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American Morning
The Search for Chandra: FBI to Interview Condit; Reward Increases
Aired July 26, 2001 - 09:06 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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the latest on the Chandra Levy missing person's case.: The FBI and attorneys for California Congressman Gary Condit are trying to work out details for another interview, this as the reward posted for information leading to her return goes way up.
CNN national correspondent Bob Franken has the latest on all these fronts now from Washington -- Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
We're still waiting to find out exactly what the ground rules will be for the interview that Gary Condit is going to do, his fourth, as we know. In the third one, sources told us afterwards he had acknowledged to investigators that he did have the romantic relationship with Chandra Levy.
This interview, as far as Condit's attorneys are concerned, will be with the FBI, including the profiler. There is still discussion about whether D.C. police detectives will be excluded.
Meanwhile, the family of Chandra Levy continues to try and keep the pressure on, to try and keep the investigation on the front burner as far as media are concerned. There are the daily statements from the family and comments from the family attorney, Billy Martin, who two weeks ago asked Condit to, in fact, allow him to be questioned by Martin. The attorney, Abbe Lowell, for Condit, said he would be happy to talk with Martin, called this a publicity ploy. Martin says that Condit still has questions that need to be answered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY MARTIN, LEVY FAMILY ATTORNEY: His actions have been suspicious and what it is he feels he has the need to hide we don't know. But beyond that I cannot say that he is either a suspect or has more information. We simply don't know. The police have not been able to move forward to interview other potential witnesses because Congressman Condit was slow in being candid with the authorities. The police will not move on from a witness or somebody who may have information until they are convinced that that person has provided all the information that he or she may have.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: Meanwhile, D.C. police recruits from the academy continue to fan out and search the woodlands around Washington, looking for a body amid criticism that the police have been so unsuccessful in breaking this case and a perception among many people that the FBI is having a growing role. This has hit some nerves with D.C. police, causing a statement to be put out, "to dispel misinformation surrounding this investigation." Going on with the quotation, "Despite reports, the Metropolitan Police Department is and remains the lead agency in this investigation. The Department receives help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation," the Washington, D.C. police trying to make sure that it continues to be perceived as the leader here, not the FBI. And I think it should be pointed out that after all this discussion, Chandra Levy has now been missing for more than 12 weeks -- Daryn?
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Actually, it's going to be me, Bob. And I have one question before we let you go, and that's concerning what the Levy family is trying to do to flush out information from other sources. Now this reward fund that they established a while ago is up to $200,000 for any kind of data.
FRANKEN: $205,000, actually, but who's counting? The reward includes a huge amount of money from one of the tabloids. It includes, also, money from a variety of different organizations, and as you remember, it includes money from Congressman Gary Condit.
FRAZIER: Ten thousand pledged by the congressman, Bob -- Bob Franken in Washington, thanks very much for that update.
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