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CNN Live At Daybreak

As Search for Chandra Levy Continues, Senate Minority Leader Calls for Possible Condit Resignation

Aired July 17, 2001 - 08:00   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Searchers have returned to a local park, looking for any trace of missing government intern Chandra Levy.

Eileen O'Connor is in Rock Creek Park, while Jonathan Karl is waiting on Capitol Hill for a House committee hearing. Levy's friend, Congressman Gary Condit, is a member of that committee.

But first, let's go to Eileen O'Connor, at the scene of the search.

EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the search, actually, Colleen, will be taking place a little bit a ways from here, right across a creek, right over there. Now, the search actually left off here yesterday afternoon. They found some bones in this area. About 30 cadets will be coming, groups of two or three scouring the ground here looking for disturbed earth. They may well be joined by dogs that ended up searching 240 buildings near Chandra Levy's apartment.

Why are they interested in this area of Rock Creek Park? Well, because Chandra Levy, according to police, showed an interest. She had called up some maps of this area of Rock Creek Park, about two miles north of her apartment, on the morning that she disappeared. So police are indicating that this could be an area where she went jogging. She left her apartment, they say, just with her keys, because they found her cell phone, purse, identification, and everything else still in the apartment.

So the assumption is she went jogging along these paths. This is a very popular place for joggers. We have seen a lot of joggers, in fact, this morning coming here at about 6:00 in the morning. And we spoke to a couple of them. They say that they are not unduly worried.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never felt uncomfortable, really. If you go in the times that are normal hours. So but I do think it's strange that there are 140 other missing people in D.C., and there is no attention for them at all. I mean I feel for Chandra Levy's family, but also more about the other people; there is so much media attention for this.

O'CONNOR: The police say that to search thoroughly this area -- and they are going to be moving the search all the way towards Chandra Levy's apartment -- could take up to two weeks -- Colleen. MCEDWARDS: Eileen O'Connor, thanks very much.

Let's go over now to Jonathan Karl, who is on Capitol Hill, with the latest there -- Jonathan.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Colleen, as far as Gary Condit, he has been essentially incommunicado for the last five or so days, not appearing in public, despite that permanent encampment -- or perhaps because of that permanent encampment -- of news media parked outside the front of his Washington, D.C., apartment.

He has simply not appeared in public, but he is expected up here on the Hill today, and that's because there is a committee hearing on the 2002 farm bill.

Gary Condit is a member of the Agriculture Committee. He is also somebody who represents a California district in the central California valley. It is a farm district. It's home to, for instance, the vast vineyards of the Gallo Winery. So agriculture has always been an important issue for him. His staff says he will be up here on Capitol Hill today, and he will be at that hearing.

What's interesting about that is that even when Gary Condit comes up here on Capitol Hill while this controversy is raging, he is barely visible. That's because he has not gone anywhere near his office, trying to avoid news media staking him out there. And what you have up here on Capitol Hill is kind of this maze of underground hallways that make it possible for a member of Congress to go from one place to another without being seen, or it's very easy for that to be the case. So what happens is we see Gary Condit pop up at committee hearings, we see him pop up on the floor of the House to go to a vote, but we rarely actually see him out in public, as he avoids that endless stakeout of news media asking questions about this Chandra Levy case -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Jonathan, how much are his colleagues saying at this point?

KARL: Well, not a lot. The vast majority of the 435 members of the House and the 100 members of the U.S. Senate have really said nothing about this. Some colleagues have come out and pointed out that the police say Gary Condit is not a suspect, that he appears to be cooperating, that he has given interviews, that he's allowed his apartment to be searched, that he's conducted a private lie detector test.

But one of the most interesting comments came over the weekend from Trent Lott, who, of course, is a Republican -- Gary Condit is a Democrat -- Trent Lott, the Senate minority leader, came out and suggested that if the allegations of an affair between Chandra Levy and Gary Condit are true, that Gary Condit should resign. The reason why that was interesting is that Trent Lott was not criticizing Condit for impeding the police investigation, as some have, but he was saying the allegations of an affair would be grounds for his resignation.

Now yesterday, Lott was asked about that. He was asked was he suggesting that any member of Congress who has an extramarital affair should resign? This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: We're here in a position of trust -- trust by our families, trust by our constituents, and trust by the people that we will honor the office and we will not take advantage of a young woman or a young man for that matter. When a member of Congress in a powerful position, a middle-aged man or woman, gets involved in that way, that's very serious in my opinion.

I just had a picture made with some interns. I'm going to speak to several hundred interns here, in a few minutes. It's actually quite awkward that the word "intern" has taken on some sort of adjective meaning around here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: A couple of important things to add to that quote. First of all, Lott was very careful to say if the allegations are true, he believes Condit should resign; he was not saying they are true.

And secondly, Chandra Levy was a 24-year-old working not as an intern for Gary Condit, but working as an intern for the Bureau of Prisons. She was not actually working for Gary Condit, and in fact, was not actually working up here on Capitol Hill -- Colleen.

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

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