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American Morning

Washington Police Meet With Representative Gary Condit Over Weekend

Aired June 25, 2001 - 11:08   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have some new developments over the weekend in the case of the missing intern, Chandra Levy. Among these new developments is a meeting between Washington police and Congressman Gary Condit.

Our national correspondent Bob Franken has been following this story for us. He's checking in now from the bureau in Washington, with the very latest -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Leon, that was the big development over the weekend. As we had been told, a possibility existed that Congressman Condit would be interviewed by Washington, D.C., police a second time, and that occurred on Saturday afternoon at an undisclosed location. The police, Condit's office, everybody, this time have got an absolute lid of secrecy on exactly what transpired during the interview, which lasted about an hour -- it occurred about 3:30 in the afternoon -- on Saturday.

The only word we got was that it lasted about an hour, as we said, and the police said it was productive. We had been told beforehand by investigators they did want to pursue the questions about the relationship between Congressman Condit and the disappeared former intern Chandra Levy.

We also found out that, in fact, Chandra Levy's internship with the Bureau of Prisons -- she was not an intern with Congressman Condit -- had been terminated suddenly in April because, according to Bureau of Prisons officials, the Justice Department says that you have, in fact, to be pregraduation. It came out that Chandra Levy had actually graduated, but that she was merely waiting for the commencement exercises in May. That is about the period she disappeared, when she was going back to California for that.

There are varying accounts of her state of mind. Some people say that that just added to a feeling of desperation that she had. Others say that she continued to be the same bubbly Chandra Levy that her friends knew her to be.

Police tell you as they pursue this case, they continue to be quite puzzled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EXEC. ASST. CHIEF TERRY GAINER, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: There are several conventional theories, one is that she committed suicide, the other is that something criminal has happened to her; another may be that she wanted to go off on her own and assume a new identity. I suppose the last possibility is that she's been injured or incapacitated in some way, and she doesn't know who she is. We continue to explore each one of those. Our minds are open to any one of the possibilities. A review of her financial records, her telephone records, computer records, friends and neighbors and family, have not given us particular information to where she's at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Police say that they do not preclude the possibility that Congressman Condit could be interviewed again by them, although they say there's nothing unusual about that. They continue to emphasize he's not a suspect; they do not call this a criminal investigation -- Leon.

HARRIS: I was going to ask you about that, because we know the family has been pushing for more scrutiny of the congressman by the police there. Their last interview with him does not remove him from under the magnifying glass?

FRANKEN: He is certainly under the media magnifying glass because of the recurring rumors, speculation, accusations, that he had a romantic relationship with Chandra Levy, which is something that the congressman, through his spokespeople, has repeatedly denied.

He was accompanied by his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, to the session with police on Saturday, and everybody describes this as productive, although police will tell you privately they didn't really learn much new.

HARRIS: Thanks much, Bob Franken.

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