Bush 'Satisfied' With Cheney Account
CBS News Reports Rove Pushed Cheney To Break Silence On Shooting
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Play CBS Video Video Damage Control Over Cheney Only On The Web: Bill Plante reports on Vice President Dick Cheney's interview on FOX News about the hunting accident and how the White House is dealing with the negative press.
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Video Executive Branch Rift? The handling of Dick Cheney's hunting mishap has created a divide between the staffs of the president and vice president. Gloria Borger reports on the latest developments.
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Video Dems Seek Cheney Answers CBS News RAW: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the vice president is overdue to hold a press conference on the shooting and other issues.
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(CBS/AP)
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Sources tell CBS News that Karl Rove pushed Vice President Cheney to go public, Feb. 15, 2006. (AP)
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Attorney Harry Whittington, 78, is shown in his office in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 25, 2005. Whittington was accidentally shot by Vice President Dick Cheney during a hunting trip, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006. (West/Austin American-Statesman/WpN)
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A gate leading to the Armstrong Ranch in Armstrong, Texas, is seen Monday, Feb. 13, 2006. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Austin attorney and fellow hunter Harry Whittington, at the ranch Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006. (AP)
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The Texas Parks and Wildlife department report for the hunting accident Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006, involving Vice President Dick Cheney. (AP)
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Interactive Cheney's Stray Shot Track the events and reaction to the vice president's shooting of a fellow hunter on a Texas ranch.
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Interactive Second In Command A closer look at Vice President Dick Cheney's career and his much-publicized health problems.
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Opinion Against the Grain Dick Meyer covers the terrain between crank and curmudgeon pretty much every week.
Cheney had been under intense political pressure to speak out about the shooting incident, which has become a public relations embarrassment and potential political liability for the White House. Until Wednesday, Cheney had refused to comment on why he withheld information about the shooting, which prolonged the controversy and made him the butt of jokes.
But Borger reports that the incident has not hurt the president's relationship with Cheney, and a source told her the two are still close.
Cheney was soft-spoken and somber during the interview with Fox's Brit Hume.
He said he had had a beer at lunch that day but nobody was drinking when they went back out to hunt a couple hours later. Law enforcement officials have ruled out alcohol as a factor.
Cheney said he still believes it was the right decision to allow ranch owner Katharine Armstrong to disclose the accident to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times the day after the accident.
Cheney said: "We really didn't know until Sunday morning that Harry was probably going to be OK, that it looked like there hadn't been any serious damage to any vital organ. And that's when we began the process of notifying the press."
Armstrong has suggested that Whittington was at fault in the shooting because, she said, he failed to announce himself as he returned to the hunting line after breaking off to retrieve a downed bird. But Cheney, who has been hunting for at least 12 years, said in no uncertain terms that Whittington was not at fault.
"You can talk about all of the other conditions that exist at the time, but that's the bottom line and it was not Harry's fault," he said.
Texas officials said the shooting was an accident, and no charges have been brought.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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