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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Gary Condit's Future: Can Condit Salvage His Political Career?

Aired September 05, 2001 - 20:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Condit's future. One hour from now, Cadee Condit breaks her silence on "LARRY KING LIVE."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CADEE CONDIT, GARY CONDIT'S DAUGHTER: People have made my dad out to be this demon. He's the most loving, caring compassionate man I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And Condit's parents say their son has told all there is to tell about Chandra Levy. They tell their hometown paper Gary Condit is "just about destroyed." I'll speak live with the editor of "The Ceres Courier."

Chandra Levy's parents are speaking as well. We'll get an update from CNN's Bob Franken in Modesto, California. And with Congressman Condit now back on Capitol Hill, CNN congressional correspondent Kate Snow tells us what kind of reception he's getting. And I'll discuss Condit's future with two political pros who've managed many a crisis, former Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta, who was a congressman himself, and David Gergen, who served as an adviser to four presidents.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Capitol Hill.

Democratic Congressman Gary Condit is now back in Washington. With his political future very much in doubt, he's getting public support from his family. His parents spoke out today, granting a lengthy interview to their hometown newspaper in California. I'll have more on that shortly. And at the top of the hour, Condit's daughter, Cadee, will appear on "LARRY KING LIVE." We'll look at that and more tonight in our focus, Condit's future.

Cadee Condit and her brother Chad made their feelings known last week, when they angrily quit their jobs in the office of California Governor Gray Davis, who had criticized their father's long-awaited television interview. Cadee Condit is asked by Larry King if her father should have talked sooner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE") C. CONDIT: This wasn't a popularity contest or a mission to save Gary Condit's career. This was about finding Chandra Levy. And he went to the appropriate people. He got the law enforcement involved. He got the FBI involved. So by him holding a press conference, no, I don't think that that would've changed things.

LARRY KING, HOST: Do you think that an interview might have changed things?

C. CONDIT: Well, it didn't.

KING: But a sit-down interview earlier might have changed things?

C. CONDIT: Well, you know, the press would've said, if he would've done that, that he was taking the focus away from Chandra and her family. You know, it would've played the total opposite way. He didn't want -- he wanted people to focus on finding Chandra Levy. And he did everything he could to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And you can see all of this exclusive interview with Cadee Condit tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE." That's at the top of the hour at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

Gary Condit's parents have also entered the fray, defending their son in an interview with the family's hometown newspaper.

I'm joined now from Modesto, California by Jeff Benziger. He's editor-in-chief of "The Ceres Courier." Mr. Benziger, thanks for joining us. And let's get right to some of the things that you quoted the Condit parents as having said. For one thing, Reverend Adrian Condit, Gary Condit's father, is quoted as saying, "Satan had a big time role in this." What was he talking about?

JEFF BENZIGER, EDITOR, "THE CERES COURIER": Well, I asked him because he was talking about some spiritual things that were taking place in this whole ordeal. And so, I asked him if he thought that Satan played a role in this. And he said that, yes, it did. But when it came to specifics, he didn't really supply me with details as to, you know, if he was blaming this on the behavior of the son or if just the general tone of the story was Satanic.

BLITZER: The other -- another quote in the article from Jean Condit, Gary Condit's mother, goes as follows. And we'll put it up on the screen. "He's just about destroyed," referring to their son. "People are destroying him, not only in reputation, but him."

Tell us what they mean by that?

BENZIGER: Well, the gist of the tone there, their discussion with me was that the media bore much of the responsibility, again, reporting half truths, innuendo and misinformation. But when I asked why Gary hasn't been more forthcoming, it became an issue. Well, we don't want to stain the reputation of a missing girl. And it became almost like, I was part of -- the offense was attacking me as a journalist in the community because I'm following the story. And so...

BLITZER: I was going to say another quote from Adrian Condit, Reverend Condit went as follows, "Gary has taken a lot of crap because he's trying to be a gentleman and not expose her."

Well, that obviously raises a lot of questions. What was the Reverend Condit referring to?

BENZIGER: Well, I think, just off the record, there were some things said about Gary wasn't the only one, but you know, I'm not going to get into that. They deliberately didn't want to talk about it on the record because they didn't want to appear like they were attacking her in any way. But it definitely -- there was no blame shared for Gary's on Gary's behalf.

BLITZER: Very interesting article. We read the entire article earlier today. Thanks so much for joining us from Modesto tonight. We appreciate it.

BENZIGER: Sure.

BLITZER: And the parents of Chandra Levy have also been saying what's on their minds. Let's go live to CNN national correspondent Bob Franken. He's in Modesto, California as well. Bob, tell us what is going on?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the first time in a couple of weeks, Wolf, Susan and Robert Levy, the parents of Chandra Levy, came out and spoke on cameras. They've gotten quite used to the cameras. But of course, they have not gotten used to the heartbreak of a missing daughter for more than four months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN LEVY, CHANDRA LEVY'S MOTHER: We're grieving in a lot of ways. We're trying to make sense of a lot of things. It's hard to make sense of anything. And we just have a lot of prayers and hopes that we can get her back home. That's where we are at right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: As I said, Wolf, this is the first time that the Levys have been on camera, spoken to reporters in a couple of weeks. The one thing they would not talk about is Gary Condit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The attention has been elsewhere for a while. How does that made you feel?

S. LEVY: We have no comment on that at this point.

ROBERT LEVY, CHANDRA LEVY'S FATHER: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: That has been the posture that they have taken, Wolf, ever since the interview with Gary Condit a couple of weeks ago.

BLITZER: That raises another question, Bob. Why are they not commenting now? Much earlier of course, they were more than willing to comment?

FRANKEN: Well, they have a cadre of advisers, both in Washington and here. And the advice is the old political adage, if your adversary is doing harm to itself, don't get in the way. Of course, there's been a lot of negative publicity about Gary Condit ever since his interviews. And they don't really feel now that they need to embellish it.

BLITZER: All right, Bob Franken. He'll be heading back to Washington from Modesto. Good work out there. Thanks again for joining us.

And with the House of Representatives back at work today, after a month's recess, the Condit controversy once again looms all over Capitol Hill. I'm joined now by CNN congressional correspondent Kate Snow.

Kate, tell us what is the mood is up here?

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually the initial reception, Wolf, for Gary Condit, he just arrived a couple of hours ago back here on Capitol Hill. And the initial reception, at least visibly, was very warm. There were about a dozen members on the House floor who greeted Gary Condit. They slapped his back. They shook his hand. They gave him hugs.

Many of these were members that are Democrats from California. Many of them are members that belong to the blue-dog Democrats, a group of more conservative Democrats who meet quite frequently with Gary Condit. But privately, Democrats continue to talk about Gary Condit's future. And critics continue to talk about whether or not he ought to be removed from his role on the Intelligence Committee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): Gary Condit doesn't have many friends on Capitol Hill. His own leader, Dick Gephardt, says he's still disappointed with Condit's televised interviews. He still thinks Condit wasn't candid, wasn't straightforward. But is that enough to warrant removing Condit from his position on the sensitive House Intelligence Committee? That's under discussion.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: This is not something where I go off and make decisions. I have to talk with my colleagues, talk with the caucus. we have an ethics process in this House that has to be respected. We're going to do these things in the right way.

SNOW: But removing someone from a committee assignment is relatively uncharted territory.

NORM ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Parties are very reluctant to get into the business, once they've made those assignments, of removing people in an arbitrary fashion because of the precedent it would set and because of the instability that it would cause.

SNOW: Phil Gramm was booted off the Budget Committee when he was in the House, but that was because Democrats were unhappy he backed President Reagan's budget cuts. In fact, according to congressional historians, a congressman has never been forced to leave a committee because of personal misconduct.

House Democrats do have disciplinary rules for senior committee members. A member loses the top job if censured by the House or convicted of a serious felony. If indicted for a serious felony, he has to temporarily step down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going this way.

SNOW: That happened to Dan Rostenkowski in 1994, after he was indicted on corruption charges. He lost his chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. But no where is there a rule about people like Gary Condit, who hasn't been indicted or censured and isn't the top-ranking member.

RICH COHEN, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": Gephardt would need to explain to the public why, if he chose to remove Condit from the committee, he would need to tell the public what it is that warrants Condit's removal from the committee.

SNOW: Still, one Republican leader says Democrats might be wise to make a change. Majority leader Dick Armey told reporters, "I do think that prudence might suggest to Mr. Gephardt that he talk to Gary about stepping down from the Intelligence Committee."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): And one Democratic member I spoke with this afternoon says that there is a sense that something needs to happen and something needs to happen soon. Democrats concerned not only that this is taking the media's attention away from their issues, but also that it puts a cloud over Congress, Wolf, that it makes all members look bad for Gary Condit to be serving here.

BLITZER: Kate, normally in the past when a congressman is in trouble, the elders of the party sort of go to him, quietly, and give them the word, it's time to go. Is there any indication there's been such a meeting or about to be such a meeting?

SNOW: No indication, but you know, they might not tell us. And in fact, we know that there are a lot of private conversations happening, a lot of one-on-ones. I can tell you that Dick Gephardt hadn't spoken, the leader hadn't spoken with Gary Condit for quite some time. The last time that he spoke to him was at least four weeks ago. And that was over an issue here on Capitol Hill. Nothing about his personal troubles. And he has no meetings planed with Condit, nor has he been asked by Condit to have a meeting.

BLITZER: OK, Kate Snow here on Capitol Hill. Thank you very much.

And they've handled any number of political storms. I'll discuss Condit's future with Leon Panetta, the former chief of staff for President Clinton, and David Gergen, a top adviser to four presidents.

Also, Catholic schoolgirls in Belfast walk a corridor of hate and violence through a Protestant neighborhood. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Gary Condit was a very popular politician. How did he get into this mess? Is there a way out?

I'm joined now from Los Angeles by Leon Panetta, who is himself a congressman from California and later joined an always embattled Clinton White House as chief of staff. And from Boston, I'm joined by David Gergen, who was a White House adviser to four presidents, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.

Thanks to you both of you for joining us.

And Mr. Panetta, first of all to you, is there any way that you can envisage Gary Condit getting himself out of this political mess?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER CLINTON CHIEF OF STAFF: Only if he's not at the top of the news on every program that focuses on the Condit issue. I mean, you know, this is not an issue where we've seen additional criminal evidence against him. He obviously hasn't handled it well in terms of being forthright about the situation. And his interview didn't go right.

But I think this is now probably more an issue about politics. If the Democrats feel that this issue is taking more and more away from their focus on the other issues in Washington, the loss of the surplus, what's happening with the economy, then I think there's going to be increasing pressure on him to either resign or step down.

BLITZER: And David, I know you've been quite critical of Congressman Condit, but do you see any way he can get himself out of this situation?

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER CLINTON ADVISER: You know, watching him in the surf last week, I'm sure there are a lot of Democrats asking themselves, where are those sharks when we need them? I don't, Wolf, unless Chandra Levy is found and it's conclusively shown that he had nothing to do with her disappearance, I don't see a way out. I think that he is finished politically.

The only question now is what, you know, which door is he going to exit through? Is it going to be through one sooner rather than later? And is he going to put his party through a lot of turmoil as he goes out? BLITZER: Leon Panetta, you were once a congressman from a district in California, not very far from Modesto. If you take a look at this current situation, do Democrats really, right now politically speaking, want Gary Condit to resign?

PANETTA: Well, they probably have mixed feelings about it because the reality is that Gary Condit has represented that area for a long time. He's a Democrat who can get elected in an area that generally is more conservative than other Democratic districts. He's been very good on agriculture. He's been very good on the issues that affect his constituents.

So you know, it's probably the one area that a Gary Condit could continue to hold onto. But at same time, as I said, if the whole focus on the Gary Condit situation continues to detract from the other issues the Democrats want to focus on, then I think that there's going to be increasing pressure on him to either step down or to come forward and be more forthright or to do something that breaks the ice on this issue.

BLITZER: David Gergen, how do the Democratic -- the leaders of the Democratic party get that message to Congressman Condit, if in fact, they do want him to resign because that presumably would end the political uproar that has engulfed so many other Democrats?

GERGEN: Exactly what you said, earlier, Wolf. And that is, the delegation of elders of party seniors goes to him and asks him for the good of the party, and indeed for his own sake, if a graceful exit can be arranged.

I think Leon is right, that they will want to protect that seat in some fashion. Maybe they have to do it so he decides that he won't run in every election, but they can, you know, they've got to worry about this reapportioning question. And if he steps down right away, there is an issue about how that gets done.

But the bigger issue for the Democrats is exactly what Leon is saying. And they smell now for the first time, with the budget disappearing, with the government about to tap into the Social Security surpluses, that they've got some serious issues for the next campaign, for the 2002 campaign. And they think with those issues, they could take control of the House. And so, of course, they want Gary Condit out of the way. He is an obstacle in that path.

BLITZER: Leon Panetta, you were in the House of Representatives for many years. You know the situation involving the House Intelligence Committee, the enormous pressure that's now being directed on Dick Gephardt, the Democratic leader, to remove Gary Condit from the Intelligence Committee, which deals with the nation's top secrets.

Should that happen? Should he be removed from that committee?

PANETTA: You know, it's -- it isn't as simple as everybody thinks that somehow Dick Gephardt can make the choice to kick him off of the Intelligence Committee. I think that Dick wants to basically talk to his caucus, figure out where they're at, look at the issues. I mean, you know, the reality again is that, you know, there is a matter of justice here involved.

Is there additional evidence that warrants that that be the case? I mean, we haven't seen any additional criminal evidence. He's not a criminal suspect. He screwed it up badly. He's handled it badly as a politician, but is that reason for taking him off of the Intelligence Committee? I'm not so sure.

I think this is going to be a delicate issue. I think the bigger question would be, not so much if they take him off the Intelligence Committee, but whether they put increasing pressure on him to indicate that he's not going to run for office.

BLITZER: David Gergen, you know the situation as far as the Intelligence Committee as well. What are your views on that matter?

GERGEN: Well, listen as you well know, Wolf, I think Gary Condit is unfit for public life. I think he has disqualified himself for further service. He would help his party a lot if he simply said, "I do not plan for running for re-election."

That would obviate this thorny question of whether you try to throw somebody off a committee. It is not a good precedent to set, absent some clear indictable behavior as something that's so intolerable. But I think what we have here is a pattern of terrible judgment and terrible indecency that does not rise to the level of indicting somebody, but clearly disqualifies him for service in the United States Congress.

And if he had any decency and so far he's shown none, none, he would do this himself and say, "I, as a matter of honor, will not plan to run for Congress. I do not plan to impose this burden of my fellow members of the Democratic party."

BLITZER: Leon Panetta, as we know, his son Chad was on "LARRY KING LIVE." Tonight, Cadee is going to be on "LARRY KING LIVE." His parents gave an interview to "The Ceres Courier" earlier today, the strategy of perhaps trying to portray Gary Condit as a martyr. Does that have any chance of succeeding?

PANETTA: Wolf, to be frank, I think it's all very sad. You know, I know their family, his family probably feels that they have an obligation to try to defend him. But ultimately, the decision here doesn't rest with his daughter or his son or his parents. It really rests with him.

And he's the only one that's going to make the decision that either extricates himself from the situation or digs a deeper hole. I think all of the interviews in the world are not going to change the situation when it comes to Gary Condit.

BLITZER: Leon Panetta and David Gergen, two of the best in the business, in addition to that, both, gentlemen. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it.

GERGEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you. And up next, President Bush welcomed an important guest to the White House today. I'll fill you in on what they talked about and why, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In other top stories, President Bush is welcoming his first state visitor at the White House, Mexican President Vicente Fox. The arrival was draped in pomp and pageantry on the South lawn. Then the leaders met privately to talk about strengthening the ties of a relationship Mr. Bush calls the most important in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The dialogue is very important and very frank. Listen, our relationship with Mexico is an incredibly important relationship. It's one where there's a lot of opportunity. And there's a relationship where there's problems.

VICENTE FOX, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO: There's clear advantages on each of the subjects, but more so, there is a clear advance on this philosophy of trust that we are building in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Among the issues being discussed, illegal migration of Mexicans across the border. Mr. Fox wants an agreement on the thorny matter by the end of this year. At this hour, by the way, the President and Mrs. Bush are hosting their first State dinner at the White House in honor of the President and Mrs. Fox. These are live pictures at that dinner.

In Northern Ireland, the violent sound of hatred was heard loud and clear today. A homemade bomb went off, as Catholic schoolgirls and their relatives tried to walk through a Protestant neighborhood in Belfast to get to school.

The blast injured two police officers escorting the students, and later prompted Britain's Secretary from Northern Ireland to cut short his vacation and to return to Belfast. Three Protestant militants have been arrested.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A live picture of President Bush offering a toast at the State dinner tonight in honor of President and Mrs. Fox.

That's all of the time we have tonight. Please join us on "LARRY KING LIVE" at the top of the hour for his exclusive interview with Cadee Condit, the daughter of Congressman Gary Condit. Tomorrow night, we'll focus on the junior senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton. How's she doing? Until then, thanks very much for watching.

I'm Wolf Blitzer on Capitol Hill. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

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