Cheney to Appear on Fox News Today, As Papers Raise Questions About His Fault in Shooting

By: E&P Staff and The Associated Press Vice President Vice President Dick Cheney, publicly silent since accidentally shooting a Texas lawyer while hunting last week, will offer his first words on the incident on Wednesday, the White House said.

Cheney will be interviewed by Fox News's Brit Hume at 2 p.m., White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters. The interview will not be aired live, but appear at 6 p.m. ET. According to some reports, excerpts will be aired shortly after 2 p.m., and it was not clear why it is not being carried live.

Cheney shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington, 78, last Saturday. The incident was not disclosed until the following day and Cheney himself has not spoken out about the issue, prompting Democrats to demand an explanation and fellow Republicans to question his strategy.

"It's an opportunity for the vice president to talk about the questions relating to this issue and also to talk about his concern for his friend Mr. Whittington," said McClellan, who was traveling with President George W. Bush in Columbus, Ohio.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, meanwhile, says it will classify the Saturday shooting of Austin attorney Harry Whittington as an error in judgment by Vice President Dick Cheney, Steve Hall, education director for the department, told the Houston Chronicle, for an article published this morning.

Members of the hunting party have blamed Whittington for not announcing his location to the others.

Hall explained that it is important for everyone in the hunting party to communicate, but it is the shooter's responsibility not to fire unless he knows it is safe.

"Certainly we teach about communicating and essentially doing all things to be defensive and proactive," said Hall. "Everybody has a role to play, but the accident data is geared toward whoever is holding the firearm at the time."

Hall told the Chronicle that hunter education courses stress the "Ten Commandments of Shooting Safety." No. 6 states: "Be sure you know where your companions are at all times. Never swing your gun or bow out of your safe zone-of-fire. If in doubt, never take a shot."

The Austin (Tex.) Statesmen-Review interviewed Peggy Puckett, one of the four daughters of Whittington. "No one was at fault. He feels bad for the vice president," she said.

Asked if Whittington agreed with eyewitness accounts that said he was at fault for approaching Cheney while he was shooting, Puckett said her father "hasn't said anything like that."

The Washington Times today reported that experienced hunters it had interviewed said that "Cheney alone bears the blame for a weekend mishap in which he accidentally shot a hunting companion in the face and chest with a shotgun.

"Every local hunter interviewed by The Washington Times yesterday said the vice president violated hunting's cardinal rule: Never pull the trigger unless you are 100 percent sure of your target. And, they said, he violated Rule No. 2, as well: Never swing on game outside the safe zone of fire."