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CNN Live At Daybreak

As Search for Chandra Levy Continues, Condit Staffers Remain Loyal

Aired July 17, 2001 - 07:01   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: Washington police will be back out this morning, looking for anything that can lead them to Chandra Levy.

Our live coverage begins with CNN's national correspondent Eileen O'Connor, at Washington's Rock Creek Park.

Eileen, what's going on?

EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're right at the point, Colleen, where the search left off yesterday, and that is where the search is going to begin today. The cadets -- more than 30 of them -- will line up along that tree line back there, and they will be standing side by side coming, towards us, basically looking back and forth through this underbrush -- very thick vegetation -- to look for any kind of signs of where Chandra Levy might be -- perhaps disturbed earth where a body could be buried.

In fact, yesterday they did find something, as difficult as it is; they found some small bones right over in that area. They took them away for testing. The police say that they do believe that those bones, though, were of animals. That was the second set of bones that they did find in the park. Again, they took them all away for testing, but they do believe they were animal bones.

One of the reasons they're searching here, of course, is that Chandra Levy was a jogger and there is some jogging paths, and we've seen some joggers this morning through these woods. So this is one of the areas that they're looking in -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Eileen, it's also clear that she was doing some surfing on the Internet and looking for some information in and around that area. Is that also the reason why police are looking, and are they more focused on that area than other areas, or is this just one of many locations?

O'CONNOR: Exactly. She was also looking, as was indicated by her computer, during the investigation, that she had been looking at a site that had up on this area of Rock Creek Park. In fact, Klingle Mansion, which is just over the hill over there, was in her search engine. So basically, they know that, for some reason, she was looking at this area on the day that she disappeared. The police have said that she left the apartment just with keys, and her ATM card is missing. So the theory is perhaps that she basically came out, perhaps to jog, or they don't really know. But she came out all of a sudden, and that is why they're looking at this area, plus it's fairly close to her apartment. What they're going to be doing is sweeping back towards, up towards her apartment, towards the National Zoo.

Again, an extensive search, police saying it could take as much as two weeks to thoroughly search this area -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: All right, understood. CNN's Eileen O'Connor, thanks very much.

Now for the latest on Congressman Gary Condit, we turn to CNN's Jonathan Karl, who is on Capitol Hill for us this morning.

Good morning -- Jonathan.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Colleen. There has been absolutely no sign of Gary Condit for five days now, ever since Congress went out of session on Thursday. The congressman has essentially disappeared, but his staff says he is expected up here on Capitol Hill today. There is a hearing on the 2002 farm bill in the Agriculture Committee, which of course, Gary Condit is a member of, agriculture a critical issue for his district, which is heavy in farms.

So Gary Condit is expected back up here on Capitol Hill, but it's been remarkable: He has basically not appeared at all, despite the fact there's been a 24-hour news media watch at his apartment in Washington. He has vanished without a trace for the last few days.

This has been the pattern, though, Colleen. He is up here when Congress is in session. He is voting on the floor of the House when there are votes. He is going to his committee hearings, but when Congress is not in session, there is no sign of Gary Condit.

MCEDWARDS: So what about his day-to-day life? How has that changed?

KARL: Up here on Capitol Hill, one thing that's happened is he has become essentially a refugee from his own congressional office, which is very unusual. Members of Congress use their offices quite frequently, for visitors coming in from their districts to talk to their constituents, but Gary Condit has got a news media stakeout in front of his office door, and he has not appeared there for weeks in an effort to avoid, again, talking to reporters.

So what Gary Condit has done, is he has essentially used the floor of the House of the Representatives as his office. You can go in there away from the TV cameras, and you see in the back of the House of Representatives, there's Gary Condit frequently having one- on-one meetings with other members of Congress, with staff members. When constituents come in from out of town, his staff brings them to the floor -- they meet off the floor, they meet at committee hearings, but he is not using his office, which is, again, a highly unusual thing for a member of Congress.

MCEDWARDS: And Jonathan, what about his staff? I mean we've heard reports of people leaving. How are they reacting? How loyal are they in all of this?

KARL: Those reports till now are simply not correct, and every couple of days, Colleen, we hear another rumor -- there are reports of staffers leaving, resigning in protest from Gary Condit's staff. Those have been absolutely not true. As a matter of fact, I spoke to Mike Dayton, who is the person who runs his Washington office and who has been a subject of some of these rumors, and he said that he is with the congressman. His quote to me was, "I just love the guy."

They are a fiercely loyal staff. They are there. They are supporting throughout this process, despite the fact that many of them have been caught up in this -- some of them have had their cars searched by the police throughout this process. But they are there.

As a matter of fact, this staff tells me that there is a scheduler in Gary Condit's office who had left before this whole story broke several months ago, to go work for Senator Rockefeller. That staffer a few weeks ago came back to Condit's staff, despite all this controversy.

So as far as Condit's staff, up till now, they remain fiercely loyal.

MCEDWARDS: CNN's Jonathan Karl, on Capitol Hill, thanks very much. Carol.

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