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American Morning

Press Maintains Supervision of Condit

Aired July 17, 2001 - 11:19   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: Once again, a live picture from Capitol Hill. Congressman Gary Condit attending the meeting today of the House Agriculture Committee. With more on this, let's bring in our Bob Franken, our Congressional correspondent -- actually, our national correspondent who covers Congress quite often -- standing by in our Washington bureau.

Bob, good morning to you.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And Congressman Condit, through his spokespeople, has repeatedly made the point that in spite of all the debilitating information that's been flying around, Condit has made it a point to conduct his Congressional business and, of course, they're extremely aware that there are lots and lots and lots of cameras watching his every move on Capitol Hill, so they're making the point -- you can see some of them, as a matter of fact -- they're making the point that he did show up and he is going about his business, although he is certainly aware of the reason that all the cameras are there, he being one of the central figures in the disappearance of Chandra Levy. His relationship with her is probably what has more than anything else fueled all the interest in this particular story.

Now, even with that, the police say over and over and over again he is not a suspect as they search various sites around the city looking for evidence of foul play. They go out of their way to assert every chance they can, do the police officers, that Gary Condit's not considered a suspect in this case.

The reason that they searched his apartment, the reason that they're going back and forth over a polygraph test, because it was volunteered by Condit's attorney, that they had no intention to, in fact, search the apartment, they had no intention to do any of the other things that they're doing because they did not have the legal groundwork, the probable cause, as they would call it, to go in and ask for those things, but that Condit's attorney volunteered that.

And they came out after that, light police did, and said he is not a suspect. But he is certainly at the middle of this. You see him sitting now looking like he is just attending to the Congressional business, and we have to assume, without really being mind readers, that he is quite aware of what he is doing, that he's probably gotten some schooling on the part of the public relations team he has assembled, how it's is that he should act. Of course, we see him just about every day now as he leaves his apartment acknowledging the camera crews who are there but, of course, having absolutely nothing to say to them.

He is now at an Agriculture Committee meeting. His district in California is one that is heavily agricultural. It would be something where he would be considered a member. So, of course, he's sitting there no and he's sitting quietly as the committee proceeding goes on and everybody looks at him not the slightest bit interested in what's going on anywhere else.

KAGAN: Bob, let me jump in here. Let's talk politics for a second. Whereas Gary Condit has not been that visible all around Capitol Hill, he has, as I understand it, behind-the-scenes at least tried to keep his political and legislative business going strong.

FRANKEN: Well, the, if you're talking about the fact that he has spoken to so many of his colleagues and said that he does not believe he has done anything wrong, that it something that he was saying before the break, and more importantly, before police sources told us that he admitted in the third interview with investigators that he did have a romantic relationship with Chandra Levy.

Now, he has come back. Any number of the members of Congress have expressed disappointment with him, have gone out of their way to say that he must be forthright talking to police. And by the way, I might mention to you that the police now are saying there may be a fourth interview, may be. They don't know yet, but they're certainly not precluding that possibility.

KAGAN: Also, I understand that this lie detector test that the congressman did take on his own that was set up by his attorney, those results have now been turned over to Washington, D.C. police.

FRANKEN: Well, we've been told that over the weekend there may have been a copying problem, which, if you've spent any time in Washington, is very plausible. I don't know where people here buy their copying machines, but there seem to be a lot of copying problems. According to the Condit people, they mailed out some of the results on Friday and they sent the rest of them yesterday. They should be in the hands of the police.

The police, of course, have expressed quite a bit of disappointment that their polygraph expert was not the one who administered the test. They say that having a test like this administered by somebody, no matter how qualified, who is under the control of those who hired him, that is to say, that the subject of the test is the one who hired him, and secondly a limited knowledge of some of the line of questioning makes the results of this somewhat suspect.

Now, the police admit that there is no chance in the world that they can order Condit to take a test because it's very, very hard to get somebody to be required to take a lie detector test and the police say they have nowhere near the arguments that they could make for that, considering the fact that they don't even have him considered a suspect.

KAGAN: You mentioned the high profile legal and public relations help that he has hired. I would have to think that these are turning into some incredible bills for the congressman.

FRANKEN: Well, that's something that's being discussed and the fact of the matter is, as the records show, Gary Condit is hardly a wealthy man. He is somebody who has spent his entire life in public service and has not made, according to the various campaign finance reports, that type of thing that he's filed, does not have a lot of money. He does have a campaign account, a political account, and usually the person whose name is on that account has quite a bit of latitude in how it's spent, and this is the kind of thing that the lawyers and the campaign lawyers and the political lawyers, election lawyers might argue over, how much of this he can use.

But as a general rule, legal expenses that are in any way connected to his holding office are fair game. They can be used, the election accounts can be used for that. And, of course, the argument will probably be made that this is the kind of thing that could influence whether he stays in office.

KAGAN: Very good, Bob Franken in our Washington bureau, thank you very much.

Ahead, we will talk more on this story, especially the search for Chandra Levy, with former detective Mike Brooks, who's working as a consultant for us on the story, and he'll be with us here in our Atlanta studio.

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