Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Talkback Live

What Should Connie Chung Ask Gary Condit?

Aired August 21, 2001 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BOBBIE BATTISTA, HOST: We all knew it was coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBE LOWELL, ATTORNEY: The way you get this story back in the news is you say the name Gary Condit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BATTISTA: Even better, say, "Gary Condit speaks!" And Connie Chung wins the prize interview of the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're going to see a man on a tightrope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to know where he's coming from, and I certainly feel he's totally innocent of anything but adultery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BATTISTA: Why now? Why Connie Chung? And what do you expect to hear when Gary Condit speaks?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BATTISTA: Hello, everybody. Welcome to TALKBACK LIVE.

Well, there hasn't been this much excitement over an interview since Barbara Walters talked to Monica Lewinsky. This time, though, Connie Chung will be asking the questions. Congressman Gary Condit has avoided interviews since former intern Chandra Levy disappeared in May. Police sources say the two had been having an affair.

So why did Condit decide to speak out now? Let's start by talking with CNN national correspondent Bob Franken, who's in Condit's hometown of Modesto, California.

Bob, let me ask you that question -- why now?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course I could respond and say, "Why not now?" Many people have criticized him for waiting this long. He's on a break from Congress. The staff people will say that this is the first chance that they could really, with some time, work out a media strategy -- which is still in progress, by the way.

And of course, there is the matter of returning to Congress with perhaps the restoration of his reputation a little bit. That would be the fondest hope of Congressman Gary Condit. The larger issue, of course, is the restoration of his reputation with his constituents. His has always been an almost automatic reelection since his political career began. That is not the case now, so the effort has begun. It's going to include a mass mailing, expected out either later today or more likely tomorrow, then the TV interview, than several other media appearances, perhaps a local newspaper, perhaps some other interviews.

BATTISTA: Is that what you mean when you talk about the media strategy, still working out the details?

FRANKEN: That's what I'm talking about. Apparently it's not all in place, yet.

BATTISTA: And basically it's a 3-point plan then? He will do one national interview, probably one paper interview and then, the mailing.

FRANKEN: Well, it's possible they'll do others. It's possible there will be other media interviews. They use the term "interviews, media appearances" in the plural sense. So, quite frankly, I don't think that they have fully developed exactly what the media appearance schedule will be.

BATTISTA: Do we know anything about what will be in that letter that's being mailed out to constituents?

FRANKEN: They are being very, very strict about keeping its contents quiet, and the reason, they explain, is that they want the voters to see it before they hear about it in the media. So it's been, very, very tightly held. None of us has been able to get any of that information. Believe me, Bobbie, we're trying.

BATTISTA: I don't doubt that. Where has the Congressman been, Bob, for the last few weeks? Has he been making any appearances at all?

FRANKEN: Not that we know of. He's certainly not making any appearances before the media. At his home, where there are cameras around the clock almost, the neighbors are helping a little bit by putting their vehicles, their trailers and such, in front of the house. So it's been very difficult to watch his comings and going. We do know that he spent a huge amount of his time on the phone talking to his advisers, both here and in Washington and Sacramento and elsewhere, involving this media strategy.

BATTISTA: We also do know that he is moving ahead with his reelection plans now. So, does he have any sort of appearances in the works that are related to that? FRANKEN: Well, that, of course, is another part of the plan that's being developed. There is some pressure for him to appear before his voters, town meetings and the like, that is still something under consideration. He does have a fund-raiser later this year. We are told over and over that he plans to go ahead with that. It's an annual event. He plans to be there. And so this is provided as evidence that they mean it when he says he is going to run for reelection. Let us not forget that the election is 14 months away -- that, of course, is forever in politics.

BATTISTA: All right, Bob Franken, thanks very much for the update. I appreciate it as always.

Joining us now is Howard Kurtz, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," media reporter for "The Washington Post," and author of several books, including "The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street's Game of Money, Media and Manipulation."

Also with us is CNN's Wolf Blitzer, host of "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS," and Michael Sitrick, chairman and CEO of Sitrick and Company, a public relations firm. Michael is the author of "Spin: How to Turn the Power of the Press to Your Advantage."

And, Wolf, let me start with you, because people are curious, I think, on the inner workings sometimes of the broadcast media. How do you wheel and deal for an interview of this magnitude?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": Well, it certainly helps to know the players involved in this kind of a situation, and Connie Chung, who has a long history in trying to get the big gets, the big interviews, she knows a lot of the players. I assume she knows, for example, Abbe Lowell, the attorney representing Gary Condit, probably has a longstanding relationship with him. Probably knows Marina Ein, the public relations spokeswoman who has been brought in to help Gary Condit. So if you have those kind personal relationship, that helps. Certainly, when you have the backing of a major news organization like ABC News, which would have a presumably very large audience, that would show this interview Thursday night, that helps as well.

And it's a lot of hard work, because the competition is intense, not only between different news organizations, but even within a news organization. I'm sure, for example, Barbara Walters would have loved this interview. Diane Sawyer would have loved this interview. George Stephanopoulos of ABC News -- all of them are from ABC News. I think all of them would have loved this interview. And I do think that ABC News had the inside track in getting it in for a variety of reasons we can get into later if you want.

BATTISTA: How far do you go in negotiating an interview like that? I mean, do you -- do you make compromises? Do you make promises? Do you give in to parameters? How far do you go?

BLITZER: Well, you try not to cross any really ethical, journalistic lines. But in this particular case, what ABC News has agreed to do, we're told, is to do a live-to-taped interview, thirty minutes or so -- meaning that it won't be edited down. The best of it won't be played. The whole thing, the whole interview will be played.

Normally, on these news magazines that some of the networks do, whether it's "60 Minutes" or "20/20" or "Dateline NBC," they have a big get like this, they may spend two or three hours interviewing the guest and then put 15 or 20 minutes on the air, the best of it. And very often, those guests think that their words were compromised or...

(AUDIO GAP)

BATTISTA: ... harder news program, like a "60 Minutes" or something.

HOWARD KURTZ, "WASHINGTON POST" MEDIA REPORTER: Well, I don't know exactly how Connie Chung got the interview, but I certainly think she's pretty high profile. And it's a fairly shrewd choice on Gary Condit's part. Connie Chung is an experienced journalist who has done interviews like this before. I don't think we ought to underestimate her. She was once the co-anchor of the CBS Evening News, but at the same time, she's no Mike Wallace or Ted Koppel.

And one of the things that you do when you're trying to reel in the big catch, as Gary Condit undoubtedly was in this case, is to convey a sense -- not just by writing letters and sending flowers and all of those little anchor tricks that people sometimes use -- that you will be fair, you will not badger the witness, to use a legal term. You will ask hard questions, but you'll will give the person time to respond. You won't unduly embarrass them.

And I think Condit and his folks made the judgment that Chung was about as good a person as they could hope for, given that they had to have somebody who was a credible, national figure after his having remained silent for so long.

BATTISTA: Michael, let me ask you, from the client's viewpoint, what goes into the decision to choose the media outlet or the personality to do this kind of interview?

MICHAEL SITRICK, PUBLICIST/AUTHOR, "SPIN": Well, you want somebody who's going to be fair, who, as Howard said, is not going to take cheap shots, isn't going to do ambush journalism. But as I think I said the last time I was on your show, you also want someone's who's respected by his or her peers. And I think Connie Chung fits that criteria, because the media has very much a herd mentality and if you pick someone to do this interview who is going to give you softball questions or isn't considered to be a serious journalist, it isn't going to have the effect that you ultimately want it to have. And that is, to influence the reporting of other journalists and to really lead the rest of the news coverage.

BATTISTA: Does the fact that she, and I can ask this question because I am a woman, is the fact that she's a woman factor into the decision at all?

SITRICK: It wouldn't for me. I don't think gender has any -- makes any difference. I think it's the criteria that I said before: Whether they are reported by their peers, whether they are considered a serious journalist and whether they're going to be fair.

And that's really what you want. You just don't want someone to come at you with cheap shots. So those are the criteria I use.

BATTISTA: All right -- I am sorry? Was that Wolf or Howie, go ahead. KURTZ: I was going to jump in and say, I think that gender may be something of a factor here because one of the thing that a congressman has to do, and may be it's easier to talk to a woman in this situation, is not only you know, convince people that he didn't have anything to do with Chandra Levy's disappearance, deal with the legal facts, but also to come across as having some compassion.

All that we have seen of him are these pictures of him running into the Capitol building and being chased by reporters. He's come off fairly or unfairly as kind of heartless in this matter and I think that the tone for him if going to be as important, and maybe that would be easier with Connie Chung than with, say, with George Stephanopoulos.

BATTISTA: I agree. I have to take a break here. As we do, there are a number of questions that the audience has posed for the congressman if they were in the position of being Connie Chung on Thursday night. so let me going to a couple of those quickly. And you would ask, Audrey?

AUDRY: My question would be: If Condit doesn't have anything to hide, why not speak forward from the beginning? Why wait so long?

BATTISTA: And one question from Mark in San Diego, who says, if I were to ask Congressman Condit one question it would be this: If the roles were reversed and it were your child and your perception of Mr. And Mrs. Levy that they were not fully truthful, what would you ask of them?

BATTISTA: The question is: Are you going to watch the Condit interview? Take the TALKBACK LIVE online viewer vote CNN.com/talkback, AOL keyword: CNN. While there check out my notes. Send us an e-mail and we will continue here right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BATTISTA: Connie Chung has worked for all three major broadcast news networks since beginning her career in 1969. She co-anchored the "CBS Evening News" with Dan Rather from 1993 to 1995. She joined "ABC News" in 1997. Chung's most recent interview was with Karen Stanford, the mother of the Reverend Jessie Jackson's out of wedlock child.

Couple of more sample questions from the audience. If you could interview Congressman Gary Condit, Richard, what you would ask him?

RICHARD: I would ask the congressman, what does he really think his chances of being reelected would be?

BATTISTA: All right. And up to Ingrid here in the audience? INGRID: My question would be to congressman, it's been so long since this young lady is missing. Did you have any part in her disappearance or you kill her?

BATTISTA: And Cliff in Maryland: "I would ask Condit, are you the only one in America who didn't learn anything from Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky?"

Wolf, seriously, what sort of questions would you ask, if you were in that position? And how much would you expect to get out of this interview also?

BLITZER: Well, I think that I would ask all of the tough questions. I am sure that Connie Chung is preparing going through all of those questions. Not only will those questions be critical, but all of us know this, and Bobbie, you know this as well as anyone, the questions are important and you have to have good questions ready to go.

But you have to listen very, very carefully to the precise answer that Gary Condit will give, and then you have to follow up with the absolute essential follow-up question. If you miss those follow-ups and don't -- don't ask the questions that are begging for additional answers, you're going to be severely criticized as the interviewer, so while I am sure that Gary Condit is going through the drills right now with his political and his legal advisers, fake Q&A sessions to prepare him. I am sure Connie Chung is going through a similar drill with her producers and others to make sure that she not only knows enough to ask the follow-up question, but is ready to go.

BATTISTA: Would anything off limits, Wolf? I mean, would a journalist limit their questions to those that were relevant to the Chandra Levy investigation, or would they ask, for example, about his personal life, his wife, his marriage, his previous affairs, that kind of thing?

BLITZER: We are told there are no restrictions whatsoever on the interview, only the time factor. There's only 30 minutes, apparently, that have been granted. And as far as live to tape that we talked about earlier, but there are no other restrictions. She can ask whatever she wants about, you know, his previous love life or any other thing that she regards as relevant to this kind of session.

BATTISTA: Let me take a quick phone call from Bobby in Virginia, go ahead.

CALLER: Yes, I just think the interview will be watered down, it won't be a no-holds-barred interview. The congressman is clearly a male chauvinist and arrogant, and I think again he will get his way with another woman, that's why he picked Connie Chung.

BATTISTA: So, Howard, it sounds like Bobby is concerned about the fact that the congressman certainly could stonewalled for a half an hour.

KURTZ: He certainly could, but much of America will be watching. I think we have to keep in mind that there's going to be enormous pressure on Connie Chung, having snag this high-profile controversial interview, to deliver the goods. And Wolf is exactly right, it's listening to the answer, and when the congressman, if he does try to fudge or evade or choose his words carefully to follow up in a way that you don't appear rude, but you do seem to be nailing down and clearing up any ambiguities, and I think Connie Chung is going to try to do that without seeming to be overbearing.

But the clock is definitely in the congressman's favor. Remember, there is a lot of ground to cover here, not just on Chandra Levy, but on the flight attendant, Anne Marie Smith. Did he, in fact, ask her to lie or withhold information from investigators? He can give long-winded answers and eat up a lot of time, and she has to decide when to cut him off and when to try to utilize what time she has to get the answers that everyone is going to be looking for.

BATTISTA: And Michael, I want to ask you a question, but I got to take a quick break here. That's the music. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BATTISTA: Another good question from an audience member. Jim, if you were asking the congressman, what would you ask him?

JIM: I would like to know, given the fact that we've recently learned that Gary grew up with a strong moral fiber, his father having been a minister, I would like to know what questions his father asked him when all this came out and how he responded to his father's questions.

BATTISTA: Good question. Michael, I would assume that the congressman will be heavily coached and prepared for anything and everything, correct?

SITRICK: I would -- I would expect so. You prepare -- you prepare a person for an interview like this much the way you prepare a witness for a trial or a deposition. And Howie's comment about the fact that he could give long-winded answers and he could eat up a lot of the time is true, but he also is under enormous pressure. The world is watching, and how he responds and if he appears to be filibustering could really hurt him as well.

And so, you know, you want to answer the question, you want to be cognizant of the fact that time is on your side, but you don't want to look like you are stalling or evading the answer, and part of the -- part of the preparation is preparing for the follow-up. Our firm is comprised almost exclusively of ex-journalists. And so, what we do is we actually tape them, get them in front of the camera, ask the questions, ask follow-up questions -- and our questions might even be harder than the reporter would ask on the air, and you do it over and over again, until your client is comfortable with the process.

BATTISTA: Wolf, it's such a fine dance that's being done here in a situation like this. Who do you think has more control in an interview situation like this? BLITZER: Connie Chung and her producers will have a lot of control in terms of the questions that they will ask and her ability to follow up with the appropriate follow-up question. But Congressman Condit has a lot of the control factor himself.

I think one thing that Bill Clinton did very successfully in that Steve Kroft interview on "60 Minutes" in 1992 that resulted in his coming in second in New Hampshire, being dubbed the comeback kid, was that he had Hillary Rodham Clinton sitting next to them -- they were -- sitting next to him -- they were holding hands, and that message was coming through loud and clear, that my wife loves me and supports me.

And if Gary Condit can get his wife, Carolyn, to be sitting next to him at least for part of this interview holding his hand, that will send a very powerful message to the American public as well.

SITRICK: I couldn't agree more with Wolf. Remember, we talked about this last time, and that was exactly what I was just going to say.

BATTISTA: Howie, how far do you think this interview might go toward putting the story to rest, if possible?

KURTZ: Probably impossible to put it to rest, at least as long as 24-year-old Chandra Levy is missing. But I think we have to keep in mind that journalists and normal people look at these things in different fashion. The second that interview is over, newspapers, magazines, Web sites are all going to be analyzing and parsing what adjectives, what verbs Condit used, trying to poke holes in his story, also evaluating Connie Chung's performance.

But to the average viewer, it really is going to be a case of how he comes across. Does the he seem credible? Does he seem defensive? Does he seem concerned about the fate of this woman? And so, in a way, you know, the thing that Bill Clinton was so good at even when he was dancing around the truth -- as he occasionally did as president -- that's going to be the challenge for Condit, who after all, you know, has never done a national TV interview of this magnitude. Nobody outside of California had heard of him during his term in Congress -- very few, I should say -- before this tragedy began.

BATTISTA: And the last couple of e-mails here. Norm in California says: "When he sits down with Tim Russert, then I'll listen." Herman in British Columbia says: "Connie Chung will throw softball questions at him, so what kind of an interview will this be? Why don't they let O'Reilly do the interview, I would watch that show." Who's O'Reilly?

(LAUGHTER)

All right, Howard Kurtz, Wolf Blitzer, Michael Sitrick, thank you all for joining us. I appreciate it.

Coming up in a moment: Can anything Condit says be held against him? Criminal defense attorney Joe Tacopina and former prosecutor Robert Tanenbaum will join us.

Also, by the way, tonight on "Wolf Blitzer Reports," Levy family attorney Billy Martin explains what he is hoping to hear from the congressman.

We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BATTISTA: We were gone a long time, welcome back. Thanks for hanging with us. We are talking about the upcoming TV interview with Congressman Gary Condit. What should he say, what can he say? Joining us now is Joe Tacopina, a criminal defense attorney; Robert Tanenbaum, a former New York City assistant district attorney and chief of the homicide bureau. His latest book, "Enemy Within" came out this month.

Also with us is Dick Rosengarten, publisher of "California Political Weekly." All right, Joe, let me start with you as the defense attorney in this role here. What legal concerns would you have about what the congressman might say during that interview Thursday night?

JOE TACOPINA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: A lot. I heard some other guest talk about preparation. There will be an inordinate amount of preparation going in to this interview, as if he were testifying at a trial.

Certainly you cannot anticipate every single question no matter how hard you prepare, so concerns are great in that this is not what they would call a protected statement. This is not where he goes into the police under an immunity agreement and gets to give a statement but he cannot be prosecuted or they can't use that statement against him.

Here, he is giving a statement to media. The investigators could dissect the statement, look for holes in it, look for inconsistencies within his statement as oppose to their evidence and use that against him.

And if he is ever charged and he says something that they could disprove in this interview, it will really do damage to his ability to convince a jury of his innocence if he is charged. But Bobbie, in this situation here, clearly, any criminal defense lawyer who is concerned with nothing other than his client being charged wouldn't even dream of having the client do an interview on TV.

It serve no purpose. The police have acknowledged at this point, Condit is not a suspect, and they have no real evidence against him. But here because he is a politician and because he has a political career to be concerned with and all these other concerns that really are not in the best interest of his criminal status, I guess he is going forward with it. And there are some major pitfalls that could be (UNINTELLIGIBLE). BATTISTA: You know, Bob, that would tend to make us believe, I think, that the congressman is perhaps innocent of any crimes because those are some major pitfalls. That interview could come back to haunt him later seriously if he is lying.

ROBERT TANENBAUM, FORMER PROSECUTOR: If he's lying. Again, if this guy is innocent he has done the worst job in Western civilization in demonstrating his innocence. If he is guilty he is not doing too badly. For people to say he is not a suspect because the police chief in D.C. says so is the equivalent if saying JFK and Elvis are alive on a Greek island somewhere.

I don't know what world these people are living in, but this is a show that is going on. This is like the classic lie detector test he took and then refused to take the other test and or have a third party come in that would be acceptable to law enforcement and or to him.

This is a setup. You talk about innocence here of a public official who is trying to maintain his reputation and run again, he has to open himself up to the media. He has to have the O'Reillys on. He's got to have yourself, he has to have other individuals question him in a forum that is going to be legitimate. This is a show they are putting on to manipulate the media just like they put a show on with the lie detector test.

TACOPINA: I don't know, Robert. I think that really doesn't do justice to Connie Chung and her reputation and what she has done with her career. I don't think there is any scenario in where she would be caught in some prearranged agreement to give him softballs. And I don't think we are going to see that.

I mean, if that's there, that will be evident to everyone who's watching, and if that's the case, Condit should just not even bother doing this interview, because it will be evident to everyone. The American public is very, very, smart when it comes to understanding when an interviewer is really questioning someone or when they're giving them softballs. And when they give them softballs, it does no one any good, especially the alleged target of this investigation.

BATTISTA: Well, let me get Dick in here, because it seems to be evident to a lot of people that perhaps he's just trying to look out for his political rear end with this interview. So, I can't imagine that it would help him much politically to come across too guarded or stonewall too much and not be specific with his answers.

DICK ROSENGARTEN, "CALIFORNIA POLITICAL WEEK": If he stonewalls, he's political toast. I mean, that's all there is to it. He cannot get away with ducking questions, and if it comes across that way, forget it, he is out of there.

Right now, on a scale of one to 10, I would rate his chances of reelection at about a two. If this interview that he does can with Connie Chung is absolutely perfect, he answers everything and does everything that he should do, you raise him a couple points, maybe up to five or six out of 10, but no better than that right now. TANENBAUM: Look, if this were sincere, Bobbie, you would have a town hall meeting here, and he would answer questions and talk. What do you think he's going to say with respect to every question he is asked? He is going to say that he wants to apologize for lying, he was trying to protect his family, but once it became public he realized he made a mistake, and also he feels the pain of the Levys that he caused them by lying to them, and he's just not going to do it again, and he's going to ask for forgiveness.

That's what he's going to say in substance. So, if you are really talking about someone who's innocent, really wants to get out there and is questioned -- either he goes public and answers questions or he remains silent.

(CROSSTALK)

TACOPINA: ... questions, and I think if he answers them well, he will do all right.

BATTISTA: I got to take a quick break here. Darrell in Oregon says: "I would ask Mr. Condit if he's aware of how his long silence has caused great suspicion in the minds of most Americans and has probably ended his political career. I would ask him if he understands the pain the Levys are feeling, and I would ask: What in blazes took you so long?" We will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BATTISTA: Let me take a phone call from Ivy in California who has been hanging on for an awfully long time. Ivy, go ahead, I'm sorry.

IVY: Yes, hello, Bobbie. I am not surprised that Connie Chung got this exclusive interview. I figured it was going to be her or Dan Rather, for the simple fact is: They stayed away from this story. All the other networks, they accused Condit of everything in the books before they know exactly what happened.

BATTISTA: Well, actually, it was CBS who did stay away from this story for quite some time, so people did think Dan Rather might be the odds on favorite there, but Connie Chung is with ABC, and that's a network that did not stay away from the story.

IVY: But they never bashed him like most of the networks did. And if I was Connie Chung, my first question would be to Congressman Condit: When you first found out that Chandra Levy was missing, why didn't you contact her parents and let the parents know about what she had talked about, how her feelings, her mental state? Why did you wait so long? After all, you did have a relationship with their daughter. You should have immediately spoke to those people to relieve them of that terrible pain that they are going through.

BATTISTA: Ivy, thank you very much. Joe, let me ask you to put yourself in Billy Martin's shoes who's the lawyer for the Levys. What do you think he's waiting or expecting to hear tonight? TACOPINA: Well, I think what he's going to look for in this interview is, it's clear that the Levys have some inside information on where this investigation is going, and Billy Martin is someone who is well respected in the Washington area and especially with the Washington PD, and I think he's being careful not to be too harsh on the Washington PD. And because of that, I think the D.C. police have been sort of open with Billy, and I'm sure they know some things that they are looking for Gary Condit to answer.

And if he answers something that is inconsistent with what they know they had, that's what they are looking for. They are looking for something where they can say, gotcha. And that's the risk Condit takes. I mean, they just don't know what the D.C. police have, they don't know what Billy Martin and the Levy family may have on him.

But one thing, you know, Bobbie, that we I think we ought to put in perspective here -- no question Gary Condit has put himself in the position that we can all sit here and ridicule him and mock him and ask him these tough questions, but there's been really absolutely nothing by way of proof against this man, and all you have so far is four major leaks that proved to be false, that one there was blood recovered in his apartment from Chandra Levy, that he had had an affair with some minister's daughter, that turned out to be another false accusation, and that Chandra Levy was pregnant, which also turned out to be a false.

Things were things that were printed in the press. So I quite frankly don't blame Gary Condit for hunkering down and going into seclusion the way he has. He has not been given a fair shake, despite his actions.

BATTISTA: Well, Bob, do you think that partly his behavior, though, caused the media to act the way it did, in a way?

TANENBAUM: He has done everything he can to shed suspicion on himself. Let's take it chronologically. It takes a god-awful kind of person with no soul to lie to the mother of a missing daughter, that's the nightmare of every parent and every loved one. How do you go on with your life? All of a sudden, your loved one is missing. He lied to her.

He then lied to the police. He then, according to Anne Smith, set her up to sign a phony affidavit. He then the night allegedly his apartment was being searched, he throws away an item in Alexandria. Are these the acts of an otherwise innocent person?

Now, maybe -- we don't know about what linkage there is, if any, with respect to the disappearance, but nobody should say that this an honorable person who's going about the daily routine of hunkering down. This is a guy who has gone out of his way to make himself a suspect because of his suspicious kinds of actions, with respect to particularly the mother.

TACOPINA: Bobbie, no one is saying he's an honorable person. I haven't heard anyone, even his backers, say that he's acting as an honorable person would. But one thing we have to understand here: Like it or not, someone who does something like have an extramarital affair, especially with someone much younger than yourself, I mean, the natural reaction is going to be to not want to come out and say, yeah, I did this, I was wrong.

You know, and if he is in fact innocent, I'm sure his thinking -- whoever warped it may have been -- was that, look, I had nothing to do with her disappearance of her potential death, I am not going to go reveal this extramarital affair. It's irrelevant to that, and hopefully no one will find out about it. Now, that was foolish thinking, but I'm sure that's what was going through his mind if he is in fact innocent. And if he is in fact innocent, I can understand him not wanting to come out there and give a press conference about how he was sleeping with this 24-year-old intern.

TANENBAUM: That's not the point with respect to her mother. Mrs. Levy didn't call him because she was looking for a congressman's help in order to find her daughter. She obviously knew the nature of their relationship. He didn't have to discuss that nature of the relationship with her, but he should have done what any decent human being would have done, who is otherwise innocent and has some character, would have shared with the mother, as anyone would have -- when did you speak to her last, these are the people I know, let me go to the apartment, let me look for her. This is a caring kind of person.

TACOPINA: How do you know he didn't do that though, Robert? How do you know he didn't do that?

TANENBAUM: Only because we know that from what the mother said, Mrs. Levy.

(CROSSTALK)

BATTISTA: Let me have Dick jump in here.

TANENBAUM: That's what a caring person would have done.

BATTISTA: What you're doing here is painting two very different pictures of this one man, so I want Dick to jump in now because the folks out in Modesto in that district think they know one man. They're suddenly now finding out that they may not know this man as well as they thought they did.

On the other hand, 14 months is a long time. A lot can be forgiven and forgotten in that amount of time. What do you think?

ROSENGARTEN: Well, I think you're right. And I don't disagree with what either Bob or the other gentleman are saying. But politically, at this point, Condit is walking wounded, and it's self- inflicted. Hopefully, you know, from his point of view he'll be able to straighten this thing out in the next couple of months. It's going to take more than Connie Chung, more than one piece of mail from his consultant, Richie Ross, to get this thing back on track. The question is: will the voters in that very conservative Central Valley district go for it? I think the answer right now, today, is no.

BATTISTA: What are the chances that he might get redistricted out? What if they solve it that way?

ROSENGARTEN: Well, there has been some talk about that -- you know, either adding some Democratic precincts from another congressional district to beef him up a little bit. But at the same time I've heard exactly the opposite, that they're not going to do a darned thing. The district is about 46 percent Democratic, 39 percent Republican, which means, generally speaking, that unless you're Gary Condit, you're not going to carry that district for the Democrats. It's that simple. I mean, it's just -- it's a very conservative district.

BATTISTA: Let me jump in. I've got a phone call and I've got e- mails, I've got folks in the audience here. We'll be back in just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BATTISTA: Just had an e-mail like that comment there, Phillip in New York also says: "After such a long silence, how can he expect to give a 30-minute interview to set the record straight? I think and hope that his constituents all see through this man."

What -- do you have concerns, you guys, lawyers in particular, about the parameters of this interview, the fact that it's live-to- tape and only 30 minutes?

TANENBAUM: One thing that you have to keep in mind -- and this is a point that Joe makes fairly, and that is if he remains silent, then one can't draw a negative inference, because he's entitled to his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. But he's tried to play it both ways. He's tried to remain silent himself and sent his agents out and his staff people to in fact misrepresent what his position is, in large measure, if you accept what the D.C. police are saying, Anne Smith, the stewardess and Mrs. Levy. So he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't at this state of the game, because the strategy he took has buried him. He's a public person, he wants to benefit from being a public person, yet he's MIA in Washington.

Now, one other thing. There are a lot of missing people, regrettably, around this country who live in districts represented by other congressmen in the House of Representatives. They're not MIA. They're not worried about going on Connie Chung. They are helping the families, doing as much as they can, one would assume, to find all these missing people. But that's not Condit's situation at all. And it's not just the affair, obviously -- no one's passing judgment on that. The issue is you have a missing human being who he allegedly had a relationship with, and he should have cared enough about her and told her mother the truth.

BATTISTA: But on those lines, Joe, very quickly here, I guess what it gets down to, does he really owe anything to anyone except the police and the Levy family, when it comes to that?

TACOPINA: Quite frankly, if you want to get right down to it, he doesn't it owe anything to anyone, including the police and the Levy family, from a legal point of view. But he's not just John Q. Public, he's not you or I. He's a representative of the people, and because of that, he's in a different position. He has other obligations that would override most citizens, and I think that's why we're going to see what happens Thursday night.

BATTISTA: All right, gentlemen, thank you so much. Joe Tacopina, Bob Tanenbaum and Dick Rosengarten, thank you all very much.

As we leave you, we will take a quick look at the poll question today: 63 percent of you say that you will watch the Condit interview on Thursday night. Thank you for watching today. We'll see you tomorrow.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com