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 Cheney: I pulled the trigger and shot my friend
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CNN
Wednesday, February 15, 2006; Posted: 4:57 p.m. EST (21:57 GMT
Vice President Dic.k Cheney today gave his first interview since the weekend accident in which he shot fellow hunter Harry Whittington. "You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend," Cheney said in excerpts released before the full interview is aired. "The image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind
The vice president said he ran over to the 78-year-old Whittington, who was bleeding, and Cheney's own medical team -- which always travels with him -- administered first aid.
"I said, 'Harry, I had no idea you were there,'" Cheney recounted. "He didn't respond."
The vice president added, "The image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind. I fired and there's Harry falling."
After the shooting, ranch owner Katharine Armstrong had told reporters that Whittington had just shot a quail and dropped back to retrieve it. He was hit upon rejoining the group and "apparently came up unannounced" as Cheney prepared to fire.
Cheney stood by his decision not to tell the national media directly of the incident, instead allowing Armstrong to tell a Corpus Christi newspaper about the shooting the next morning. (Timeline)
"I thought that made good sense because you can get as accurate a story as possible from somebody who knew and understood hunting, and then it would immediately go up to the wires and be posted on the Web site, which is the way it went out," Cheney said. "And I thought that was the right call."
Since the first day, many of President Bush's aides, according to senior officials, thought the vice president did not handle the situation correctly.
That frustration mounted, and in private conversations Bush aides had become more open about saying they were trying to find a way to persuade the vice president to speak out, rather than letting the issue linger.
Cheney's office did not disclose the matter until Sunday afternoon, prompting an outcry from the media and some politicians on why it took so long for the incident to be made public.
Several Cheney associates, old friends and staffers have also expressed frustration and concern over the way information about the incident has been managed, but most say they are not surprised because it is Cheney's standard method of operation.
The situation has been worsened, some said, by the fact that Steve Schmidt, who was Cheney's senior counselor and was in charge of media strategy, left last week to manage California Gov. Arnold Schwarz's election campaign.
Meanwhile, Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, was in a Corpus Christi hospital recovering from a minor heart attack he suffered Tuesday after one of the pieces of birdshot that hit him lodged in or near his heart, his doctors said Wednesday.
Armstrong told CNN she had talked to Whittington on Wednesday and he is "up and walking around."
Cheney said he drank a beer with lunch the day of the shooting, according to his interview. The shooting took place about 5:50 p.m.
Armstrong had previously told CNN that she never saw Cheney or Whittington "drink at all on the day of the shooting until after the accident occurred, when the vice president fixed himself a cocktail back at the house."
Lee Anne McBride of Cheney's office referred CNN to a statement from the Kenedy County Sheriff's Office Monday, which said that the investigation "reveals that there was no alcohol or misconduct involved in the incident."
A state game warden gave Cheney a warning for hunting without a required stamp on his license, for which the vice president's office later submitted payment.
Whittington 'sitting up'
Peter Banko, a spokesman for Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital, told reporters Wednesday that Whittington is doing well after the heart attack.
He is "sitting up in a chair, eating regular food and actually plans on doing some of his attorney work in his room today," Banko said.
He said Whittington will probably stay in the hospital another six days, and explained that he is still in the facility's intensive care unit for "personal privacy reasons."
Dr. David Blanchard, the hospital's emergency room chief, explained Tuesday that Whittington had suffered an "asymptomatic" heart attack without typical signs such as chest pains or breathing difficulty.
Blanchard said a 5 mm pellet had "migrated" to become lodged in or alongside Whittington's heart muscle, irritating the tissue and causing the organ's upper two chambers to beat irregularly.
The doctor said Wednesday he believes the shot will stay where it is.
"We're 100 percent satisfied that where the BB is; it will remain," he said.
Banko said he had spoken with Whittington about the uproar surrounding the incident, and his reaction was that it was "much ado about nothing."
The vice president's office said Cheney called Whittington on Tuesday afternoon to offer his "thoughts and prayers."
Whittington is a longtime activist in state Republican politics. (Whittington profile)
Blanchard estimated earlier this week that the number of shot pellets Whittington had been hit by at more than 10 but fewer than 150 or 200 -- the number of pellets that are usually in one shot.
Monday, he had said most of the wounds were "superficial at best."
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