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American Morning

Gary Condit Breaks Silence

Aired August 24, 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GARY CONDIT (D), CALIFORNIA: I am not going to share the details of my relationship with Chandra.

ANNOUNCER: The Chandra Levy case becomes the Gary Condit affair. What he is saying and what he is not, as seen by those who talked to him, and those who've heard him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he tried to answer them as forthright as possible, without embarrassing himself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so angry, and I thought, OK, maybe he's going to do it on television tonight. And instead, we got a bigger runaround than we got before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is 9:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C., 6:00 a.m. in Modesto, California. That is the home district for Congressman Gary Condit's. Today is Friday, August 24th.

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN LIVE THIS MORNING. Good morning everyone, I'm Stephen Frazier, in today for Leon Harris.

KAGAN: Good to have you back for one more day.

FRAZIER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Good to see your shining face.

FRAZIER: Good to be here.

KAGAN: Good morning everyone, I'm Daryn Kagan. We're going to start with Gary Condit who has broken his silence, but his political career may be damaged beyond repair. It depends on how constituents react to what Congressman Condit did and didn't say about his relationship with missing intern Chandra Levy.

Condit's interview in "People" magazine hits newsstands this morning, and in his first broadcast interview he faced blunt questions about the Levy case.

Our national correspondent Bob Franken has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the start, Gary Condit quickly got to make his most important point, claiming he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy.

CONNIE CHUNG, REPORTER, ABC: Did you kill Chandra Levy?

REP. GARY CONDIT (D), CALIFORNIA: I did not.

FRANKEN: A blunt question and a clear answer. But three times, the California congressman used vague language when answering that other blunt question.

Did he have a sexual relationship with Chandra Levy?

CONDIT: I've been married 34 years. I have not been a perfect man. I have made mistakes in my life, but out of respect for my family, out of a specific request by the Levy family, It's best that I not get into the details of the relationship.

FRANKEN: "A specific request from the Levy family"? Sources say Condit was referring to televised comments from the Levy's attorney, Billy Martin.

BILLY MARTIN, LEVY FAMILY ATTORNEY: They don't really want to hear anything about the relationship. They don't want to know how he felt about Chandra. They don't want to know how Chandra felt about him.

FRANKEN: Chandra Levy's parents watched the interview with Condit, according to a friend, "on the edge of their seats, " and were described as very upset. They have repeatedly charged that Condit lied to them.

SUSAN LEVY, MOTHER OF MISSING INTERN: So, I point-blankly asked him if he was having an affair, and matter-of-factly he said, "no."

CONDIT: I never lied to Mrs. Levy. But, I'm sorry if she misunderstood the conversations.

FRANKEN: Repeatedly, Congressman Condit insisted, "I answered every question law enforcement asked me." But police sources say it took four interviews to get every bit of information they needed from Condit, three for him to admit an affair with the former intern.

On ABC's "Nightline," Condit's attorney gave his version of interviews one and two.

ABBE LOWELL, GARY CONDIT'S ATTORNEY: They got to the $64,000 question about the relationship. The congressman asked them, what was the relevance of getting deeper than he had already stated, and if they could show him that he would answer it. They never followed up.

On the second interview, where I did attend, I'm the one who said to the detectives, "you should assume, for this purpose, that he has whatever the relationship you've already heard..."

FRANKEN: Nevertheless, following the television interview with Condit, Washington, D.C. assistant police chief Terrance Gainer told CNN he felt Condit -- quote -- "[P]arsed his words... his answers to police were similar to the ones he gave Connie Chung. She pulled teeth, so did we."

In a letter sent to voters in his congressional district, Condit wrote that he hoped that in the media interviews -- quote -- "I will be able to answer questions that help people understand."

(on camera): The debate has already begun about just how clearly he answered the questions.

Bob Franken, CNN, Modesto, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Now to the congressman's interview with "People" magazine. It appears on the issue that's on newsstands today. In that interview, Condit talks about the Levy family, saying in his words,

"My heart aches for them every day. But you know what? They don't have any reason to be suspicious of me. I would never do anything to harm Chandra. And I think it's unfair when they make reference to maybe I had something to do with the disappearance. It's not correct. Next to them and their family... I'm probably hoping to find Chandra more than anyone else."

CNN's Jason Carroll is at a newsstand in New York City where the reaction. Jason, how is that issue going off the shelves?

JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's going off fast and furious, as you can imagine. I'm standing here in the middle of Port Authority Bus Terminal, one of the busiest bus terminals in the world. A perfect place to come and get opinions about this, right here on the front page of "The Daily News," the Condit interview. You can see the quote here, "I didn't love her, I didn't kill here."

More quotes that you're going to be seeing, as you talked about a little earlier, "People" magazine's. It is all over the stands, people are definitely talking about that. on the stands people definitely talking about that interview last night.

For more on that I have three guests who are joining me right now. I've got Lela on the end here. This is Jason, an easy name to remember, and this is Donna.

Donna, we were talking a little earlier about the interview last night. You thought the congressman did well?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he did very well. Because, actually, if I was in his position and we were all aware that the police were watching. So he had to really guard his answers, because anything could be switched around. CARROLL: Jason, were you frustrated from the way the Congressman was answering the questions last night, or did you think he performed well?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think he had enough emotion. It just looked all of his answers were rehearsed already, they were already pre-planned, you know. He didn't have any feelings going into what he was saying. His face stayed the same, basically all night.

CARROLL: Didn't get anything out of the interview last night that you wanted to hear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing positive, nothing positive at all.

CARROLL: Lela, what about you? We were talking a little earlier also. You didn't hear what you wanted to hear last night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of damage control. It was a lot of hype and not much said.

CARROLL: What did you want to hear the congressman say?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we all want to hear big, oh, I did something, I was in love with her. I had affair with her. Nothing, we heard nothing.

CARROLL: Jason, was there a question that wasn't asked last night that you thought should have been asked?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I think she asked the questions correctly. I do think he sidestepped some things. Again, he said he didn't want to talk about the relationship too much with the daughter, that the Levy family asked him not to. And then, sidestepping things. I think he needs to just be true to the public. Stop hiding, just answer all of the questions. There's no hiding from this anymore. Just deal with it, get it over with. Maybe we can move on past this.

CARROLL: Now, Donna, even though you thought he answered the questions well, you still feel as though he's not completely telling the truth?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he's not, in my opinion. He's a professional and he knows how to answer questions, and also he has a lot to lose. But in any criminal investigation, the last person to see someone knows more than anyone else. So he should speak up.

CARROLL: Do you think he should speak again? This goes to all three of you. Do you think he should do another interview?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most definitely. I've been seeing the interviews with the people in California. He needs to talk to his constituents first. He works for them. He needs to talk to them and (AUDIO GAP).

FRAZIER: Jason Carroll reporting there from what was the bus terminal at the Port Authority of New York City. Daryn? KAGAN: Congressman Condit's media blitz included an interview with Sacramento station and CNN affiliate. KOVR. An excerpt for you now where the congressman talks about the Levy family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDIT: My heart, you know, goes out to the Levys. I don't think I could describe what they're feeling or what they're going through, I mean the pain and anguish that they're going through. I don't think anyone would know that unless you had a missing child. So it's real difficult for me to know exactly what they're feeling.

But I have kids, and if one of them was missing, I would say and do everything I could do to try to get them back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Congressman Condit also talked about his political future in that KOVR interview. He says he will announce within the next several months whether he'll run for reelection. And we'll have more on that interview for you later this hour.

FRAZIER: Congressman Condit's constituents in California will be the deciding factor in determining his political future. So let's see now how his campaign is -- to tell his story -- playing back home.

Mike Doyle is Washington correspondent for the "Modesto Bee," the paper in Condit's home district. He joins us from our Washington bureau. Mr. Doyle, thanks for joining us again, good to see you.

MIKE DOYLE, REPORTER, "MODESTO BEE": Good morning.

FRAZIER: You saw the Connie Chung interview, and you also saw the KOVR interview, the local interview. Was there a difference in strategy that you could tell?

DOYLE: Well, there was. Every interviewer has a different approach. I tell you, the thing I found almost most interesting was the post-interview focus groups that various news networks held, as well as own their own papers. And when you saw the constituents respond to the interview, and when you saw people refer to him as Gary, reflecting their intimate relationship or close alliance with him, expressing dissatisfaction with the interview, that to me was an anecdotal suggestion of the uphill fight he has right now.

FRAZIER: He referred to his constituents quite a bit in that interview, and sort of presumed to know what they were thinking. Let's listen to one of the segments from the interview in which he talks about not revealing his privacy because his constituents understand what that's all about. Then, we'll talk about it after we hear what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDIT: I have been married 34 years. I have not been a perfect man. I have made mistakes, but out of respect for my family, and out of a specific request from the Levy families, I am not going to share the details of my relationship with Chandra.

And you know what? People understand that. They understand that we're entitled to a little bit of privacy here. And the Levys are entitled to a little bit of privacy here as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: We have heard in our own questions of people in that part of the world, Mike Doyle, that they wanted answers rather than understanding the need for privacy.

DOYLE: Well, I think there is an appreciation that even public figures have privacy, but my sense of what constituents were and are looking for are matters of both fact and tone. And the tone of certain amount of contrition, and the fact as to the nature of the relationship.

What we saw in the congressman's answers were a certain amount of code words. The reference to a marriage of 34 years with whatever implication that may mean, and the fact that he's made mistakes. We're to read into that certain things that he was not willing to spell out. And my sense that at least some of the constituents were that, indeed they wanted him to spell out what he left only implied.

FRAZIER: The vagueness of the language struck some of us here as we were watching the interview. Is that how people from Modesto talk?

(LAUGHTER)

DOYLE: People in Modesto talk like people in Atlanta, with a different accent, however. There is, I think, I think it was an effort, just as President Clinton in 1992 in an interview he did with CBS where he talked about the American people getting it, understanding what he was saying, meaning that they understood that he had -- he'd strayed in his marriage, but he didn't need to elaborate.

My sense of the interview last night with the congressman is he was taking that similar approach, which is to say we all know what we're talking about. And we saw that as well with Abbe Lowell, the attorney, telling the audience on "Nightline" last night that the congressman had made clear to the police what was going on, he simply didn't invoke the magic words, i.e., I had an affair.

And so it seemed the congressman was taking the same approach with the public as he did with the police.

FRAZIER: Also seems to a little hint of claiming to be victimized by this whole process. Let's look again at another cut from the interview he gave to KOVR Television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDIT: The word -- it's a little bit unfair, I think, is when Dr. and Mrs. Levy make allegations that I might have had something to do with the disappearance. Or when they say I'm withholding information that might be helpful. I think that's unfair, it's not correct.

And when they say they're suspicious, I don't know why they would be suspicious of me. I like Chandra. She was my friend. I was very fond of her. Next to them and the family members, I'm the next guy in line that would like to see her back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: How does that play with the people you write about?

DOYLE: Well, in one sense you can understand really the congressman's frustration and anguish. The police say he's not a suspect, and yet the Levy family and the Levy family attorney are able to make news by leaving the possibility that they are suspicious of him.

However, I don't think that critiquing or attacking the Levy family, even in a softened way, is going to do the congressman any good. The Levy family controls the microphone in this story. They're going to be able to come out, and so long as they are feeling dissatisfied and full of anger, as apparently they are toward the congressman, they'll be able to control a bit of the storyline.

I don't think that getting into a tiff with them is going to be quite in the congressman's interest.

FRAZIER: Mike Doyle, you have been with us throughout this story. Thanks for your insights today on what has really a bit of a watershed in it. And we'll talk to you later on. Thanks very much.

DOYLE: My pleasure.

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