Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Condit Remains in Media Spotlight

Aired July 14, 2001 - 08:01   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in Washington and the continuing mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Chandra Levy. It seems the more Congressman Gary Condit tries to get out of the spotlight, the more intensely it shines on him. Now there is the issue of Condit's polygraph exam and whether it really resolves anything.

For more on that, we go to CNN's Bob Franken in Washington -- good morning, Bob.

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

And while all of that dispute is going on, all of the political maneuvering, the police on the ground are doing the hard work of trying to find Chandra Levy and fearing for the worst. They're going to continue their search this morning that began a couple of days ago, going from building to building in one northwest quadrant of the city of Washington. You can see that the dogs sometimes are called in, the cadaver dogs, as they search for Chandra Levy.

Here you see Congressman Gary Condit, whose attorney yesterday announced he had taken a lie detector test administered by supporters of Gary Condit, by an expert hired by Gary Condit's lawyer. The lie detector test, according to his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, passed by flying colors by Condit, with the three fundamental questions. Question number one, did the congressman have anything at all to do with the disappearance of Chandra Levy? Did he harm her or let anyone else -- cause anyone else to harm her in any way? Does he know where she can be located?

Now, there is a dispute between the congressman's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, and the police. Lowell says that this should cover the full range of questions. The police say that they would have rather had their own test administered. Lowell says that there's really nothing left to ask.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBE LOWELL, CONDIT'S ATTORNEY: But in terms of the substantive questions asked, the ones that I say to you should matter, I mean what else do you want to know except for the three questions that have any bearing on what you are...

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: Now, that was Abbe Lowell. He was asking people, the reporters who were assembled what other questions could there be? Why would anybody be dissatisfied? The police said they were dissatisfied because they wanted to control the questions. They believe that their interrogator might have, in fact, asked more, might have had better follow-up questions and would not have been under control of the person who was being asked.

Now, the police also made one other move yesterday in the hope that Chandra Levy is actually in hiding somewhere and is using a disguise, they released some computer altered pictures. They took her picture and showed Chandra Levy with different hairdos, different hairstyles you're seeing there, different lengths of hair. There are other pictures that show a wig, all in the hope that Chandra Levy is still alive. They hope for the best, Kyra, and they fear for the worst.

PHILLIPS: Bob, you, back to the polygraph just for a moment. And you mentioned the police were not involved. And also, Condit had a chance to prepare for this. So how would this affect the outcome? More in his favor, correct?

FRANKEN: Well, the police believe that they might have had more facts at their disposal, more facts that they could have used. Abbe Lowell's attorneys, however, argued that they used a highly reputable polygraph administrator and that they're going to send their results to the police. The police are only hoping that they're complete results.

PHILLIPS: All right, our Bob Franken, thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com