team shut down B-613 before he can find out.

In anger about Olivia having sex with him in order to hack his phone to shut down B-613, Jake goes to Olivia's office and pins her to the wall, telling her she has ruined everything. He explains to Olivia, Cyrus, and the President about what Maya has been up to. The president calls up Olivia's father to help with the Maya situation, but Eli tells Olivia that he won't help unless Jake leaves. Olivia picks Eli over Jake, and B-613 remains shut down due to Olivia and her team, meaning Jake is no longer Command.

Jake shows up in David's office telling him that he will help him find the location of Maya Pope.

Career

Jake worked at the Pentagon in the Military Intelligence Department for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was an operative working for the mysterious B613 CIA sub-division. He also worked as Command of B613 for a short period of time after Fitz fired Rowan. He was the Vice President-Elect of the United States until his resignation and is currently the director of the NSA, the US Navy Admiral and the White House Chief of Staff.

Relationships

Olivia Pope (Jake and Olivia)

5x18 - Jake Ballard and Olivia Pope 02

Jake and Olivia first met in a cafe, and their relationship has been on and off ever since. Jake became attached to Olivia very quickly and he surely knows how he feels about her. Their relationship is complicated in many ways, and also one day they hate each other and the next day they come back into each other's worlds. Olivia seems to like having Jake around her, whether as a friend or lover, and Jake seems to feel the same. They make good friends and partners when they're not in the relationship.

Elise Martin

5x04 - Elise and Jake

Jake and Elise were married long before Jake met Olivia. Jake moved on from Elise because he thought she was dead. When the Lazarus 1 happened and Jake and Charlie went to Paris, they met again.

Jake told Elise how they were great together and they realized that they still have feelings for each other, so they stayed married. Jake convinced Elise to come to D.C with him and she did, but later, Jake found out that Elise is only in D.C. because she was on a mission for the people running Lazarus 1 to kill Rowen.

After Olivia calls Jake to tell about her engagement to Fitz, Jake suddenly changes his mind and asks Elise what the plan is and tells her that he will meet up with her at Union Station. Their relationship ended when he found Elise dead sitting on a bench in the Station.

Vanessa Moss

6x05 - Jake Ballard and Vanessa Moss 02

Jake is married to Vanessa. They are married actually because of Rowan. Vanessa comes from a really wealthy family and Eli needed their money for Edison's super PAC. Eli's plan is when they get their needed money from Vanessa's bank accounts, they'll support making Edison president and get some power themselves.

When Quinn and Huck found out about Eli's plan of wanting a very big D.C. wedding for Jake and Vanessa, they tell Olivia. Olivia says that having a big, high-profile wedding isn't going to help Edison become president, and that her father and Jake are up to something more. Olivia then faked being drunk in front of Jake to get all the information out of him about Eli wanting to put Jake on Edison's ticket as Vice President. Jake married Vanessa because Rowan threatened Olivia that if Jake doesn't marry Vanessa, he will slit Jake's throat and that the wedding will turn into a funeral. Jake and Vanessa had messy and rocky marriage at first since he refuses to open up to her. They then agreed to be in an open marriage sometime off-screen because they don't love each other and he never opens up to her.

Notes & Trivia

  • The character was originally named Jake Weston.

Gallery

→ See and enjoy 362 pictures of Jake at Images of Jake.

Quotes

Videos

→ Watch more videos of Jake Ballard at Category:Videos of Jake Ballard.

References

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