Cheney has not spoken to Libby

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 16, 2007

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WASHINGTON - In the nearly six weeks since his close friend and former chief of staff was convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation, Vice President Dick Cheney has not once spoken to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"Well, there hasn't been occasion to do so," Cheney said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation.

Libby is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago, during the Reagan administration. He was found guilty last month of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

Cheney's interviewer, Bob Schieffer, was so surprised that he asked the vice president about it again. Why no calls to express your regrets?

"I just - I haven't had occasion to do that," was all that Cheney would say.