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American Morning

The Search for Chandra: Agreement Reached Between Condit and FBI

Aired July 25, 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: Our Bob Franken is in Washington. He has new information about the search for clues in the disappearance of Chandra Levy -- Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

And first let's start with an agreement that seems to have been reached between Congressman Gary Condit, who is such a principal figure in the reporting on the Chandra Levy disappearance, Congressman Gary Condit and the FBI. According to a variety of sources involved in the negotiations, Condit will, probably some time this week, sit down with the FBI profiler, with no Washington, D.C. police investigators there, and try and paint a psychological profile of Chandra Levy's mind, particularly during the period of time when she disappeared around May 1.

He will participate in that. He, of course, is considered somebody uniquely able to do a contribution to this because of the fact that he's now acknowledged to police investigators that he had an intimate relationship with Chandra Levy. According to the deal that was worked out between FBI investigators and his attorney, Abbe Lowell, this would be done, as I said, without the presence of Washington, D.C. investigators, who had indicated their own preference to have a fourth interview with Congressman Condit. But now some of the Washington, D.C. police are saying that that might be secondary, that this might not be a great big deal, that the important thing here is for Condit to talk to the profiler, since he is not considered a suspect anyway. And that is Congressman Condit.

Now, on Capitol Hill, he has his own problems and they are problems not with his adversaries so much, but problems with a dear friend of his, Congressman Charles Stenholm, who put out a statement yesterday saying that through his actions and behaviors, Congressman Condit brought controversy and discredit to his family, his district and the Congress. And I emphasize discredit because that speaks to a House rule which says, "a member, officer or employee of the House of Representatives shall reflect creditably the House of Representatives."

Now, that an extremely important House rule and can become the basis for disciplinary action against a member. As you can see, these are people who sit together in the House Agriculture Committee. They are co-founders of the so-called blue dog coalition, which is the coalition of conservative Democrats. They have been close allies and this is bound to be taken very seriously on Capitol Hill.

Congressman Stenholm says that he did not consult with Condit before he put out this statement and has not expressed his opinions personally to Condit. So that is what's going on.

Back to the investigation. There's been some criticism from people who live in the same apartment building that Chandra Levy had her place on Dupont Circle -- it's called The Newport -- criticism that police had not talked to them and the police had said that they were critical because some of the tenants have not stepped forward. And that inspired a call last night on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" from one of the tenants of the building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Up on the pool, we were talking about it. We were like have you been interviewed, did you know her? Nothing. Nobody, nobody really knew her.

LARRY KING, HOST: Nobody knows her?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: No.

MARK GERAGOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nobody's asked the security guards when was the last time they saw her go out?

KING: She doesn't know.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Of course we did, when this first happened, and, you know, but...

GERAGOS: And what did they say?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: But they didn't know. Nothing. She just walked in and out, kept to herself, you know?

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Was she a loner?

GRACE: They saw her the night they -- definitely on the 30th.

KING: Was she known as a loner to anybody's knowledge?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: She wasn't known.

NANCY GRACE, FORMER PROSECUTOR: She was very private.

KING: Very private?

GRACE: Yes, very.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Police are still asking, they put fliers under residents' doors, that it would be helpful if they could talk to the police so they could, perhaps, get some glimmer of information which might lead to some information about Chandra Levy's whereabouts. We're now 86 days, Daryn, since we last heard where she was.

KAGAN: All right, Bob, we'll talk about this more in the morning with you. I look forward to that. Bob Franken in Washington.

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