King told viewers that he asked Cheney whether he instructed Gonzales and then White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card to visit then-Attorney General John Ashcroft at his hospital bedside to push Ashcroft, who was recovering from surgery, to approve a secret surveillance program. Cheney told King he had no recollection of delivering those instructions, but the veteran CNN interviewer said he didn't quite buy that explanation. "How could you not recall? You know, 'Hey you two guys, you go over to that guy in the hospital bed, and you tell him to sign this,'" King said.