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American Morning

The Search for Chandra: Condit to Meet With Investigators; America and the Chandra Levy Case

Aired July 26, 2001 - 10:09   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: And now for an update on the search for Chandra Levy. Attorneys for California Congressman Gary Condit are now in talks with investigators. They're trying to establish parameters on what would be the fourth interview for the congressman, who has reportedly admitted to having an affair with Chandra Levy.

For the latest, let's go ahead and check in with Bob Franken -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And of course the search for Chandra Levy is in its 12 week plus stage right now. Congressman Condit left his apartment just a short time ago, heading to Capitol Hill. On his schedule this morning, a meeting of the House Agriculture Committee, where he normally sits next to Congressman Charles Stenholm.

Stenholm, of course, is the member who night before last put out a statement saying that Condit has brought discredit to the Congress. Stenholm also a co-founder of the coalition that's called the Blue Dog Coalition. Condit is also a member of that, of course. That's the group of conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill. We'll be looking closely to see if they have any conversation as the Agriculture Committee gets under way.

But for the moment the attention turns back to the questions that police would want to ask in the interview, the questions including why he took a watch case, a watch case that was a gift from a woman who subsequently has told reporters and police sources she had an affair with Condit, why he took it to Alexandria, Virginia and disposed of it just a couple of hours before police searchers on July 10 went through his apartment as his invitation.

Now, members of the Levy family say he does have a lot of questions to answer, that, in fact, in the words of attorney Billy Martin, he has been very suspicious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY MARTIN, LEVY FAMILY ATTORNEY: We've never accused Congressman Condit of anything illegal. We've always only asked for his cooperation and for him to tell the truth. And I'm not sure that he's yet told the truth and the actions such as hiding the watch box continue to show that he's hiding something and we wish he'd cut that out and come forward with the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: A couple of weeks ago, Martin said that he asked to question Congressman Condit himself. That was dismissed by the Condit side as a publicity ploy.

And one other thing, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police are fighting off perceptions, they say, that the FBI is taking over this case because of dissatisfaction with the case, putting out a statement that says it wanted to dispel misinformation surrounding this investigation. "Despite reports," said the statement, "the Metropolitan Police Department is and remains the lead agency in this investigation." It went on to say that the FBI, in fact, is similarly just a support organization.

Now we're looking at the meeting of the House Agriculture Committee, looking to see if Congressman Gary Condit is there yet. I am looking at the picture, as you are, and I don't see that he has showed up. If you do look, however, the man who is second from the left as you are looking at this video is Congressman Charles Stenholm. He would be the person who put out that statement which called Congressman Condit to task for bringing "discredit" to the Congress.

Now, those are very loaded words because that is a violation of House rules. The difference is that Stenholm, unlike others who have complained about Condit publicly, is not a political adversary. To the contrary, he is somebody who has, in fact, been a fellow member of this Blue Dog Coalition, as I pointed out.

The empty seat beside Congressman Stenholm is the one that's normally occupied by Congressman Gary Condit. We'll keep track of this to see when he shows up, as they consider the farm bill. This, of course, is routine Congressional business, the kind of business that Congressman Condit says he has been continuing to do in spite of the controversy that's been swirling around him -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Bob, getting to the top of your report where you said that representatives for the congressman are meeting with investigators to talk about parameters of this interview, what about a similar request, are you familiar with, the congressman to meet with private investigators who are working with the Levy family?

FRANKEN: I was talking a moment ago about Billy Martin, the lawyer for the Levy family. He, in fact, had asked a couple of weeks ago if he and his investigators could question Congressman Condit. The attorney for Congressman Condit wrote back to Martin and said the two of us can talk, that anything further than that would be a publicity ploy.

KAGAN: All right, Bob Franken in Washington, D.C., thank you -- Stephen.

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Daryn, more on this now. The Chandra Levy case certainly has captured headlines around the country, but has it captivated the public interest? For a closer look at the nation's level of interest, we're joined now by Gallup poll editor-in- chief Frank Newport. Frank, good morning.

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: We've now interviewed a couple of different times on this, had over 2,000 interviews, and we still find that a significant percent of Americans tell us they're following this case closely.

Let's look at the data here. This is from July 10 to 11 and just this past weekend we updated it. The was really no change. About two thirds, over 60 percent of Americans say they're following the case closely. To put that in context, that's one of the highest that we have seen all year for any news story that we have tracked using this measure. Still not up there with things like the start of the Gulf War, the Princess Di death or even Elian Gonzalez, but still this year it's one of the more substantial news stories in terms of Americans' interest.

We did use that combined sample of over 2,000 people to look at who it is that's following the case closely. Those with upper incomes are more likely to be interested. Remember, 62 percent is the norm, so these are way above the norm. Older Americans more likely to follow it. And those out in California, naturally enough, he's a congressman from California, Representative Condit is, more likely to be following it than other people around the country. Women a little more interested than men, as well.

A couple of updates for you. Will the case ever be solved? No change in that. A bare majority of Americans, 51 percent, told us a couple of weeks ago, told us this weekend they still have some hope that it will be solved. Relatively speaking, that's up from some of the other cases we have tracked. And in terms of Americans' perceptions that Representative Condit is involved: a slight drop.

Between our two surveys, the red and the yellow bars, of course, came that announcement that he had taken his own lie detector test. No smoking gun yet so we see a slight drop in the percentage who say it's very likely he was involved, a slight up tick in the percent saying he was not involved. But still, well over half of Americans still think it's at least somewhat likely that Congressman Condit was involved -- Stephen, that's where the public stands. Back to you.

FRAZIER: Frank, one question about that, that's a group that you profiled there, older people with higher incomes. Do you make them out to be parents, perhaps, of people who could be in a similar situation someday?

NEWPORT: It's certainly possible. Obviously, the intern, Chandra Levy, was quite young so we might anticipate there would be some empathy there but we didn't find it. So it may be the parental factor, Stephen, you mentioned. Also, we should point out, older Americans in some cases are more likely to follow almost all news stories more closely. They watch TV and read newspapers a lot.

FRAZIER: From Princeton, New Jersey at the Gallup poll headquarters, Frank Newport. Frank, thank you.

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