The Volokh Conspiracy - Cheney Can't Recall If He Sent Gonzales and Card to Hospital to Get Ashcroft Authorization:

From tonight's interview with Larry King, via TPMMuckraker:

KING: The New York Times — which, as you said, is not your favorite — reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the President's intelligence-gathering program. Was it you?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall — first of all, I haven't seen the story. And I don't recall that I gave instructions to that effect.
KING: That would be something you would recall.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I would think so. But certainly I was involved because I was a big advocate of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, and had been responsible and working with General Hayden and George Tenet to get it to the President for approval. By the time this occurred, it had already been approved about 12 times by the Department of Justice. There was nothing new about it.
KING: So you didn't send them to get permission.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall that I was the one who sent them to the hospital.

UPDATE: As some commenters note, Cheney's statement is likely to add fuel to the fire over whether Gonzales was being truthful about the scope of the TSP. At the very least, it suggests an understanding within the White House that it was the TSP that was at issue in the now-famous hospital showdown.

	[Orin Kerr, July 31, 2007 at 5:19pm] Trackbacks Cheney Can't Recall If He Sent Gonzales and Card to Hospital to Get Ashcroft Authorization: From tonight's interview with Larry King, via TPMMuckraker: KING: The New York Times — which, as you said, is not your favorite — reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the President's intelligence-gathering program. Was it you? THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall — first of all, I haven't seen the story. And I don't recall that I gave instructions to that effect. KING: That would be something you would recall. THE VICE PRESIDENT: I would think so. But certainly I was involved because I was a big advocate of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, and had been responsible and working with General Hayden and George Tenet to get it to the President for approval. By the time this occurred, it had already been approved about 12 times by the Department of Justice. There was nothing new about it. KING: So you didn't send them to get permission. THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall that I was the one who sent them to the hospital. UPDATE: As some commenters note, Cheney's statement is likely to add fuel to the fire over whether Gonzales was being truthful about the scope of the TSP. At the very least, it suggests an understanding within the White House that it was the TSP that was at issue in the now-famous hospital showdown.