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American Morning
The Search for Chandra: How is Congressman Condit Being Received on Home Turf?
Aired July 16, 2001 - 09:01 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to begin with the growing frustration and the expanding search for clues in the disappearance of Chandra Levy. The former intern has been missing since April 30. Washington, D.C. police are expanding their search for Levy now. The police chief says that the expanded search area includes parks and more remote areas of the city. About 50 police recruits have joined now in the effort.
We get more now on the Levy case in this report from our Jonathan Karl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the police investigation turning up no solid leads, Chandra Levy's family is trying to keep the attention on California Democrat Gary Condit.
BILLY MARTIN, ATTORNEY FOR THE LEVY FAMILY: The story here is a young lady is missing, and we have a congressman who seems to stall the investigation. The story is as much about Congressman Condit and his failure to tell the truth and to come forward earlier as it is about this missing person.
KARL: Police characterize Condit as relatively cooperative, pointing out that he has voluntarily turned over records and a DNA sample, giving free interviews and allowed his apartment to be searched.
TERRANCE GAINER, ASST. CHIEF, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: We are still in the process of talking to the congressman's staff, looking at some other vehicles, but that is just one small dimension of this case. I know it gets a lot of attention, but there is a lot of other things we are doing on the other theories.
KARL: Adding more theories, tips coming in from the television program "America's Most Wanted".
JOHN WALSH, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": We got 166 tips. The most promising so far is that there was a van in the Dupont Circle area the day before, trying to lure young women, about Chandra Levy's age, into the van and was unsuccessful. So, police will be following up on that tip today and talking to that tipster today. KARL: Police say it's one of many tips they are looking into. They also plan to use police academy recruits to add manpower to their search of Rock Creek Park, the 2,800-acre wooded area located just blocks from Levy's apartment.
CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. POLICE CHIEF: We are going to more and more remote areas. Now, we have done some of that already, but it's so dense and so difficult to search that we are going to try again and see what we come up with. Not that we have gotten a lead, just that we have got to continue to explore all possibilities.
KARL: Regardless of what the investigation turns up, the Senate's top Republican says Democrat Condit should leave Congress if he had an affair with Levy.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: Infidelity is always unacceptable, but particularly when you have an elected official involved in a position of trust with a young girl, an intern. If these allegations are true, obviously he should resign. And if he doesn't, the people of his district probably will not reelect him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KARL: Now, in response to that statement from Senator Trent Lott, a spokesperson for Gary Condit, Marina Ein, tells CNN: "His political future is to be decided by the congressman and his constituents and he has a lot of support."
Meanwhile, as you can see right now, live pictures of Gary Condit's apartment. The 24-hour stakeout continues as much of the attention here in this case does, at least the media attention, focuses on Gary Condit, even as police are saying over and over that their focus is on Chandra Levy, not necessarily on Gary Condit.
Meanwhile, the search today is expected to continue in the area around a place called Klingle Mansion. This is an old stone farmhouse located in Rock Creek Park. The stone house itself is about two miles from Chandra Levy's apartment. The reason why police are looking at the Klingle Mansion is the police have information that in, on the day that Chandra Levy disappeared, she was on her computer looking at various travel Web sites and also looking at the Web site MapQuest.
One of the areas that she was looking at maps for directions was for this Klingle Mansion. Klingle Mansion, now, is an area that is popular with park joggers and with those wondering around picnicking in that vast area, the 2,800 acre Rock Creek Park. So police are not saying this is necessarily anything solid, but it is just one area that they are, again, looking at, and, by the way, an area that several weeks ago they had searched before -- back to you.
HARRIS: All right, Jon, real quick, one question for you about these recruits that have been brought in from the police academy. Is that an unusual thing in this case?
KARL: They've actually done this before when they've been out looking for missing persons. As a matter of fact, the police say this is one kind of thing that can actually be good training for those police academy recruits. So it's not unprecedented. It is unusual. It's not something they regularly do, but it is something the D.C. police have done before.
HARRIS: Interesting. All right, thanks much, Jon Karl in Interesting. All right, thanks much, Jon Karl in Washington.
Washington -- Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: His constituents back home in California will help determine how the Levy case affects Congressman Gary Condit's political career.
Joining us now to talk about that, Mike Doyle. He is the Washington reporter for the Modesto, California "Bee."
Mike, good morning. Good to see you again.
MIKE DOYLE, "MODESTO BEE": Good morning.
KAGAN: As you heard in Jonathan Karl's piece yet again another person calling for the resignation of Gary Condit, but, of course, this is a Republican. What about his support back home?
DOYLE: Well, he's always won reelection by easy margins. He had no, Congressman Condit had no opponent to speak of in 1998. His Republican opponent in 2000 got barely one third of the vote. There are some Republicans in the district, one, a Modesto city councilman, Bill Conrad, who has suggested he will run; a state senator whose district overlaps with that of the congressman, Dick Monteith, has suggested he'll run. But so far the Republican campaign apparatus is not targeting the congressman, at least in public.
KAGAN: Who could hurt Congressman Condit more at this point, the Republicans calling for his resignation or his fellow Democrats like Seniors Dianne Feinstein and Boxer, who have not been completely supportive of the congressman?
DOYLE: Well, it seems that Senator Lott's statement and Congressman Barr's statement, first of all, they are based on different standards. The Congressman Barr said that the Congressman Condit should resign because of the hindering the investigation. Senator Lott's standard to call for the resignation was on the alleged affair. I would think that one thing to look to with the Republicans is whether that will create a wedge that will allow other Republicans to call for the resignation, and we should say that until now Congressman Condit has many allies across the aisle. He's among the Democrats most likely to vote with the Republicans.
On the Democratic side, Senator Feinstein has expressed her great disappointment in the congressman's actions. So has Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher. But nobody in the Democratic Party has, to my knowledge, come close to saying it's time to consider a resignation, and, indeed, they think that Congressman Condit is among the most likely to be able to hold onto the seat, at least based on his past performance. KAGAN: And meanwhile, while we certainly haven't seen a lot of the congressman in public, behind-the-scenes some of his key issues that he works hard in, agriculture and water rights, coming to a head in the House and the Senate.
DOYLE: Well, that'll be an interesting development to watch. This Thursday, Senator Feinstein has a hearing on a $3 billion utterly crucial, somewhat technical California water bill that in the past she's worked with Congressman Condit on. His continued ability to work with these law makers who are now chastising him in public will be a test for his governmental viability.
KAGAN: We will have to watch his political clout as well in Washington.
Mike Doyle from the "Modesto Bee," thank you much, Mike.
DOYLE: My pleasure.
KAGAN: And for more on the Levy case, log onto our Web site. You can find the latest developments in the case and a time line of what's happened since Levy's disappearance. The address, CNN.com -- AOL keyword CNN.
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