In an exclusive Fox News interview filmed earlier today Vice President Dick Cheney spoke with Brit Human and took full responsibility for accidentally shoot long-time friend and attorney Harry Whittington during a hunting expedition on a Texas ranch.
The full interview is set to air at 6 p.m. but excerpts are being released throughout the afternoon and are posted below:
"Ultimately, I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry. You can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time. But that's the bottom line. And there's no - it is not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. As i say, that's something i will never forget. "
Comments from the Vice President on why he had his friend tell the press:
Cheney: "It was a good mutual friend - both of us - Karl hunted at the Armstrong as well. We are both good friends - of the Armstrongs and of Katherine Armstrong. And Katherine suggested and I agreed that she would go make the announcement. She would put the story out. I thought that made good sense for several reasons. First of all, she was an eyewitness. She had seen the whole thing. Secondly, she had grown up on the ranch and hunted there all of her life. Third, she was the immediate head of the wildlife and parks department, game control commission of the state of Texas –- [an] acknowledged expert in all of this. And that she wanted to go to the Corpus Christi Times that's a local newspaper and report the story. I thought that made good sense. 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 website which is the way it went out. I thought that was the right call."
Hume: "What do you think now?"
Cheney: "I still do. I think that the accuracy was enormously important. I had no press person with me. I didn't have any press people with me. I was there on a private weekend with friends on a private ranch."
