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American Morning

Chandra Levy Case Heating Up Again

Aired January 17, 2002 - 09:10   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Remember the case of missing intern Chandra Levy? Well, the case is heating up once again. One published report just out claims that Levy was killed after falling prey to a global prostitution ring. According to a different report, an FBI criminal investigation into Levy's disappearance is said to be focusing heavily on the man who acknowledged having an affair with Levy. That is California Congressman Gary Condit. Michael Doyle is standing by. He is a reporter for "The Modesto Bee." He has covered the Gary Condit-Chandra Levy saga from the very beginning. He joins us now from Washington with his take on these new reports.

Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

MICHAEL DOYLE, "THE MODESTO BEE": Good morning.

ZAHN: So, Michael, kind of bring us up to date on what this means that the grand jury investigation is heating up once again?

DOYLE: Well, we should say that's a characterization in a headline in a New York city newspaper, "The New York Post," which, citing unnamed sources, said that there was an intensifying scrutiny there. Washington police, U.S. attorney's office and the FBI followed that report with the response that really, there's be no change in status.

We should be careful also to distinguish, there are two investigations issues. One is the investigation into the disappearance of Chandra Levy. That's a D.C. police matter. The second is FBI inquiry, or U.S. inquiry, into Congressman Condit's behavior during the investigation itself.

ZAHN: Sop basically, what you're saying, Michael, is that this headline in the tabloid here in New York is blowing this development out of proportion?

DOYLE: Well, we don't really know. The thing about federal investigations is that they do keep a tight lid on them, some lids tighter than others. We do know that a grand jury issued a subpoena to the Congressman. We believe that that has been responded to. And on a technical basis, you can say that just because there are now documents from the Congressional Office to go through, that will require additional staff, and to at least on a technical basis, a heating up of that inquiry. Whether heating up as a phrase suggesting they're getting closer to some sort of a break may be an overblown statement.

ZAHN: Against this backdrop, you can confirm for us this morning that Gary Condit has made some changes in his legal team. What's he up to?

DOYLE: Well, Abbe Lowell, Washington D.C. attorney who has represented the Congressman over the summer now moved on to other pastures. Mark Geragos, a Los Angeles-based attorney, who has represented celebrities of the like of Winona Ryder and others, has been representing the Congressman for several weeks now. The exact reasons for the change in representation are a little bit unclear. But Mr. Geragos has been a stalwart freelance defender of Congressman Condit during the summer, and he is now his formal legal representative.

ZAHN: As you know, Michael, there's been a number of theories as to why Chandra Levy disappeared. And one of them, one idea that's being floated in "Vanity Fair," was that she somehow stumbled into a global prostitution ring. Do you agree that's a remote possibility here?

DOYLE: Well, it was raised by the author Dominick Dunn (ph) in "Vanity Fair," and I believe he claims that that's been looked into by investigators. We should say that that theory was put forward, again, with no named sources over the period of several months in the magazine. It's very difficult to verify any aspect of the story. The peculiar thing about this disappearance is that there are so few public clues, almost anything could be a theory, but I think that police might question the likelihood of this one.

ZAHN: Michael, before we let you, just a quick update on the race of Gary Condit, as everybody continues to try to speculate on what's going on with this grand jury.

DOYLE: March 5th is the Democratic primary in California. And just this week showed this erosion of support for the Congressman, the chief law enforcement officer in Stanislaw County, where Modesto is located, his hometown, came out in support of the Congressman's Democratic opponent. Several members of Congress have endorsed Mr. Condit's opponent as well. And there's no sign that he is building the momentum that he needs to overcome the months of bad publicity. So he's in a very tough and uphill fight for re-election right now.

ZAHN: Well, it's nice to hear respectable voice in the insanity of this coverage. Michael Doyle, thank you very much for dropping by this morning to bring up to date on this investigation.

DOYLE: My pleasure.

ZAHN: Appreciate your time.

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