President Bush did not learn for several hours that Vice President Dick Cheney was the shooter in a hunting accident in South Texas on Saturday afternoon that left a prominent Austin lawyer and Republican campaign supporter wounded by shotgun pellets in the neck, shoulder and chest, the White House said today.
In a briefing with the White House press corps, Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, said he himself did not learn until about 6 a.m. on Sunday that it was Mr. Cheney who had shot the lawyer, Harry Whittington, 78, when the two were on a weekend quail hunting trip along with several others at the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas.
Mr. Whittington is still listed in stable condition at the intensive care unit of Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in nearby Corpus Christi, Tex. Peter Banko, the hospital administrator, told reporters today that Mr. Whittington would be moved out of the intensive care unit later in the day but that no date had yet been set for him to leave the hospital.
In a briefing with the White House press corps, Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, said he himself did not learn until about 6 a.m. on Sunday that it was Mr. Cheney who had shot the lawyer, Harry Whittington, 78, when the two were on a weekend quail hunting trip along with several others at the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas.
Mr. Whittington is still listed in stable condition at the intensive care unit of Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in nearby Corpus Christi, Tex. Peter Banko, the hospital administrator, told reporters today that Mr. Whittington would be moved out of the intensive care unit later in the day but that no date had yet been set for him to leave the hospital.
