Q And then the further details, then, unfolded throughout the course of the early morning Sunday?
MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct, additional details, additional information was coming out.
Q On Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m., you were clear, personally, that the Vice President had, in fact, been the shooter?
MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct. That's correct.
Q Thank you.
Q Wait, wait, hold on. Human beings are not normally this inefficient. I mean, was the Vice President immediately clear that he had accidentally shot his friend, or not? Or did that information become available later? You make it seem like there's all this information that had to develop.
MR. McCLELLAN: I wouldn't suggest that at all. I'm sure that that was the case. I mean, Mrs. Armstrong was there and saw that --
Q I don't understand what information had to trickle in?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, David, again, what's important when it happened was to make sure the medical care was getting to --
Q Fair enough.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- Mr. Whittington.
Q Fair enough.
MR. McCLELLAN: That's where all the attention was focused, and making sure he was getting to the hospital --
Q That's been stipulated here. Everybody agrees that that's fine.
MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct.
There were no cameras rolling in the Monday morning 'gaggle' today, the morning after news belatedly broke about Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shooting a hunting companion on Saturday. The broadcast sessions of press encounters with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan are saved for formal afternoon briefings, with the morning gaggles serving as more informal warm-ups. And David Gregory, the chief White House correspondent for NBC News, was warmed up.
Why was the White House relying on a Texas rancher to get the word of Cheney's hunting accident out over the weekend, asked Gregory, accusing McClellan of 'ducking and weaving.'
'David, hold on… the cameras aren't on right now,' McClellan replied. 'You can do this later.'
'Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras,' the newsman said, his voice rising somewhat. 'Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question.'
'You don't have to yell,' McClellan said.
'I will yell,'' said Gregory, pointing a finger at McCellan at his dais. 'If you want to use that podium to try to take shots at me personally, which I don't appreciate, then I will raise my voice, because that's wrong.'
'Calm down, Dave, calm down,' said McClellan, remaining calm throughout the exchange.
'I'll calm down when I feel like calming down,' Gregory said. 'You answer the question.'
'I have answered the question,' said McClellan, who had maintained that the vice president's office was in charge of getting the information out and worked with the ranch owner to do that. 'I'm sorry you're getting all riled up about.'
'I am riled up,' Gregory said, 'because you're not answering the question.'"