On Tuesday former vice president Dick Cheney said that he would back former Florida governor Jeb Bush if he decided to run for president in 2012. In an interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto, Cheney said:

“I like Jeb. I think he's a good man. I'd like to see him continue to stay involved politically. I'd probably support him for president.”

Cheney insisted, however, that he's "not in the business of endorsing anybody at this point", but did note that he's "a big fan of Jeb's."

As for Jeb's older brother, former president George W. Bush, Cheney said that they had not spoken in awhile:

“He and I have had a number of conversations on the telephone since Jan. 20. [But], It has been a couple of weeks.”

Cheney has recently become one of President Barack Obama's harshest critics, stating that his administration has made the country less safe in dismantling Bush-era national security policies. On Tuesday he also hit back at the Obama administration for considering prosecuting Bush administration attorneys that provided the legal backing for CIA interrogations at the Guantanamo Bay military prison and other detention centers around the world:

“It’s one thing to change the policy, it’s an entirely different thing to say you are going to go after the lawyers of the past administration. It’s outrageous.”

I don’t think we should just roll over when the new administration accuses us of using torture. I don’t believe it was torture.”

The former VP also dismissed the criticism the he has gone overboard in his attacks against the new President and administration:

“I don't pay a lot of attention to what the critics say, obviously,” said Cheney, adding that he rejects the “notion that I should remain silent while they go public.”

“Bottom line is we successfully defended the nation for seven-and-a-half years against a follow-on attack to 9/11. That was a remarkable achievement. Nobody would have thought that was possible, but it was. I believe it was possible because of the policies we had in place, which they're now dismantling.”