Waterboarding were dismissed in a memo from Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis who found that Yoo showed "poor judgment" but did not violate ethical standards. Commentators have noted that the memos omitted key relevant precedents, including a Texas precedent under then-Governor George W. Bush when the state convicted and sentenced to prison for 10 years a county sheriff for waterboarding a criminal suspect. Bush did not issue a pardon for the sheriff. Former George W. Bush administration officials Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft have stated since leaving office that they do not consider waterboarding to be torture. At least one
Dick Cheney hunting incident the incident. She said Cheney agreed. Armstrong said that Whittington did not announce his location, and this led to the incident. According to White House Press secretary Scott McClellan, news at the White House about the shooting "... was coming in to people back here, all the way at 3 AM in the morning [Sunday] and beyond." McClellan would not state when the President first learned that Cheney had shot Whittington. When McClellan was asked if Andy Card had told Karl Rove that Cheney was the shooter, McClellan said: "... we still didn't have all the details at that point