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American Morning
The Search for Chandra: "Washington Post" Columnist Discusses the Case
Aired July 06, 2001 - 11:30 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: There are new details emerging today about Chandra Levy's relationship with California Congressman Gary Condit. The intern, who vanished in late April or early May apparently told a family member details of her involvement with Condit. And it appears to be much more than Condit has admitted so far.
Levy's aunt, Linda Zamsky, told "The Washington Post" that Levy described a very secretive relationship. She says her niece told her Condit gave her gifts, took her out to dinner and let her spend weekends at his Washington apartment. According the aunt, Levy had to keep their relationship completely secret or, as she put it, it was "kaput."
Condit is a married man. He has denied a sexual affair with Levy. The FBI interviewed Condit's wife Carolyn about the case yesterday. She says she apparently did not know Chandra Levy.
Marc Fisher is a columnist for "The Washington Post." He wrote a piece for yesterday's paper about Condit's silence and the damage that can come from it.
Marc, good morning, thanks for being with us here.
MARC FISHER, COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Nice to be with you.
KAGAN: Looking over your column, it seems like -- after you did a review of P.R. experts and legal experts in the Washington area and they don't exactly approve of the way that Congressman Condit has chosen to handle himself in this case?
FISHER: No, in fact a number of them think he's been less than forthcoming with the law enforcement authorities. They're very much split whether he should be speaking out publicly, answering all the press questions, and that's a difficult question. Obviously, he doesn't want to go out beyond what he's told law enforcement when he's answering the public questions, but I think he has an obligation to respond to his constituents who seem to have very clear and deep questions about his behavior in this case. And we've seen from today's story, that there is more to this relationship than the simple two-word explanation he's given in the past, that they were just good friends. KAGAN: We've heard today also from his attorney, that he recently hired, Abbe Lowell, who knows the P.R. ways of Washington. Perhaps you understand those as well, as you work in that town. He seemed to say, "You know what, press, you just back off on this, and you are going down the wrong road here."
FISHER: Well, we heard in very strong terms yesterday from Abbe Lowell and from others in the Condit camp that the media preoccupation with this case has gone way overboard. And certainly I've heard from some readers who feel that the media jackals are piling on. Yesterday we heard from the D.C. police chief, who said that his department is not going to be the sex police.
And certainly as we've seen in previous cases, previous scandals in Washington, the Clinton case, there is real discomfort in the press with looking into the private lives of politicians, but then there's also a deep public need to know when this crosses over into a public policy area. And clearly we have now a case where the Congressman has been less than forthcoming if we believe this aunt's account, where he's been less than forthcoming about the nature of his relationship with Chandra Levy. And that raises all kinds of questions about his involvement with this case. So I think --
KAGAN: Marc, how do we know that? Is the media falling too much into the hands of the family? How do we know he's been less than forthcoming? He says they are friends. Maybe they were just friends and maybe the family is saying this -- maybe Chandra indeed did tell all this stuff to her family, but how do we know that's true? Is that a fair break for the Congressman?
FISHER: Well, we don't know for sure. Obviously, we're hearing primarily one side of the story supplemented by what the law enforcement people tell us they believe. And we have reason to believe that the police are given some credibility to the aunt's account. That certainly raises questions about the Congressman's account, which has been far less detailed and in fact he's been quite parsimonious about giving out any information about his relationship.
When you combine that with the information we've now heard from the flight attendant and reports of other women as well who have been in similar position with the Congressman, it raises a number of questions about behavior and about whether he's telling the truth about this relationship.
KAGAN: We've seen paper statements, we've seen his representatives. Do you think it would actually help if the Congressman stood up in person and gave a statement even with no questions?
FISHER: Well, you know, a number of the lawyers I spoke to said they felt it was important, since he is a public official, for him to speak to his constituents and say,, "Look, here's what happened." There's a certain amount of personal pain involved if there were indeed extramarital relationships, but here's what I owe my constituents which is a full explanation. It's perfectly understandable that he may have been silent for a time trying to spare his wife and family whatever pain might be involved in coming out with the full story, but a public official has more than one master, and while we want to grant as much privacy for his personal life as we can, when those issues bleed over into the public arena, the rules do change. And that may sometimes seem unfair, but it's as we've said before, a price that some politicians pay for being in the public light.
KAGAN: And one thing is clear, the story's not going away until the world finds out what indeed did happen to Chandra Levy.
FISHER: Right.
KAGAN: Marc Fisher with "The Washington Post." Thank you.
FISHER: Thank you.
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