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American Morning

What Will Search of Condit's Apartment Reveal?

Aired July 10, 2001 - 10:01   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start this hour with the search for Chandra Levy and the quest for answers. The beleaguered parents issue a challenge, a besieged Congressman seeks restraint and police investigators will reportedly question a key witness. But will it unlock more than the door to an apartment?

For the latest on this developing story, let's turn to our CNN national correspondent Bob Franken -- Bob, good morning, again.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And the Internet is not the only tangled one web here. The story of the disappearance of Chandra Levy which, of course, is really at its core a missing person's case, 10 weeks old, has become something with tentacles all over the place.

First of all, in about an hour and a half Anne Marie Smith will be boarding a plane in Seattle with her lawyer, James Robinson, and flying to Washington. She is the flight attendant who has said publicly that she had a romantic relationship with Congressman Gary Condit, who, of course, has now acknowledged he had romantic relationship with Chandra Levy. She will be coming here not because of that but because she claims that Condit and his associates tried to get her to sign false sworn statement which claimed that she did not have a romantic relationship. The Condit sources say that all they were trying to do was give her a chance to explain and, in fact, they suggested to her she could edit this thing in any way that she wanted.

Well, that's just one of the facets. Right now, there are cameras outside the apartment house of Congressman Gary Condit. Never mind the letter from his lawyer asking the major networks to stop staking out house, an apartment in Washington and in California. The cameras are out there this morning because the police are now saying that they have every intention of taking Condit's lawyer's offers up and doing a search of the apartment. That was an offer that was made by Abbe Lowell last night. The police told CNN, sources told CNN that they, in fact, now will search the apartment. There's been quite a bit of pressure to do so.

Now, Abbe Lowell has another message, one that he's been stating over and over, and that is a message to media saying leave his client, Gary Condit, alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ABBE LOWELL, CONDIT'S ATTORNEY: Go take your cameras and your pads and your pencils and try to see if there's somebody else out there who might have some information that could actually find this woman as opposed to prying into the private lives of the Condits once and for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, the controversy, of course, spreads all over the place, as Chandra Levy continues to be missing and her parents describe themselves as desperate to find out something. They also say that the admission by Congressman Condit to police that he did have relationship with Chandra Levy came after weeks of public denials. So Chandra Levy's mother and lawyer are all saying they need a lie detector test for Congressman Condit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN LEVY, CHANDRA'S MOTHER: Someone thought that I was hiding my daughter. Would I do something like that and go through this kind of motion with my husband and myself and watch all this going on in front of my house and my life has been turned upside down? I would not have hid my daughter and I'm very upset about someone making that kind of comment. But basically we need to get my daughter home alive. Someone knows the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And so the family and the lawyer, Billy Martin, have been saying that Condit should take a lie detector test because they distrust his truthfulness. Condit's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, says, Daryn, that, in fact, he will discuss the lie detector test if the police approach him about one but he has real, real reservations about lie detector tests, reservations that are shared throughout the law enforcement community -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Bob, some insight here. What's the purpose of Anne Marie Smith coming to Washington at this point, do you know?

FRANKEN: Well, the U.S. attorney has asked to meet with her, the U.S. attorney here, to discuss that sworn affidavit, the sworn affidavit that she claims was a false statement that Condit wanted her to sign. The U.S. attorney's office has made it clear they do not want to be perceived as glossing over something like this. They've decided that the investigation is centered here therefore she's coming to Washington.

KAGAN: Got it. Bob Franken in Washington, thank you -- Brian.

BRIAN NELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, the case of Chandra Levy has generated both headlines around the country and conjecture around the water cooler. And the whispers that first ensnared Congressman Gary Condit and his relationship with Levy have grown in volume and volatility. CNN's Rusty Dornin now takes a look at where the talk is resonating the most deepest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM CODY (ph), KFIV RADIO: Sixty-seven degrees. The phone lines are open. Once again, here is the host of the Morning Express, Dave Thomas.

DAVE THOMAS, KFIV RADIO: Thank you, Tom Cody.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk may be cheap, but on the airwaves in Congressman Gary Condit's district, after his third interview with police reportedly revealed he had been having an affair with Chandra Levy, it's talk that could cost him much needed support.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: My first reaction was to give him the benefit of the doubt.

THOMAS: And now how do you feel?

Well, after three strikes and you're out? Obviously, he has something to hide. Whether it's more than just the fact of the affair or not needs to be explored.

DORNIN: Local radio talk shows, sometimes a barometer of which way the political winds blow. Here, the weather is definitely changing.

THOMAS: The big difference is that we did receive positive calls last week. We received one modestly positive call in three hours today. People are upset.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: If he had been honest with the police and told them what he knew in the very beginning, eight, nine weeks ago, maybe they would have found this girl.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I feel sorry for the nation. It's too bad that we have to go through this, it seems like it's time and time again.

DORNIN: In a place where many just referred to their Congressman as Gary, the silence is deafening.

THOMAS: We don't care about the lawyers. We don't care about the P.R. firms. This is Condit country. We expect Gary Condit to be forthcoming.

If he would have said everything he knew 70 days ago he would not be having a problem today. I honestly believe that he could have gotten away with almost anything had he been honest. People would have accepted him.

DORNIN (on camera): For weeks, support for Congressman Condit here has been strong, but for the most part silent. But in the face of recent reports, the fact that he's still quiet has everybody here talking.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Modesto, California. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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