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American Morning
Missing Intern's Parents Hire Attorney to Aid in Search
Aired June 19, 2001 - 11:07 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Seven weeks now and still no sign of Chandra Levy. Today, the missing woman's parents travel today to Washington. Levy vanished without a trace. She was last seen April 30th at a Washington gym. She was getting ready to go home to California to graduate.
Now, Robert and Susan Levy have hired a Washington attorney to help them search for their daughter. Still in question, as well, the nature of Levy's relationship with California Congressman Gary Condit.
Joining us from Washington now is Mark Hosenball. He is a reporter for "Newsweek" magazine and he has been following this story almost from the beginning. Mark, good morning. Thanks for joining us here.
MARK HOSENBALL, "NEWSWEEK": Thank you.
KAGAN: So the Levys are coming from California, coming back to Washington, D.C., hiring this new attorney. What do they hope to achieve by that, do you think?
HOSENBALL: Well, my understanding is that they're going to come to town like today or tomorrow, hold some sort of press conference, but also meet with the police, maybe the FBI, and their lawyer, and apparently try and put pressure on the police to do more to try and find their daughter. Also possibly put pressure on the police to do more to investigate her relationship with Congressman Gary Condit, the congressman from California.
KAGAN: Right, more pressure on the D.C. police department. Chandra Levy has to be the most publicized missing person in all of America. How much more pressure can they put on the police department?
HOSENBALL: Well, I mean, they can keep pushing. They haven't got their daughter back. From their point of view, they'll keep pushing until they find out what happened to her.
KAGAN: Any leads in this one, Mark?
HOSENBALL: My understanding is essentially now. Obviously, there is a veil of mystery over her relationship with Gary Condit. Gary Condit, there are all kinds of rumors that he was going to go on TV with some big program like "60 Minutes" or Barbara Walter this week, but I understand that isn't happening at all. He seems to be acting almost like he's been cleared by the police, and certainly acting as if he has nothing to answer in public. So, my understanding is apart from her relationship with Gary Condit, which is still subject to some mystery, the police have basically no other leads as to where she might be.
KAGAN: Let's look at the congressman for a moment here. He's released some statements, but he hasn't spoken publicly yet; is that right?
HOSENBALL: That's correct. I mean, he seems to try to go about his business on Capitol Hill so that everybody kinds of sees him doing his official job, but he totally avoids any situation where he's going to be put in a position to answer questions from the press.
KAGAN: And giving the congressman the benefit of the doubt, you've got to think, the guy's in a tough spot here?
HOSENBALL: Oh, he's in a very tough spot. Even if he did have a relationship with the woman, that still doesn't mean that he had anything to do with the disappearance. So, he could have kind of been struck by lightning here.
KAGAN: And yet, it does seem kind of odd that hasn't come out and spoken more. He did contribute to her reward fund, though?
HOSENBALL: Using campaign money.
KAGAN: Oh, using campaign funds?
HOSENBALL: That's correct.
KAGAN: Any suggestion that Chandra Levy might have committed suicide or might just have decided to go missing on her own?
HOSENBALL: Well, there's rumors all over the place, but there's no evidence to support any of these stories.
KAGAN: And the oddest thing being that she just disappeared and the condition of her apartment when she disappeared didn't seem like somebody who was just looking to disappear?
HOSENBALL: No, the condition of her apartment was it looked like here was somebody who was packing up to leave Washington because her internship with the government was over and she was going home to California to accept on schedule her degree at a graduation ceremony.
KAGAN: Any idea about the attorney the Levys are hiring or any insight into that angle?
HOSENBALL: I've heard a couple name, but it's not people that I necessarily know.
KAGAN: Do you expect that we will hear from the Levys publicly in the next few days? HOSENBALL: I am told that they're supposed to do some sort of press conference tomorrow, and I think it's probably not going to be very nice, and then Condit is going to have to respond in some way to that. So, this is certainly not going away any time soon.
KAGAN: We will look for that. The search for Chandra Levy goes on. Mark Hosenball with "Newsweek," thanks for joining us today, Mark. Good to see you.
HOSENBALL: Thank you.
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