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CNN Live At Daybreak

Photographer, Gary Condit Collide

Aired July 31, 2001 - 07:08   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Tempers are flaring, accusations are flying but still no leads, Chandra Levy is still missing.

CNN's Bob Franken joins us from Washington with the very latest.

Good morning, Bob.

I understand there was a fight outside of Gary Condit's apartment.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well that may be a bit overstated. There was a little bit of a brush between a photographer -- AP photographer Steve Boitano, and Congressman Condit as he left his apartment building. As you know, his apartment building is encircled these days by television cameras since he has been the person involved in the controversy over Chandra Levy because of the relationship he's now admitted that he had with her, admitted to investigators, according to police sources.

Here, you see him just after he had been brushed by the AP photographer Steve Boitano. He was sort of pushing him away. The aide for Congressman Condit, Mike Dayton called police. Police filed what's called an incident report. They just took down the information, the claims and counterclaims. Both blame the other really. No arrests were made.

LIN: In the meantime, I understand there's some backtracking regarding the congressman. What's going on there out of northern California?

FRANKEN: Well, there's an effort now on the part of many of the people who live out there, at least a few of the people is probably a better way to put it, some of his political opposition. There are people now who are trying to circulate petitions calling for him to resign. Thus far, the congressman has made it very clear that he has no intention of resigning.

If you're talking about the Otis Thomas case, that is the case of Reverend Otis Thomas. We reported about a week-and-a-half ago on CNN, that the FBI and law enforcement sources were telling us that they had evidence that Thomas was in fact not telling the truth when he said that his 18-year-old daughter, seven years ago, when she was 18, had a romantic relationship with Condit. Now, the "Washington Post" -- excuse me -- which originally broke the story is now saying that Thomas has told them that he was not, in fact, telling the truth, something that law enforcement sources say, he also told them.

LIN: Obviously, they still haven't found Chandra Levy; still don't know what happened to her. Aren't D.C. police facing a deadline in terms of the resources that they can give this case?

FRANKEN: Well, they've set a deadline, the end of this week, to withdraw the police recruits in the Academy who have been out searching the woods, searching all the woodland areas around Washington, trying to find, frankly, the body of Chandra Levy. They have had no success with that. They've had no success at all now that it's been exactly three months since she was last accounted for. Three months ago, she was on her computer in her apartment before she vanished without a trace. Police say they're almost no way closer to knowing what happened to her -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much Bob Franken, reporting in from Washington.

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