Condit Breaks Long Silence in National TV Interview

Launching an aggressive attempt at political rehabilitation, Rep. Gary Condit said Thursday night he shared a “very close” relationship with Chandra Levy but insisted he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

Breaking his lengthy public silence in a nationally televised interview, the Ceres Democrat declined to say whether he and the 24-year-old federal intern were ever intimate.

Asked repeatedly whether the two had an affair, Condit gave the same response: “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 his family and Levy’s parents, Condit said, “It is best that I not get into details of the relationship.”

However, Condit insisted throughout the interview with ABC’s Connie Chung that he withheld nothing from police and that he has cooperated fully in attempts to find the missing woman, whose last known sighting was April 30.

“I’ve answered every question that was asked of me and released every detail to law enforcement,” Condit said. At another point, he said, “I don’t think there’s anyone in Washington, D.C., who’s been more cooperative than myself.”

Police have repeatedly said that they have no evidence of foul play and that Condit, 53, is not a suspect in Levy’s disappearance. But his early evasions and allegations of serial adultery have severely damaged the political standing of the professed family man and champion of conservative values.

His prime-time appearance Thursday night may have only compounded Condit’s difficulties.

The early political reviews were sharply negative. Washington police disputed Condit’s assertions of unfailing candor. And an attorney for Levy’s parents accused the lawmaker of deception.

His expression taut throughout the 30-minute interview and his boyish face deeply lined, the embattled lawmaker rarely raised his voice above a gravelly monotone, even when Chung bore in with skeptical questions.

The congressman said he and Levy were “very close” but said he was “not in love with her.” Condit said he and Levy had never discussed marriage or having children together and he had “no reason to think that” Levy was pregnant when she disappeared.

Asked whether he considered himself a moral man, Condit replied, “I think I’m a moral man, yes.” He said he intended to stay with his wife of 34 years, Carolyn, “as long as she’ll have me.”

The appearance launched a carefully orchestrated strategy to salvage Condit’s battered reputation and save his seat in Congress. Under the coaching of top-dollar legal and image consultants, he ended his months-long silence with a barrage of interviews. In addition to ABC, Condit spoke to a Sacramento TV station and prepared to talk today to Newsweek magazine. An interview given earlier this week to People magazine is due to hit newsstands today, and residents of the northern San Joaquin Valley opened their mailboxes Thursday to find a “personal” letter from their embattled congressman.

Addressing “friends and neighbors,” the Democrat expressed sorrow for the pain of Levy’s loved ones but again said nothing about his relationship with the young woman. He flatly denied any involvement in her disappearance and said his refusal, up to now, to publicly discuss the matter should not be construed as evidence of guilt.

“I have not been silent with those in charge of finding Chandra,” Condit wrote, in a letter that ran through two dozen drafts. “I have answered every single question asked by the police and FBI.”

In fact, authorities have said Condit waited until his third police interview--more than two months after Levy disappeared--to acknowledge a romantic relationship. Asked Thursday night about the lag, Condit insisted, “I answered every question asked of me by the police department on every occasion.”

The case--and Condit’s political purgatory--began in May. After a six-month internship with the federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, Levy was preparing to return home to accept her master’s degree from the USC. She was last seen April 30 at a health club near her apartment in Dupont Circle, a fashionably funky neighborhood about two miles north of the White House.

After a final e-mail to her parents, received May 1, Levy disappeared, leaving behind her identification and virtually all of her possessions.

She had become acquainted with Condit, who represents her home district, last fall. A friend of Levy’s, Jennifer Baker, worked for Condit as a congressional intern.

Soon after Levy’s disappearance, Condit posted a $10,000 reward, calling Levy “a great friend” and denying any romantic relationship. But after weeks passed and contradictory evidence surfaced, Condit reportedly told police he had an affair with the young woman.

Since then, the story has become a staple of cable chat shows and tabloid newspapers, and Condit has become a hunted man.

His political standing has plunged in a district once so enamored of the handsome, hard-working lawmaker he routinely won reelection with 65% or more of the vote. In the last two weeks, the major newspapers in his district have all urged Condit to step aside.

But his aides signaled his intention to seek an eighth term next year and quietly plotted how best to set about his resurrection.

Condit’s interview with Chung was his first public discussion of the case. The session was taped Thursday at a ranch in Modesto, borrowed from a friend of Condit’s.

The two sat across from one another in matching armchairs as Condit’s wife and two adult children looked on from another room.

Condit acknowledged that Levy used to come to his Washington apartment. Asked about the propriety of such visits, Condit said, “I have people that come to my apartment all the time.” He declined, however, to discuss the frequency of her visits. “I think it’s best that we not go there,” he said.

His stated desire to protect Levy’s parents apparently stemmed from an interview their attorney, Billy Martin, gave earlier this week on CNN.

At that time, Martin said, “They just want to hear information that could lead to . . . Chandra’s whereabouts or what happened to her. 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.”

But Thursday night, on ABC’S “Nightline,” Martin said those remarks were misconstrued. He said the Levys “have never said they have any objection to the authorities or to the public knowing” the nature of Condit’s relationship with their daughter.

He said Robert and Susan Levy, who watched the interview at their Modesto home, were dissatisfied with Condit’s answers. And he said Susan Levy was “very hurt” by Condit’s assertion she “misunderstood” when they spoke about his relationship with Chandra.

Martin, reading from notes, said Susan Levy told him: “I asked point-blank: Congressman Condit, are you having an affair with my daughter?”

And she said he answered: “I’m only professionally involved with your daughter.”

Martin said he believed Condit lied about that discussion and said the Levys continue to believe their congressman “has something to hide.”

The letter Condit sent to roughly 200,000 constituents was timed to coincide with Thursday night’s appearance. In it, he not only failed to clarify his relationship with Levy but also ignored allegations of two other affairs. Flight attendant Anne Marie Smith and former employee Joleen Argentini McKay have both asserted that Condit urged them to lie about their extramarital relations.

Condit vehemently denied that assertion on ABC.

“I didn’t ask anyone to lie about anything,” Condit said.

In his letter, Condit posited a possible theory for Levy’s disappearance, suggesting she may have been the victim of a serial killer stalking Dupont Circle. “I pray that she has not met the same fate as the other young women who have disappeared from the same neighborhood,” wrote Condit, alluding to the unsolved cases of Joyce Chiang and Christine M. Mirzayan.

Although similarities exist--all of the missing women share some of the same physical characteristics--investigators have said their review found no connection between the cases.

After Thursday night’s interview, Washington police disputed Condit’s assertion that he had been forthcoming from the very start of the Levy investigation. “It took us three interviews and a lot of effort to get as far as we got,” Terrance W. Gainer, Washington’s deputy police chief, told the Associated Press.

Condit’s multimedia blitz was seen as an attempt to simultaneously address several audiences--and a sign of the tangled skein presented by his political problems.

“They’re trying to speak to local folks. But this has also become a national, if not international, story,” said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist and crisis counselor whose most recent political client was Gov. Gray Davis.

“Before he can concentrate on the local audience, he has to try to answer all the questions so national attention fades away. Only then can he concentrate on the nuts-and-bolts stuff he needs to do to repair the damage in his district.”

Among political professionals, the early reaction to Condit’s letter was largely negative.

“People are already grumbling that they don’t feel like he even took responsibility,” said Stuart Rothenberg, who publishes a nonpartisan political newsletter in Washington.

Amy Walter, who analyzes House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said she was “exhausted” by Condit’s “verbal gymnastics.”

“Why is he doing this interview?” Walter said. “It was like a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit--almost a caricature of what you think it would have been.”

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Times staff writers Tina Daunt, Megan Garvey, Eric Hanson and Elizabeth Jensen contributed to this story.

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