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CNN Live At Daybreak
Will Condit Keep Seat on Key House Committee
Aired September 06, 2001 - 08:01 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to talk about someone's name, who we all know very well: Congressman Gary Condit's political future. That's what we're talking about, and it's getting murkier.
House Minority leader Richard Gephardt told reporters yesterday he will speak with his Democratic colleagues about whether Condit should keep his seat on a key House committee.
Congressional correspondent Kate Snow reports now from Capitol Hill. Hello, Kate,
KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.
Well, last night, Gary Condit showed up here around 6:00 Eastern Time for the first votes scheduled after they are back from the August recess, and outwardly he has received a very warm reception. There were hugs, there were kisses, people were asking him about his family.
But also going on in the background and privately were talks about his political future, and what you just mentioned: Dick Gephardt talking about possibly removing Condit from one of his key positions on a House committee.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Gary Condit doesn't have many friends on Capitol Hill. His own leader, Dick Gephardt, says he's still disappointed with Condit's televised interviews. He still thinks Condit wasn't candid, wasn't straightforward. But is that enough to warrant removing Condit from his position on the sensitive House Intelligence Committee? That's under discussion.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: This is not something where I go off and make decisions. I have to talk with my colleagues, talk with the caucus. we have an ethics process in this House that has to be respected. We're going to do these things in the right way.
SNOW: But removing someone from a committee assignment is relatively uncharted territory.
NORM ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Parties are very reluctant to get into the business, once they've made those assignments, of removing people in an arbitrary fashion because of the precedent it would set and because of the instability that it would cause.
SNOW: Phil Gramm was booted off the Budget Committee when he was in the House, but that was because Democrats were unhappy he backed President Reagan's budget cuts. In fact, according to congressional historians, a congressman has never been forced to leave a committee because of personal misconduct.
House Democrats do have disciplinary rules for senior committee members. A member loses the top job if censured by the House or convicted of a serious felony. If indicted for a serious felony, he has to temporarily step down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going this way.
SNOW: That happened to Dan Rostenkowski in 1994, after he was indicted on corruption charges. He lost his chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. But no where is there a rule about people like Gary Condit, who hasn't been indicted or censured and isn't the top-ranking member.
RICH COHEN, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": Gephardt would need to explain to the public why, if he chose to remove Condit from the committee, he would need to tell the public what it is that warrants Condit's removal from the committee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Still, Gephardt's counterpart on the Republican side of the aisle, Dick Armey, the majority leader, now putting a little pressure on saying it might be prudent for Dick Gephardt to think about talking with Gary Condit about stepping down from that committee.
Kate Snow, CNN live, Capitol Hill.
PHILLIPS: All right, Kate, thanks so much.
Well, through it all, Congressman Condit's family has been standing by him. His 25-year-old daughter, Cadee, spoke exclusively on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night. She was asked about Condit's relationship with Chandra Levy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CADEE CONDIT, GARY CONDIT'S DAUGHTER: As a daughter, we sat down as a family and talked about it and discussed it. And I'm OK with my dad. My dad and I have been good friends, and we're going to remain that way. I was totally OK with that. With the 24-year-old thing, you know, people have said that we're close in age, I am a grown woman and anyone close to my age can make decisions for herself.
LARRY KING, HOST: So if Chandra made those decisions, she made those decisions.
CONDIT: Right.
KING: But you don't blame your father -- if there was an involvement, you don't blame your father?
CONDIT: No, my dad had nothing to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy. I don't blame him for anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And Condit also commented on her father's first televised interview conducted by Connie Chung.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDIT: I thought she was horrible. I really did. She didn't give Gary a chance to -- for anyone to see who Gary Condit really is and to learn more about Chandra Levy. She didn't give him the chance. She was stuck on the sex question. She asked him 11 times in a 30- minute interview. And when you start out an interview with your second question being: Did you murder Chandra Levy? She couldn't have expected a very good interview from him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Cadee Condit says she believes her father was right in not speaking out any sooner.
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