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CNN Live At Daybreak

Condit Speaks: Media Blitz is On

Aired August 24, 2001 - 08:04   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: The blitz is on. We're going to start this hour at the newsstand, where the latest piece of the Gary Condit media blitz is hitting this morning.

The California representative and his wife are on the cover of "People" magazine. Inside, Condit says: "I have done everything they've asked me to do. I answered every question that law enforcement asked me in every interview. I answered every question truthfully. I had nothing to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy" -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN ANCHOR: This comes after Condit cracked his public silence with a television interview. In that interview, with ABC's Connie Chung, Condit admitted to a close relationship with Chandra Levy, but he would specifically say if they had an affair.

More now from that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GARY CONDIT (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, I don't know that she was in love with me. She never said so, and I was not in love with her.

CONNIE CHUNG, ABC REPORTER: Did she want to marry you and have your child?

CONDIT: I only knew Chandra Levy for five months, and in that five months' period, we never had a discussion about a future, about children, about marriage, any of those items just never came up in that five-month period.

CHUNG: Did you ever make promised to her?

CONDIT: Never.

I have been married 34 years. I have not been a perfect man. I have made mistakes in my life, but out of respect for my family, out of a specific request by the Levy family, it's best that I not get into the details of the relationship.

I never lied to Mrs. Levy, but I'm sorry if she misunderstood the conversations.

CHUNG: Do you have any idea if there was anyone who wanted to harm her?

CONDIT: No.

CHUNG: Did you cause anyone to harm her?

CONDIT: No.

CHUNG: Did you kill Chandra Levy?

CONDIT: I did not.

CHUNG: Do you think you are a moral man?

CONDIT: I think I am a moral man, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: Well, what is the political reaction to Gary Condit's decision to speak to the media?

For that, let's turn to CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider -- good morning, Bill. Thanks for being here.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

MCEDWARDS: You know, we've heard a lot this morning about how -- whether or not he sounded scripted, whether or not he reached out enough to his constituents -- to the people who will ultimately have to vote for him again.

What did you think?

SCHNEIDER: Well, he certainly didn't reach out very far. What he basically did was get one point across: I had nothing to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy. There is no evidence pointing in that direction.

As far as these other questions about my personal life, even about my relationship with her, he said essentially, they are none of your business.

MCEDWARDS: Well, and what do you think of that as a tactic or a strategy? Because he said that three different times, absolutely verbatim, saying I have been with my wife 34 years. People understand I need some privacy here. Even saying that it's out of consideration for the Levy family that he not go into the details of their relationship.

SCHNEIDER: It certainly made him sound evasive and very slippery. He didn't answer the questions that he was asked. But then, his argument essentially implicitly was what right have you to ask me these questions? They are none of your business. They are not part of what the media should be investigating. I will answer questions only to the duly constituted authorities.

So in the end, why did he open up to the media, if he wasn't going to answer those questions, which he had to expect, and he expected them so much that he had a scripted answer that he gave time after time after time. He did not appear open. He did not appear cooperative.

What he appeared to be was a man who was cornered, and a man who was saying, look, I am trapped here. I am trapped by the press. I didn't have anything to do with whatever happened to Ms. Levy. It wasn't -- you know, I am not connected to that. There is no way you can pin that on me. And I'm just not going to answer any other questions, because they're not relevant, and the media has no right to know it.

MCEDWARDS: Bill, what do you think of the strategy of doing this? And we have used the term "media blitz." He had the ABC interview. He did an interview with a CNN affiliate also yesterday, "People" magazine on the racks this morning, "Newsweek" on Monday, December "Vanity Fair." There's a local newspaper interview as well.

Is it possible this is too much?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it certainly is a lot very quickly, especially if he has as little to say as he had last night, which was just that one point: I didn't have anything to do with her disappearance.

I think he had to do this at some point, and he decided now was the point. Because more and more people were saying he is hiding something and what he must be hiding is some connection to her disappearance. The polling in his district showed that, the polling nationwide showed that, people were very suspicious of him.

So it's sort of what the Nixon administration used to call a "modified limited hangout." Available to all of the media, but I'm only going to answer on question: Is there anything that links me to her disappearance? The answer is, no, no, no. But I can't say he came across as a very trustworthy or attractive figure.

MCEDWARDS: CNN's Bill Schneider, thanks -- Jeff.

FLOCK: We want to look more now on that decision by Gary Condit to speak with the media. Despite the Connie Chung interview, it was "People" magazine that was the first this week to get to interview the California congressman. He is also speaking with "Vanity Fair" and California's "Sun-Star" newspaper.

Let's take a look at a quote now from the "People" magazine piece. This one regarding Chandra's parents. "My heart aches for them every day," he told the magazine. "But you know what? They don't have any reason to be suspicious of me. I would never do anything to harm Chandra. And I think it's unfair when they make reference to maybe I had something to do with the disappearance. It's not correct. Next to them and their family, I am probably hoping to find Chandra more than anyone else." Gary Condit in his own words.

Our weekly feature on CNN is "People in the News" with Daryn Kagan. Daryn joins us now from across the newsroom with a guest from "People" magazine -- Daryn. DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jeff, thank you so much.

As you mentioned, that "People" magazine hits newsstands today. We have an opportunity right now to talk with one of the reporters who did that interview.

Champ Clark joins us this morning from our Los Angeles bureau -- early out there in L.A. Champ, good morning -- thanks for joining us.

CHAMP CLARK, "PEOPLE": Good morning.

KAGAN: Gary Condit was not very forthcoming in talking about his relationship when he was on television last night.

Did he have anything else to say to you during your interview that you didn't see in those television interviews?

CLARK: Well, a couple of things. Actually, much was the same. There were a couple of differences that I found interesting.

One, in regards to Susan Levy when she asked him -- or she says she asked him early on in the phone conversation whether he had been involved in an affair with his (sic) daughter, Chandra. And she says that he said no.

And the interesting thing is is that he claimed that she never asked him that question, and therefore there was no denial. But he also went on to say that she mentioned the names of some other congressmen and asked if Chandra may have been involved with them. I had never heard that before, and actually I did not hear that last night as well. And I don't know what to make of that.

KAGAN: Let's put up that...

CLARK: He

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Go ahead.

CLARK: I should say we asked him what names these were of these other congressmen, and he said that he did not want to name them, because he didn't want to cause them the same pain that -- and the same situation -- put them in the same situation that he was currently in.

KAGAN: Let's go ahead -- speaking of Levy -- let's go ahead and put that quote that we just put up that quote that we just referred to before we brought you on where he does talk about -- oh, actually -- OK. This is a different one. We'll put up this one.

These are some of the other questions you had to ask: "Did he ask her not to carry an ID or to get off Condo's elevator at a different floor so that no one would know that they were together?" "No." "Did she ever tell him she was pregnant?" "No."

This, of course, some of the -- some people would call rumors that had been going around in the media. Also some of it coming from what Chandra Levy's aunt came out earlier and said -- inferring that the two of them had had an affair and that she -- Chandra had been asked not to carry identification.

CLARK: Correct. In fact, he said those assertions were essentially ridiculous and unfounded and not true in any way. In the ways that he would characterize his relationship with Chandra, he said they never discussed their future. There was no five-year plan. He was -- he had never discussed leaving his wife, or Chandra and Mr. Condit married, having a baby -- any of those things, he said they never came up. He said they never discussed whether one was in love with the other. It never happened period.

KAGAN: And as we talk, we are seeing the photos that appear in the magazine -- in the issue that does hit newsstands this morning.

What were the restrictions? What were the conditions on the interview when you did it?

CLARK: Absolutely none. No restrictions.

KAGAN: No timeframe? You could have talked for him as long -- talked to him as long as you wanted to?

CLARK: Well, we knew we had an hour. There was a possibility it could go longer than that, but in regards to questions, photos -- no restrictions whatsoever.

KAGAN: I think that the picture -- if we could just put that one back up -- of Carolyn Condit with her husband there as the most striking of the piece...

CLARK: Yes.

KAGAN: ... to see them together like that, which is not a situation that we have been able to have.

Was she present during the interview? And did she have anything to say?

CLARK: She was not present during the actual interview. She -- we did the photo shoot first. And then at the conclusion of the photo shoot, she excused herself and left the room. She did stay there for a period of time and then left the location.

KAGAN: Gary Condit last night was also very insistent that he has been very cooperative with police. You also asked him questions about that. Let's put that quote up there, where he says: "I have done everything they've asked me to do," in terms of police. "I answered every question that law enforcement asked me in every interview. I answered every question truthfully. I had nothing to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy."

The congressman was very insistent upon that, both in your interview and also during the television interviews.

CLARK: Absolutely. He said from day one essentially and certainly through, I believe, the four interviews with authorities. Basically, his -- I'd say his stock answer -- because he repeated it over and over and over again and volunteered several times as well -- that he answered every question that was put to him, and he answered them truthfully.

KAGAN: The congressman over and over...

CLARK: And -- yes.

KAGAN: ... I'm sorry, but our time is short, Champ.

CLARK: Sure.

KAGAN: The congressman over and over again has said that he is not going to talk about the exact nature of his relationship with Chandra Levy out of respect for the Levy family. This seems strange to people who have heard over and over again the Levys come out and say they just want the truth to come out.

Did you get any response from the Levy family for your article?

CLARK: No. Actually, we went to the Levys prior -- just prior to the day of our interview with the congressman. Because of timing situations and our own deadlines, we were not able to go to them after the interview. Our request they said they prefer to not give a comment at that time, perhaps sometime in the near future.

KAGAN: Champ Clark, thanks for joining us.

CLARK: Sure.

KAGAN: The article -- the first sit-down with Gary Condit and it hits people's -- it's in "People" magazine, and it hits the newsstand this morning. Thanks for joining us from Los Angeles, Champ.

CLARK: Thank you.

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