Cheney Disregards Judiciary Chairman’s Views of Gonzales

ABC News’ Jennifer Duck Reports: Vice President Dick Cheney said President Bush has the final say when it comes to the credibility of embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

In an interview with Mark Knoller of CBS radio, Cheney disregarded Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy’s mistrust of Gonzales, "I’ve had my differences with Pat Leahy. I think the key is whether or not he [Gonzales] has the confidence of the President, and he clearly does."

Cheney’s "differences" with Leahy go back to 2004 when he told Sen. Leahy to "go f— yourself" on the Senate Floor. Cheney’s spokesman at the time said, "That doesn’t sound like language that the Vice President would use. But I can confirm that there was a frank exchange of views." Cheney later confirmed the incident in Stephen Hayes’ book.

Cheney said he is a "big fan of Al’s" and Gonzales "has testified truthfully."

Cheney’s comments come as the House is considering an impeachment resolution for Gonzales and the Senate has requested a Special Counsel to investigate perjury charges.

On other issues, Cheney said he disagreed with the guilty verdict given to his former aide I Lewis "Scooter" Libby for perjury.

On being publicly "demonized" for the Iraq strategy, Cheney said, "It has been rough, I would say, from a political standpoint, certainly" but President Bush has "made decisions because he thinks it’s the right thing to do for the nation."

Cheney said he took no official actions while serving for over two hours as President while President Bush had a colonoscopy over a week ago. "I basically wrote a letter to my grandkids…a souvenir for them to have down the road some day."