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American Morning

Search for Chandra Levy: Flight Attendant Claims Romantic Relationship with Congressman Condit

Aired July 03, 2001 - 09:00   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: We're going to begin with the latest twist in the Chandra Levy investigation. It involves a California congressman who has been questioned in the investigation and a woman now who claims she had an affair with the congressman.

Our national correspondent Bob Franken has been following the story for us and he is in Washington with details on this latest twist.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And, of course, we have to remember that this is part of the investigation into the disappearance of Chandra Levy, the former Bureau of Prisons intern who disappeared from Washington about nine weeks ago, and there are all kinds of speculations, and I use that word in the plural, that there was a romantic relationship between Congressman Condit and the intern -- a romantic relationship that has always been denied.

But this has now twisted, as the word you used, into the comments of Anne Marie Smith, who has been reported repeatedly to herself have had a romantic relationship with Congressman Condit. And she has gone public with that now doing an interview on the Fox News Channel confirming not only that she did have that romantic relationship with Congressman Condit but that when she was to be interviewed by the FIB, she was contacted by Condit who said, "he was really upset with me."

This is quoting Ann Marie Smith. He said, "Oh, I see how you are. I see what you're doing." And I said, "No, you know, I've never been in a situation like this." And he said, "You don't have to talk to the media. You don't have to talk to anybody. You don't even have to talk to the FBI." Those were comments that she made on the interview with the Fox News Channel.

But she also went on to say that she was contacted by a representative of Condit who presented her with a sworn affidavit and asked her to sign it saying that she did not have a romantic relationship with Condit, and she says that Condit urged her to do so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANNE MARIE SMITH, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Obviously, Mr. Condit knew it was false and he was asking me to sign it. And I, personally, could never have signed it or would never have signed it. And he was urging me to sign it. He said you don't want anything -- this could be potentially embarrassing for both of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, we have been seeking comment from the Condit side, calling first, Abbe Lowell, his Washington attorney. Lowell said he was not involved in this, referred us for comment to Joe Cotchett who is Condit's San Francisco attorney, somebody that you've seen any number of times on television, any number of times he's written letters to news organizations complaining about their coverage. Cotchett was supposed to put out a statement. He has not. We've also sought comment from Condit's office out in Modesto, California. Nobody out there has any comment. They refer us back to the lawyer Joe Cotchett who, as I said, has not been available for comment.

The one thing that we would like to point out is that in the case of the flight attendant, Anne Marie Smith, Condit's office has refused to confirm or deny that there was a romantic relationship.

Now, in the case of Chandra Levy -- Chandra Levy, of course, is the point of all this. She disappeared about nine weeks ago. Nobody has been able to find her. Condit's office has repeatedly, repeatedly denied that there was a romantic relationship between the congressman and the intern. But today, the focus in on Anne Marie Smith and her claim that Condit wanted her to lie under oath -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Bob, besides the fact that the congressman's office won't flat out deny that there was a relationship there with Ms. Smith, what gives her credibility? What would keep any woman from coming out and saying, look, here's this piece of paper and Congressman Condit wanted me to sign this?

FRANKEN: Well, there are a lot of questions here. First of all, there's a question about did, in fact, she get this from a representative of Congressman Condit? Did, in fact, as she claimed, Congressman Condit ask her to sign it? Was there, in fact, a romantic relationship, number one? While Congressman Condit has not denied it, he has neither confirmed it, also. In addition to that, if there was no romantic relationship, of course this piece of paper would not be a false statement. Lots of unanswered questions, but so far, nobody in the Condit camp has provided us any answers.

KAGAN: Seems as the story goes on we only get more questions instead of more answers.

Bob Franken, we'll be talking with you throughout the morning, thank you.

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