Transcript of Cheney interview

Cheney: I had no press person with me, no coverage with me, no White House reporters with me.  I’m comfortable with the way we did it, obviously.  You can disagree with that, and some of the White House press corps clearly do.  But, no, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Scott McClellan and Dan Bartlett.  They’ve got a tough job to do and they do it well.  They urged us to get the story out.  The decision about how it got out, basically, was my responsibility.

Hume: That was your call.

Cheney: That was my call.

Hume: All the way.

Cheney: All the way.  It was recommended to me — Katharine Armstrong wanted to do it, as she said, and I concurred in that; I thought it made good sense.

Hume: Now, you’re talking to me today — this is, what, Wednesday?

Cheney: Wednesday.

Hume: What about just coming out yourself Monday/Tuesday — how come?

Cheney: Well, part of it obviously has to do with the status of Harry Whittington.  And it’s a difficult subject to talk about, frankly, Brit.  But most especially I’ve been very concerned about him and focused on him and feel more comfortable coming out today because of the fact that his circumstances have improved, he’s gotten by what was a potential crisis yesterday, with respect to the developments concerning his heart.  I think this decision we made, that this was the right way to do it.

Hume: Describe if you can your conversations with him, what you’ve said to him and the attitude he’s shown toward you in the aftermath of this.

Cheney: He’s been fantastic.  He’s a gentleman in every respect.  He oftentimes expressed more concern about me than about himself.  He’s been in good spirits, unfailingly cheerful —

Hume: What did he say about that?  You said, "expressed concern" about you — what did he say?

Cheney: Well, when I first saw him in the hospital, for example, he said, look, he said, I don’t want this to create problems for you.  He literally was more concerned about me and the impact on me than he was on the fact that he’d been shot.  He’s a — I guess I’d describe him as a true Texas gentleman, a very successful attorney, successful businessman in Austin; a gentleman in every respect of the word.  And he’s been superb.

Hume: For you, personally, how would you — you said this was one of the worst days of your life.  How so?

Cheney: What happened to my friend as a result of my actions, it’s part of this sudden, you know, in less than a second, less time than it takes to tell, going from what is a very happy, pleasant day with great friends in a beautiful part of the country, doing something I love — to, my gosh, I’ve shot my friend.  I’ve never experienced anything quite like that before.

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