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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Newsweek' Editor Discusses Congressman Gary Condit
Aired July 16, 2001 - 08:18 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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to spend a little more time right now on the story of missing intern Chandra Levy. "Newsweek" magazine has been doing some looking into her last meeting with Congressman Gary Condit and some information about his background since the story seems to have become as much about him as her.
So let's hear more about what "Newsweek" found from Evan Thomas, who is the assistant managing editor of "Newsweek" magazine.
Evan, thanks for being here.
What exactly did you find out about the last meeting, or the last couple of meetings, between Chandra Levy and Congressman Condit?
EVAN THOMAS, "NEWSWEEK": Well, they were seeing each other right up to the last day, and Condit was not entirely forthcoming about that at first, at least publicly. But we now know that they didn't break up. In fact, she had an expectation of seeing him again when she went to California.
MCEDWARDS: Right. And tell us a little bit more about that. The other thing they talked about was the fact that her internship had ended. What was that all about?
THOMAS: She knew that she was out of a job, and she was going home, but I think the point is that she wanted to see him again. The relevance is that their relationship wasn't over.
MCEDWARDS: So there was no source of animosity between them about her leaving her job?
THOMAS: No.
MCEDWARDS: Anything like that. I understand he offered to help her too, right?
THOMAS: Right. The idea that there was some rupture here is just not right.
MCEDWARDS: And I guess it wouldn't be surprising that Congressman Condit would want it to look like things were smooth, things were nice, and things were easy between them up till the end. Are your sources telling you anything that contradicts that in any way? THOMAS: No. Condit is somebody who always wanted to make things look as smooth as possible on the surface, whatever was going on underneath. He's not a confrontational type. As best we can tell about his background, his dealing with other women, he was not somebody who was looking for abrupt departures or showed anger, at least open and outright anger.
MCEDWARDS: What else do you find out about his background -- anything that sort of helps you understand what makes him tick?
THOMAS: Well, he's been leading a double life for a long time. This is not something new. There have been women in the past. And he ran as a family man, as a politician, in California. I think his campaign slogan the first time out at the state assembly was "A good example."
But we gather from talking to people in Sacramento, the state capital out there, that he ran in a pretty fast crowd. He would dress up in sort of fancy duds when he was in Sacramento, but when he was back home, he would wear his blue jeans and his T-shirt and be back to being a regular guy, a family guy.
And this pattern persists when he comes to Washington; he doesn't live with most congressman up on Capitol Hill in a group apartment. He comes to Adams-Morgan, which is sort of a faster place -- a funkier place, if you will -- and he starts seeing women, at least two at once most recently.
So this idea of him appearing to be a reputable family man in public while he led a kind of a racier existence in private, is nothing new. He has a history of dissembling in this area.
MCEDWARDS: Well what are your sources saying? I mean we've heard from investigators that they're obviously disappointed that they didn't have cooperation from the congressman early on. But is anyone suggesting to you that they think he had anything to do with this at all?
THOMAS: One of the points we make in "Newsweek" this week is the implication in the media circus, if you will, is that because he's covering up, that implies he had something to do with Chandra's death. You know, maybe, but I think the greater odds are that he just has a habit of deceit, a habit of dissembling.
He's hardly the first congressman who's had extramarital affairs, and he's hardly the first married man who's worked out a long-standing routine of deception, and it became, possibly, just habit forming. He was so used to telling lies about it and trying to keep it under wraps that he couldn't stop doing it, even though, in retrospect, it would have been much wiser for him to come clean sooner.
MCEDWARDS: In hindsight, right.
Evan Thomas, thank you very much for your time this morning.
THOMAS: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
