The interview with the commission took place in April 2004 in the Oval Office and included a discussion of intelligence warnings received prior to the attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a copy of the document and a person familiar with the matter.
During the interview, Bush acknowledged that Air Force One had poor communications when he was on the plane after the attacks unfolded, and asserted that he authorized Cheney to shoot down unresponsive commercial airliners, according to the report.
"Yes, engage the enemy," the transcript quoted Bush as telling Cheney. "You have the authority to shoot down an airplane."
The transcript also contains Cheney's calls upon Bush, who was at a school in Florida at the time, not to return to Washington amid the terrorist attacks.
"The president agreed, reluctantly," the report quoted the document saying. "The president asked the vice president to take necessary steps and stay in close touch."
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda* terrorists crashed two hijacked commercial planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. A third plane hit the Pentagon near Washington, while a fourth hijacked plane crashed in the state of Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day and over 25,000 were injured.
*a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other states