Rep. Condit Criticized in Case of Missing Intern Photos

By Lori Santos

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressman caught up in the case of a missing intern withheld crucial information from police and should be a suspect in her disappearance, a former federal prosecutor said on Sunday.

Police questioned Rep. Gary Condit (news - bio - voting record), the 53-year-old Democrat from California, for a third time and said on Saturday he had answered all their questions and was not a suspect in the disappearance of Chandra Levy, who was last seen on April 30.

But Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told the ``Fox News Sunday'' program he believed Condit should be a suspect because he did not disclose his intimate relationship with the intern.

DiGenova, a Republican who handled many high profile cases, including that of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, also said he was ``absolutely stunned'' that city police had not searched Condit's apartment.

``I cannot believe that that was not one of the first things that police did not ask him to do, especially in light of the fact that the congressman obviously lied to them in the first two interviews, and it wasn't until the third interview that he finally told the truth and admitted that he had a relationship with this missing person,'' diGenova said.

``He withheld that information from the police over a number of weeks. It's absolutely outrageous. It is indefensible,'' diGenova said. ``...He should be a suspect, under all the facts and circumstances,'' he added.

On CNN's ``Late Edition,'' former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh also asserted Condit had ``not been completely forthcoming'' until the third interview and said the delay likely damaged the investigation.

``That's two months later, all that time has been lost,'' said Thornburgh, who led the Justice Department (news - web sites) during the first Bush administration.

Though police would not comment on the nature of the relationship between the congressman, who is married, and the 24-year-old intern, Levy's aunt said on Friday Condit was involved in a romantic relationship with Levy.

It was widely reported that Condit acknowledged to police investigators on Friday evening he had an affair with Levy that was continuing at the time she disappeared. But Abbe Lowell, Condit's attorney, declined on Sunday to describe the relationship between the congressman and the intern but asserted Condit had been completely forthcoming to police.

``The congressman has answered their questions each time to the best of his ability,'' Lowell told ABC's ``This Week.''

Photos

Lowell also said Condit has not been subpoenaed for anything by police nor had authorities asked to search his apartment.

``If they need something that we can help them with, we'll get it to them,'' he said. ``But they haven't asked us for anything at this point.''

Lowell also sidestepped questions about whether Levy might have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

``I certainly know the questions the police asked the congressman, I know his answers. And we're not getting into that,'' he told the CBS ``Face the Nation'' program.

``This is a situation in which the congressman has told the police everything, has been cooperative, has been said never to be a suspect, and anything about what he's told them is not a matter of the public, it's a matter of the private,'' Lowell said.

Condit has been at the center of a furor surrounding Levy's disappearance shortly after she finished up a government internship in Washington. He represents Levy's home town of Modesto in California.

Many of his fellow lawmakers urged him to be more forthcoming.

``The most critical thing that you need to do in this situation... is get the facts out. And it's critical that he does that,'' Rep. Martin Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat, told NBC's ''Meet the Press.''

Rep. Christopher Shays (news - bio - voting record), a Connecticut Republican, said, ``It's clearly a lesson -- you have got to tell the truth. If you say you didn't have an affair and you had an affair, that's wrong.''

And Rep. Dick Armey, the House Republican leader, said the case could come before the House ethics committee if a complaint were filed and predicted it might be hard for Condit to survive politically.

But Armey told ``Fox News Sunday'' that Condit should not step down at this time. ``We've got more speculation, it seems to me, than we do fact,'' he said. ``I'm still not convinced that he did anything.''

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

Answers

Finally. . . Some people have the chutzpah to say the emperor is lacking clothing. As someone has already pointed out on this forum--Dood, I think it was--if any of us had reacted the way Condit has, e.g., setting the rules over who would interview who, what would be covered, and when, well, I think we'd already have been in jail for a number of weeks.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

Drudge

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JULY 08, 2001 16:09:28 ET XXXXX

CONDIT STAFFER CHARGES: 'I WAS LIED TO!'; RESIGNATION TALK SWIRLS AROUND CONGRESSMAN

**Exclusive**

Resignation talk swirls around California Congressman Gary Condit on Sunday, just as his own staff begins to question the representative's truthfulness.

MORE

"Point blank, I was lied to!" a Condit staffer told the DRUDGE REPORT. "I was assured there was no love affair with Ms. Levy, I've put my reputation on the line defending him around here, and now this comes out!"

The Condit staffer reached out to the DRUDGE REPORT and spoke on strict condition of anonymity after Condit admitted to investigators that he did have an affair with missing intern Chandra Levy.

"I have one question, and I know this will very well would mean I would lose my job, 'Gary, when are you going to step down, resign?!'"

Hill talk has quickly turned to whether Condit can continue to represent his district with the deepening Levy developments.

Staff disillusionment centers on Condit's actions after the WASHINGTON POST last month first revealed Levy had slept at the congressman's apartment and that the two were romantically involved.

Condit hired San Francisco power attorney Joseph Cotchett, who rushed a letter to the POST and other outlets demanding a retraction or risk a libel suit.

During on and off the record conversations with reporters over the past 60 days, Condit's staff repeatedly denied the congressman had any romantic relationship with the former Bureau of Prisons intern.

According to insiders, Condit misled Mike Lynch, chief of staff in Condit's Modesto office, and Mike Dayton, a spokesman at the congressman's office on Capitol Hill.

Dayton was told to tell the press "there is nothing to hide" about Condit's relationship with Levy, say sources.

Condit's public deception also involved his wife.

In a brief telephone conversation with the ASSOCIATED PRESS in June, Carolyn Condit said her husband's relationship with the Levy family and Chandra was a "friendship."

"I hope for his sake, she got a full apology this weekend, I sure haven't," said the disgruntled Condit staffer.

Sitting calmly in the offices of his lawyer with investigators late Friday night, Condit admitted to being romantically involved with Chandra.

Law enforcement sources tell NEWSWEEK in its July 16 issue that Condit was "apologetic" for not responding more completely in his first two encounters with police.

He told investigators that his previous answers were the natural reaction of a married man reluctant to admit an extramarital dalliance.

Developing...

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

How much do you want to bet that when the police FINALLY got around to interviewing Mrs. Condit, she said something to the effect of "Oh yes, I knew my husband was having an affair with Chandra." Somehow I think the reason she stays in CA while hubby is in DC is so she won't have to deal with his affairs.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

I'm sure Condit's wife knew, Beckie. The women who marry these men, like Hillary Clinton, accept it as part of the price they pay for their artifically elevated status. These women like the money, the lifestyle, the attention and, especially, the deference and respect. Again, I'm speaking generally. Far as I know personally, Sen. and Mrs. Bennett Johnston were exceptions to the rule, but many more--too many more--fit the stereotype I'm using here.

Even though it's been a couple of decades or so since I worked in politics, it was common knowledge then that many politicians, even local ones, had mistresses. (Not common knowledge among the electorate, of course, but among those working for and with politicians.) It's something to do with the personality necessary to run for office--again, generally speaking. Not that I'm excusing it--absolutely not. I think if they have the strength to run a campaign, they have the strength to behave themselves. I believe the Condit staffer strongly suspected his/her boss was having an affair with Chandra Levy. Could be that Condit swore to that staffer the story was not true, because the outrage expressed, oddly enough, has the ring of truth to it.

If Condit had come clean right at the beginning, it's possible his constituents would have supported him. They may yet--look at Clinton!

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

NYPost

CONDIT 'KINKY SEX'

By NILES LATHEM and KATE SHEEHY

July 10, 2001 -- The flight attendant who says she and Rep. Gary Condit were lovers has told cops that before Chandra Levy disappeared, the congressman appeared to be engaging in bizarre, kinky sex with someone.

"There were neckties tied together underneath [Condit's] bed as if someone had been tied up in bed," flame-haired stewardess Anne Marie Smith said, according to her attorney.

Lawyer Jim Robinson, in an interview aired last night on the Fox News Channel, added, "She also told me that Condit had some peculiar sexual fantasies that a normal heterosexual male would not have.

"Near the end of their relationship, things started to disturb Anne Marie," he said.

"She saw other things of a sexual nature that she would have nothing to do with, and then this woman [Levy] disappears. She was terrified . . .

"She was very afraid for her life at this point."

The chilling report came as police probers refused to rule out the possibility that Condit had something to do with Levy's disappearance.

D.C. Executive Assistant Police Chief Charles Gainer said cops plan to search Condit's apartment - taking him up on an offer made yesterday by his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, to cooperate fully, even with a police search.

Police Chief Charles Ramsey added that conducting a lie-detector test on Condit is not out of the question.

"Nothing can be ruled out now . . . [because] you know that until that question of what happened to her [is answered] and we find her one way or the other, we're going to have to continue to trace and retrace steps," Ramsey said.

Levy's distraught parents have been demanding that the married 53-year-old California congressman - who only recently admitted to having an affair with the 24-year-old intern - submit to a lie-detector exam.

A drained Susan Levy, Chandra's mom, urged Condit to take the polygraph test, "to help us find our daughter and bring her home back to us alive."

Apparently referring to Condit's denial of an affair in a phone call immediately after Levy's disappearance, the mother said, "There are certain things Mr. Condit did not come forth . . . I caught him in a specific lie . . . I don't feel he's been very truthful to me."

The Levys' lawyer, Billy Martin, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" last night that the parents want the polygraph because "they have no confidence in the word of Congressman Condit. His credibility is suspect, and they just want some assurance that now he's telling the truth. When it began, he did not."

Lowell said he would be "willing to discuss" a polygraph test for Condit, although earlier in the day, he said, "Basically, there's no need for it."

The Levy family has claimed there are several serious discrepancies in Condit's story:

* Condit told Mrs. Levy when they met last month that he last spoke to her daughter April 24 or 25. He later told cops that the time he spoke to her was April 29. She disappeared April 30.

* When Mrs. Levy first talked to Condit, seeking help finding Chandra, she'd asked him about the nature of relationship, and he told her it was professional. But Friday, he came clean to probers and confessed it was sexual.

* Condit has insisted he was not aware of anything that would cause her to go missing. But Chandra's aunt said she got a phone message from the young intern the day before she disappeared, telling her, "I really have some big news or something important to tell. Call me."

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Various theories floated around talk radio last night.

Someone from his district said his impact on the area's economic health has been amazing. She thought it was possible that someone saw that in jeopardy and was trying to prevent it from going away.

There had been a suggestion that maybe she is just in hiding to make life difficult for him, but someone else was quite sure she wouldn't put her family through that. Lots of rumors that she is pregnant which seem to be behind this theory.

The consensus seemed to be that either Condit offed her, or he had someone off her, or someone who wanted his seat in Congress offed her knowing it would reflect on Condit.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Apparently, two other women have gone missing and there is said to be a Condit connection. This is the rumor making the rounds of various forums, including the one at the Modesto Bee and Capital Grilling. The posts I read seem quite well-written.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001