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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

D.C. Police Insist Gary Condit Is Not Focus of Their Investigation Into Chandra Levy's Disappearance, but Levy's Parents Remain Suspicious

Aired July 30, 2001 - 20:00   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.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: Police insist their investigation into the disappearance of Chandra Levy does not revolve around Gary Condit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASSISTANT CHIEF TERRANCE GAINER, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: The congressman, although interesting to a lot of people, is not the central figure in this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: The parents of Chandra Levy's aren't so sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT LEVY, CHANDRA LEVY'S FATHER: Doing things 12 weeks later, I'm not sure you can get the same facts you would have gotten early on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Whether or not Condit is in trouble with police, he may be in big trouble with his colleagues. I'll speak live with Congressman Bob Barr, who says Congress should investigate Condit, and Ralph Lotkin, a former chief counsel of the House Ethics Committee, who says Condit doesn't need to worry.

And he's back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I love you, Harlem! Thank you! God bless you! I feel at home!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Will Harlem give Bill Clinton a fresh start?

Code Red -- it worms its way through the Internet, infecting computers. It's already attacked the White House Web site. Now it's ready to strike again. I'm Kate Snow, reporting tonight from Washington. Wolf Blitzer is off.

Here on Capitol Hill, much of the talk turning from "Where is Chandra Levy?" to "How much trouble is Gary Condit really in?" In just a few moments, a congressman and former top Ethics staffer will face off on that subject.

But first: D.C. police say Condit is not at the heart of the Chandra Levy case, and that's our top story.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is live in our Washington bureau now with the latest.

Bob?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we're getting the impression from police that they're trying to soften the blow that they may be winding down their investigation. After three months, they are really almost no closer whatsoever to understanding where Chandra Levy has disappeared to. The investigation has run into one -- one end after another without any success.

The search continued today in some of the wooded areas around Washington. Police say this is going to be the last week before they pull back the cadets from the police academy. Here we see them searching Roosevelt Island, which is a small slip of land across the Potomac in Virginia from Georgetown. Police at one point spotted a switchblade knife and spotted some clothing nearby, but they're quite sure that these were just items that belonged to some of the homeless people who frequent this area, do not believe that it had anything to do with the Chandra Levy matter.

Of course, this entire investigation has been overshadowed on occasion by the speculation about Congressman Gary Condit and his relationship with Chandra Levy, one he has admitted to investigators, according to police sources, that was a romantic relationship. The police say that even as they've gone through the entire relationship with Congressman Condit, and even as they've gone through just about every investigative avenue, they are really stumped.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAINER: Well, you have to understand that we've gathered a lot of information in this, a lot of electronic information, telephone records, banking records, and nothing has led us to Chandra Levy. And I really think it's important to point out that the congressman, although interesting to a lot of people, is not the central figure in this, nor is his wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Investigators say that the intense media interest has been a mixed bag, Kate. On the one hand, it has caused a lot of people to pay attention to this investigation come through with a variety of tips. But on the other hand, oftentimes just the sheer volume of media inquiries of the police has really stymied their efforts to try and solve this.

Kate?

SNOW: Bob, and speaking of the media, I understand the congressman had a run-in with a member of the media. Explain what happened?

FRANKEN: Well, there's a little bit of an argument of who's to blame for this. But as you know, cameras have been camped outside Congressman Condit's apartment. And for the most part, he has been able to walk out, walk past the cameras with no problem. But what occurred today was, is that a still photographer, whose identity we don't know -- a still photographer accidentally bumped Condit, and there's a real dispute over whether it was the congressman's fault or whether it was the cameraman's fault. The chief of staff for Congressman Condit, the Washington chief of staff, Mike Dayton, called police. The police filed what's called an "incident report." No charges filed, just the acknowledgement that this difference of opinion had occurred.

SNOW: OK. CNN's Bob Franken, thank you very much.

Here on Capitol Hill, there is a growing chorus of calls for Condit's resignation. Republican congressman Bob Barr of Georgia has led that charge, saying Condit should step down, and if not, the House Ethics Committee should investigate. Bob Barr joins me now, along with the former chief counsel of the ethics panel, Ralph Lotkin. Mr. Lotkin knows the rules inside out and now defends some members of Congress.

Let me start with you, Congressman Barr. Why should the House ethics panel investigate?

REP. BOB BARR (R), GEORGIA: They ought to investigate in order to determine whether or not, as seems to be the case, looking at this from the outside, Mr. Condit was not forthcoming in responding to legitimate investigative requests. There is substantial evidence that he, and perhaps people at his direction or in his employ, tried to shave affidavits, people's possible testimony.

Basically, the problem here is that, at particularly a very sensitive, important stage in an investigation, Mr. Condit, sworn to uphold the laws, a member of Congress, did not cooperate and may very well have interfered with and obstructed a lawful investigation.

SNOW: But is that reason, Mr. Lotkin, for the House Ethics Committee to investigate?

RALPH LOTKIN, FORMER CHIEF COUNSEL, ETHICS COMMITTEE: Look, that's not entirely clear. The committee's really faced with two very difficult questions. First, are the facts -- and we don't really know what all the facts are, but are the facts matters which are clearly within the committee's jurisdiction? And secondly, if the answer to that question is yes, is this the time to investigate? There have been a lot of assertions with respect to what the congressman did or didn't do, and I'm certainly not an apologist or going to trivialize the conduct at issue. But the committee's history and precedents suggests that there should be some nexus between this congressional oversight and exercise of constitutional responsibility and the imposition of sanction on the congressman.

SNOW: Mr. Barr, you've now written twice to the House ethics panel. The first time that you wrote a letter, a response came back from the House Ethics Committee. I'd like to read you part of the public statement about that response, if we can get that on the screen here.

"Committee rule provides that the committee may defer action on a complaint against a member of the House of Representatives when the complaint alleges conduct that the committee has reason to believe is being reviewed by appropriate law enforcement or regulatory authorities."

Clearly, based on all accounts from the chief of police of Washington, there's an investigation going on right now. Why should the House Ethics Committee get involved when there's an active investigation?

BARR: Well, of course, the jurisdictions are very different. The criteria is very different. The House should not investigate to find out whether or not Mr. Condit has, in fact, beyond a reasonable doubt violated our criminal laws. That's not their job. They don't have to hold back until there has been a full adjudication.

Now, they may elect to do that. But what I have asked them to do is simply to begin an inquiry to determine whether or not these charges seem to be true, as they certainly seem to be. I think it brings discredit on the House for our entire leadership and most members of the House and now the Ethics Committee to just turn a blind eye to this and say, "Oh, there's an outside investigation. We can't do anything."

SNOW: Mr. Lotkin, let me read you from the House ethics manual. It says, "Members, officers and employees of the House should," as you know very well, "conduct themselves at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House." That seems to be the key word here. Is there not a question about whether the congressman, Congressman Condit, has acted creditably?

LOTKIN: Well, this is unfortunately one of those cases where beauty or ugliness is in the eyes of the beholder, and I don't think anybody is going to stand up and defend the conduct in issue. The central core problem, though, is that phrase, "discredit the House," cannot be read out of context. Otherwise, the committee theoretically would have jurisdiction to investigate parking tickets.

SNOW: But people might think that, you know, there are some very serious allegations here, and someone ought to be holding the congressman accountable.

LOTKIN: I totally agree, and I do agree with Congressman Barr that there should be review at least to assess whether and to what extent the committee has jurisdiction. But I don't know where you draw the line when you determine you may or may not have jurisdiction, and then you move forward. Certainly, I don't think the congressman would suggest that the committee get in the way of the law enforcement investigators who are trying to find out what happened to Chandra Levy or interview people at Chandra Levy's apartment.

SNOW: Let me be clear. Would you suggest that they ought to start now looking at this or wait until...

BARR: No, they -- they...

SNOW: ... after they investigate it?

BARR: They definitely ought to start looking at it. There is an awful lot that the committee can do has done in the past, even though there may be an investigation on the outside that has not gone all the way forward and absolutely concluded one way or another. Certainly, they can begin to look into this. There is plenty of written material. There are the congressman's own statements. They can interview him. None of that would interfere with the outside investigation.

SNOW: Let me go back to the word, "discredit to the House." Does an affair with an intern, which allegedly happened -- does that alone bring discredit to the House? And is that alone enough to be investigated by the House panel.

BARR: What I think we ought to be focusing on is the fact that during the course of a lawful investigation by the District of Columbia police and perhaps now also by the FBI, the federal law enforcement officials, Mr. Condit was not forthcoming, was misleading might have out and out lied to the authorities, might have -- apparently did go to other people and get them to change their prospective testimony. That, to me, does bring discredit upon the House and does not reflect the way a member of Congress sworn to uphold the law ought to behave. That is a direct violation of House ethics.

SNOW: Mr. Lotkin, you don't agree with that?

LOTKIN: No, I don't because it's -- to me, it rather simplifies the issue to the extent that as soon as there is a violation of law, regardless of what that law is, there is a per se violation of the "discredit the House" phrase. I don't think that anybody would agree to that. For example, members have been found to have violated campaign laws. The Ethics Committee hasn't necessarily looked at that.

SNOW: Let me jump very briefly to one last thing, and that is last week on Wolf Blitzer's show, he spoke with Representative Scott McInnis, Republican from Colorado, who said a day later in a letter to the House ethics panel, "I propose that we amend the rules of the House or the Ethics Committee issue an advisory memorandum to strictly prohibit inappropriate relationships between members of Congress and interns."

Do either of you agree that that's the right approach, that making a rule against this kind of behavior would be the right way to go?

BARR: Well, again, what I'm focusing on -- and it's a sad commentary, by the way, that somebody would even feel the need to say that we need to make that explicit. For heaven's sake! Members ought to not be doing that. But to me, the most important focus of this, and what disturbs me about some of what other members are doing, is the obstruction, the tampering and the interfering with a lawful investigation that goes to the heart of whether or not this brings discredit on the House.

SNOW: I'm afraid we're going to have to leave it at that. I am sorry. We're just out of time. But thank you...

BARR: Thank you.

SNOW: ... Congressman Bob Barr. Mr. Lotkin, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

LOTKIN: Thank you very much.

SNOW: Just ahead: Harlem rolls out the welcome mat, and the new neighbor says he feels right at home. We'll go live to Harlem.

Accused of drowning her five children, a Texas woman is indicted.

And an Internet worm. Will it slither your way?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back.

Harlem held a block party today, welcoming former president Bill Clinton to his new uptown office. Local officials envision a Harlem renaissance, while Clinton may see a political rebirth. Let's go live to New York and CNN's Maria Hinojosa.

Maria?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, today, for many people in Harlem, this was a historic day. That's because not since George Washington has a former president set up his offices here in Harlem. Today former president Bill Clinton was given a hero's welcome in Harlem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The energy between the past president and his future neighbors was electric. To this crowd in Harlem, it was almost as if Bill Clinton was still the president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems like God coming from heaven to the people in Harlem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looked out for black people, Spanish people. You know, he didn't care who you are, you know? That's why people still refer to him as President Clinton. HINOJOSA: And Bill Clinton was acting the part.

CLINTON: In 1992, I came to Harlem and I said, "If you vote for me, I'll turn this economy around, and I'll create empowerment zones for poor communities that have been left behind." And we turned the economy around, created the empowerment zone -- $600 million in private investment later, in the Harlem empowerment zone...

HINOJOSA: But the excitement wasn't just about what Bill Clinton brought to Harlem -- federal economic development money, and now the prestige of his new Harlem office. Many in this crowd said that they are still loyal to Clinton's presidency and bitter about the last election.

ALEXIS HERMAN, FORMER LABOR SECRETARY: To see votes that went uncounted, to see the process itself literally turned upside down -- and they feel the pain still here in Harlem. And I think that you saw that manifested today.

HINOJOSA: Clinton sounded almost as if reelection was still in the plan.

CLINTON: ... welfare cut in half, record amounts of investment in new police on the street, new housing, new transportation. I think I kept my word to Harlem, and the best is yet to be!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HINOJOSA: Now, the former president has his work cut out for him. Right across the street, a fitness club has already offered him a free one-year membership. On the corner is a gentleman with petitions saying rents in Harlem are too high, and community leaders are already asking the former president to have a town hall meeting so he can make some action on local issues.

Back to you, Kate.

SNOW: CNN's Maria Hinojosa in Harlem tonight.

Looking at our other top stories tonight: A grand jury in Texas indicts Andrea Yates for capital murder. Yates is accused of drowning her five children, four boys and an infant girl, at their Houston home. She had received treatment for postpartum depression. Her lawyers say she has a history of mental illness, including two tries to kill herself. Police found the bodies of the children June 20th.

New rules go into effect in Canada today allowing more people to use and even grow their own medical marijuana. The rules also include the government paying for a company to grow marijuana for use by eligible patients and for research. People with terminal illnesses or chronic conditions use marijuana to ease pain and nausea. Three hundred Canadians were already exempt from laws making marijuana possession a crime. Hundreds more are expected to apply under the new regulations. And there are concerns some people in the United States could head north of the border to try to take advantage of the new rules. The problems of the drug Ecstasy were heard by senators in Washington today. The synthetic drug produces feelings of euphoria in users. Teenagers who used the drug spoke before the Government Affairs Committee. They said they didn't know about the cycles of addiction the drug would cause. The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse told senators that the public should know more about the risks of heart, kidney and brain damage Ecstasy can cause.

A new report calls for better gas mileage, saying it will help reduce global warming and U.S. reliance on imported oil. But will better fuel economy lead to thousands more highway deaths?

CNN's Brooks Jackson now with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The auto industry can make more efficient cars and SUVs, and should, particularly SUVs, according to a long-awaited study by the National Academy of Sciences.

PAUL PORTNEY, NAS FUEL EFFICIENCY STUDY: The committee found that the greatest potential for saving fuel comes in the so-called light truck portion of the market, which includes SUVs, minivans and pick-up trucks.

JACKSON: The science panel set no specific targets, but said automakers have the technology to increase the fuel efficiency of new vehicles, quote, "significantly." Environmentalists, who had been skeptical, applauded.

ANN MESNIKOFF, SIERRA CLUB: So for a panel that really had, I think, an industry bias from the start, this is a very good report.

JACKSON: The science panel particularly targeted SUVs, pick-ups and minivans, saying they, quote, "offer the greatest potential to reduce fuel consumption." It said the legal provision that allows SUVs to get by with 25 percent lower mileage than passenger cars has, quote, "been stretched well beyond the original purpose." It said more efficient technologies would cost more, but consumers could break even, depending.

The report also said tighter fuel standards could cost thousands of lives. The trend to smaller and lighter vehicles in the '70s and '80s, partly due to higher fuel standards, quote, "probably resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in 1993," for example. But 2 of the 13 panel members dissented from that finding, saying it's not clear fuel economy standards cost any lives. And the report suggested lives could be saved if fuel standards forced SUVs to shrink.

PORTNEY: It might even be possible to both improve the overall fuel economy of the whole fleet and have some positive safety consequences if most of the fuel-economy improvements were concentrated at the very -- on the very heaviest vehicles. JACKSON (on camera): The House takes up the debate this week. A vote is expected on an amendment that would require SUVs to get the same mileage as passenger cars by 2007.

Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Turning now to news overseas. Fresh violence has left Middle East peace efforts hanging by a slender thread. Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a police headquarters in Gaza City, near the compound of Palestinian authority president Yasir Arafat. Israel says the post was used to produce mortar shells. Earlier, six activists from Arafat's Fatah faction were killed in a blast near the town of Jenin on the West Bank. Palestinians call it part of an assassination campaign. Israel says it had nothing to do with the explosion, calling it a bomb maker's "work accident."

From Taiwan there are reports of at least 43 people dying and more than 100 missing after a typhoon slammed into the nation. The storm is being called the worst of the year in Taiwan. It dumped more than 30 inches of rain in some areas. Rescue teams are scrambling to deliver supplies, but landslides and huge boulders are blocking many roads.

There's a nasty worm crawling through cyberspace, and it could wind up messing with your computer. When we return, the truth about the "Code Red" worm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Tonight on "The Leading Edge": It's called the "Code Red" worm, and it's infecting hundreds of thousands of computers. Twenty- four hours from now, it hits. Now, what does it mean for you, and how you can protect your computer? For the answers, we turn now CNN's James Hattori, live in San Francisco.

James, what's this all about?

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kate.

Well, you know, the government went to pretty extraordinary lengths today to sound an alarm about the Code Red worm, which, if unchecked, could tie up traffic on the Internet and cause widespread delays.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD HARRINGTON, ENTERCEPT SECURITY TECH.: When the Code Red worm infects a system, actually, it has total control over that system.

HATTORI (voice-over): The worm spreads over the Internet. Hidden from the user, it actually scans for vulnerable computers. In this case, not home PCs but Web servers using Microsoft Windows NT or 2000 and the company's Internet Information Services software. Code Red first surfaced July 19th, infecting hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. It also attempted a "denial of service" attack or overload on the White House Web page. The latest version of the worm is programmed to spread during the first 20 days of August, starting Tuesday night, but it is preventable. Microsoft is offering a free software patch on its Web site.

RONALD DICK, INFRASTRUCTURE PREVENTION: If users act quickly, we could mitigate much of the potential damage from this worm.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HATTORI: Now, this worm is mutating, and this latest version could use infected computers to stage "denial of service" attacks on Web pages besides those of the White House.

Kate?

SNOW: Concerns, James, that this could really be widespread if it does get out there, is that right?

HATTORI: Well, it would be because the computers are located worldwide. It would be a slowdown that would affect everyone. Of course, it'll be a gradual slowdown, if it -- as it continues to build over days, and we'll have to see how bad it becomes.

Kate?

SNOW: OK, James, thanks very much. James Hattori live from San Francisco tonight.

Just ahead, we'll open our mailbag. Should Congressman Condit resign simply for having an affair with an intern? Our viewers bitterly divided.

We'll also have the latest for you on some breaking news out of Michigan, a roller-coaster accident. We'll bring you that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: There is late word tonight of a roller-coaster accident that's happened in the town of Muskego, Michigan, at Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park. There are several people injured at that scene. CNN working on getting more information. We will bring you the latest on that roller-coaster accident just as soon as we have it.

Time now, though, to open our mailbag. Lots of reaction to Wolf Blitzer's interview with Congressman Scott McInnis last week. Craig in Texas e-mails with this: "It's a disgrace for any politician to have an affair with an intern. I agree with Congressman McInnis and think any politician caught in such an affair should be removed from office."

But Andrea in California disagrees. "Levy was not one of Condit's interns or an intern for anyone else on the Hill. Therefore, McInnis's new rule would not have prevented the Condit-Levy relationship."

And this from Dave in Nevada. "We didn't elect these people to be moral leaders. Whoever they choose to have relations with is between themselves and the other person involved."

Finally, noting that Florida teenager Nathaniel Brazill was just sentenced as an adult for his shooting of a teacher, Mark from New Mexico makes this point. "A 14-year-old boy is an adult in the hands of the court, and a 24-year-old woman is a child in the hands of a congressman. Legislating morality is a waste of time."

Remember, you can e-mail us with your thoughts at wolf@cnn.com or go to our WOLF BLITZER REPORTS Web site, cnn.com/wolf.

And that's all the time we have tonight. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Kate Snow in Washington. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

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