Thursday, August 23, 2001; 11:00 p.m.

Following is the transcript of Connie Chung Interview with Rep. Gary A. Condit on "Prime Time Thursday"

CONNIE CHUNG: Congressman Condit, do you know what happened to Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: No, I do not.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?

GARY CONDIT: No, I didn’t.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did you say anything or do anything that could have caused her to drop out of sight?

GARY CONDIT: You know, Chandra and I never had a cross word.

CONNIE CHUNG: Do you have any idea if there was anyone who wanted to harm her?

GARY CONDIT: No.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did you cause anyone to harm her?

GARY CONDIT: No.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did you kill Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: I did not.

CONNIE CHUNG: Can you describe your relationship? What exactly was your relationship with Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: Well, I met Chandra. . . .last uh, October. And um, we became very close. I met her in Washington, D.C.

CONNIE CHUNG: Very close, meaning. . . . ?

GARY CONDIT: We had a close relationship. I liked her very much.

CONNIE CHUNG: May I ask you, was it a sexual relationship?

GARY CONDIT: Well, Connie, I’ve been married for 34 years, and uh, I’ve not been a. . . .a perfect man, and I’ve made my share of mistakes. But um, out of respect for my family, and out of a specific request from the Levy family, I think it’s best that I not get into those details uh, about Chandra Levy.

CONNIE CHUNG: Congressman Condit, do you recall when. . . .it was during President Clinton’s impeachment hearings, you called for, and I quote, "The public airing of every detail of his affair," saying, quote, "only when we strip away the cloak of secrecy and lay the facts on the table, can we begin to resolve this matter." Shouldn’t those rules apply to yourself?

GARY CONDIT: Well, I’ve watched that clip, and I’ve heard that quote. My view of that is it’s taken out of context. The fact of the matter is. . . .is that the Starr Report was there. And the Republicans were drip, drip, drip, releasing that report, and it was embarrassing. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: (Overlap) But we want to talk about you and not President Clinton. No. (Overlap) Well, let me finish. Yeah, let me finish. . . .because it relates to President Clinton. And I asked that the Starr report, along with other people, be released in its total, so that we could get to the impeachment hearing. And the real issue here, that the media seems to have forgotten in this report many times, is that I voted four times not to impeach President Clinton. That’s the real issue.

CONNIE CHUNG: (Overlap) We’re not talking about that right now. What we’re talking about is whether or not you will come forward to uh, lift this veil of suspicion that seems to have clouded you. Can you tell us. . . .did you have a romantic relationship with Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: Well, once again, 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 is best that I not get into the details of the relationship.

CONNIE CHUNG: Can you tell me this: was Chandra Levy in love with you? Were you in love with her?

GARY CONDIT: Well, I don’t know that she was in love with me. She never said so. And I was not in love with her.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did she want to marry you and have your child?

GARY CONDIT: I only knew Chandra Levy for five months. And in that five months’ period, we never had a discussion about a future, about children, about marriage. Any of those items never came up in that five-month period.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did you ever make promises to her?

GARY CONDIT: Never.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did she want you to leave your wife?

GARY CONDIT: No. I mean, I’ve been married for 34 years, and I intend to stay married to that woman as long as she’ll have me.

CONNIE CHUNG: Um, I understand what you’re saying regarding being specific about the relationship. However, don’t you realize that part of the reason why you’re in the situation that you’re in is because that there have been ambiguous or uh, evasive answers to specific questions?

GARY CONDIT: Well, there has been no evasive, uh, answers to specific questions by me. I have, I have. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: (Overlap) Right now there is, sir.

GARY CONDIT: Well, no, there have not been. I have talked to the people who are responsible for finding Chandra Levy. I’ve been very specific. I’ve told them every detail in every interview about my relationship with Chandra Levy, and any of the questions that they had. . . .have had to ask.

CONNIE CHUNG: Indeed, uh, when the police questioned you on the first two occasions, you did not reveal the specifics of your relationship with Chandra Levy. Isn’t that correct? It wasn’t until the third interview with police that you revealed your relationship in its true manner.

GARY CONDIT: In the first interview, I revealed every bit of the details about Chandra Levy. I answered every question that law enforcement asked me. In the second interview, I did the same thing. I answered every question that was asked of me, and released every detail to law enforcement. Now let me just say to you, Connie. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: (Overlap) Truthfully?

GARY CONDIT: . . . .if I may. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: Truthfully. Did you answer every question truthfully?

GARY CONDIT: I answered every question truthfully. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re cooperating with the police.

CONNIE CHUNG: But did you reveal that you were having an affair with her?

GARY CONDIT: I’m not going to go into the aspects and the details of, of. . . .the details of the, of the investigation or the interviews. I’m just saying to you that I answered every question asked of me by the police department on every occasion.

CONNIE CHUNG: But the police department has said that you impeded the investigation.

GARY CONDIT: That’s pretty confusing. I mean, it’s real confusing, because a couple days after it was reported that Chandra Levy had been missing, after her father had called me here in California, two days later I had two detectives in my house in Washington, D.C., and we have a 45-minute interview. So I answered every question, gave them every bit of the details in that interview. And you know how Washington, DC works. It has dual jurisdiction. Well, the next interview, there was a new set of personnel in that interview. In the third interview, there was the Department of Justice, the. . . .the federal prosecutor. I had to go through that interview. And then in the fourth interview. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) But. . . . but (Inaudible). . . .

GARY CONDIT: . . . .there was the FBI. Now they all asked the same questions over and over again. Maybe. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: (Overlap) Did they specifically ask you if you had a romantic relationship with Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: They asked every, every question they wanted to ask, and every detail question they asked. And I answered.

CONNIE CHUNG: And you, did you tell them that you did have a romantic relationship with her?

GARY CONDIT: Uh, I told them everything they asked. Answered every question. And I did nothing to slow down the investigation.

CONNIE CHUNG: Now when Mrs. Levy called you and said that her daughter was missing, and she asked you point-blank, she says, at a critical time in the investigation, as to whether or not you had an affair with her daughter, you answered, according to her, matter-of-factly, "No." Were you telling the truth?

GARY CONDIT: I never lied to Mrs. Levy. Fact of the matter is that whole week I had several conversations with the Levys. Dr. Levy and Mrs. Levy. We talked about uh, several items in, in the case.

CONNIE CHUNG: So when you said, "No," you were telling the truth?

GARY CONDIT: What, what Miss-, what Mrs. Levy asked me was a series of questions about a lot of things. And I’m sorry if she misunderstood uh, those conversations. But in those conversations, she made a lot of statements. My job was to console and do what I could do to be helpful. But I never lied to Mrs. Levy at all. I’m sorry if she misunderstood the conversations. She made several statements about a variety of different people. My role was to listen, to be helpful. I knew they were going through pain and anguish. And I was doing everything that I could do to be helpful to them, and not be a problem.

CONNIE CHUNG: Congressman Condit, uh. . . .I do not know exactly whether you did have an affair with Chandra Levy or not, because you will not answer that question. Now, when Mrs. Levy asked you if you had had an affair, she says you said no. And you are now saying that you didn’t lie to her.

GARY CONDIT: I’m saying that, yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: So are you saying that she misunderstood you. . . .

GARY CONDIT: (Overlap) Yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: . . . .when you said no?

GARY CONDIT:S he . . . .well, I’m not sure what com-. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) You should have said yes?

GARY CONDIT: I’m not sure what conversation she was talking about. She made several references to several people. My job was to simply to be helpful to her, to try to get through whatever she was getting through. I never lied to Mrs. Levy.

CONNIE CHUNG: Well, I mean, here is a mother who is asking you a critical question about her daughter who is missing. You needed to provide her with the truth and the correct answer.

GARY CONDIT: Correct, and I-,

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) You didn’t do that.

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) I told her the truth.

CONNIE CHUNG: You told her that you were indeed. . . .?

GARY CONDIT: She did not ask me that question. She made several references about people. And I’m not going to get into the names of the people, but I told Mrs. Levy the truth. I’m sorry and I regret if she misunderstood what I had to say.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh. . . .tell me something. When Chandra Levy. . . .Chandra Levy would come to your apartment, correct?

GARY CONDIT: She’d been there, yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: And when she came to your apartment, did you set rules for her to follow? Such as uh, never to bring her identification with her.

GARY CONDIT: I never, ever told anybody not to carry their identification.

CONNIE CHUNG: And it’s a critical question, because in fact when she disappeared, she left her identification at home, in her apartment, and only took her keys, apparently.

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) Right.

CONNIE CHUNG: So you’re saying there were virtually no rules. There were no rules at all. . . .

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) No rules. . . .I. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: . . . .when she came to visit you.

GARY CONDIT: No rules. I would never, ever. . . . not asked someone to carry their identification. I don’t know what’s the purpose of that.

CONNIE CHUNG: Now her. . . .she, she confided in her aunt. And her aunt said that these were the rules. That there were certain rules that she had to abide by. And that indeed, she did have an affair with you. Is. . . .are, are you suggesting that either the aunt is terribly mistaken, or that Chandra Levy was fabricating all of this?

GARY CONDIT: Well, I can only say that I did not have those conversations with Chandra. And Chandra’s not here to defend herself. So I don’t know why the aunt would say that.

CONNIE CHUNG: But. . . . regarding the relationship in and of itself, are you suggesting that Chandra Levy’s aunt did not have the correct information, or that Chandra Levy herself had created this affair as a figment of her imagination?

GARY CONDIT: I can only say I never had those conversations with Chandra.

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Which conversations? GARY CONDIT: The conversations that you’re suggesting that. . . .there was going to be a future, we were going to get married, and that there were some kind of rules. I never had those conversations. So I, I don’t know where the aunt got that.

CONNIE CHUNG: But going back to whether or not you had an affair and the fact that you’re not willing to answer that question. . . .Chandra Levy’s aunt says that indeed, Chandra told her that you had an affair. So I’m asking you, do you, are you trying to . . . uh, suggest that Chandra Levy did not have an affair with you and that it was a fabric of her imagination?

GARY CONDIT: I don’t know why she told the aunt what she told the aunt. She told the aunt apparently a lot of things. But the fact of the matter is, and I’m going to go back to this. . . .I’ve been married 34 years, I’ve made some mistakes in my life, I’m not a perfect man. But out of respect for my family, and out of a request, a specific request from the Levys, I will not go into the details of Chandra Levy at all.

CONNIE CHUNG: (Overlap) What did they exactly ask you to do?

GARY CONDIT: Well, they asked a couple nights ago on uh, one of the TV shows that uh, that they did not want to hear about the details of the relationship.

CONNIE CHUNG: I’m not asking you details. I’m simply asking you if it was more than just a friendship?

GARY CONDIT: Well, let me say, the details included they didn’t know-, didn’t want to know what, how I felt about her, or how she felt about me. So I’m trying to honor that. I’m try-. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Forgive me, I. . . .

GARY CONDIT: (Overlap) . . . .and I think the. . . .I think the American people understand that people are entitled to some privacy. I’m entitled to try to retain as much privacy as I can. The Levys are entitled to retain as much privacy on behalf of their daughter as they can. I’m going to honor that.

CONNIE CHUNG: But, but you are protecting your privacy, your family’s privacy at the expense of a, of a woman who is missing.

GARY CONDIT: Well, that’s not correct. That’s not correct at all. Because I have cooperated with law enforcement. The people who are responsible for finding Chandra. No, I haven’t held a news conference, and no, I don’t do talk shows. But I have cooperated. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Forgive me, but we have gone over this area already.

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) Well, I have cooperated. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: The police even said that you impeded the investigation. They do not believe that you have fully cooperated. In fact, the word from the police is that your lack of candor impeded the investigation.

GARY CONDIT: Well, I’m, I’m confused if you’re making reference to Chief Ramsey’s latest comments. Let me tell you, Connie, I have interviewed four times. I interviewed with the Metropolitan police department. I’ve interviewed a second time with the Metropolitan police department and the commander. I interviewed with the Department of Justice, the federal prosector, also with the MPD. I interviewed with the FBI. I allowed them to search my home, where they ripped up my carpet, they took the paint off the walls, they put the drains down the, the pipes.

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) I understand.

GARY CONDIT: Now let me finish. I have, I. . . .because this is a very important point. I have done everything, to the point where I’ve let them interview my staff, they’ve searched the cars . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Did you at any time ask the staff to lie?

GARY CONDIT: . . . I flew my wife . . . I flew my wife to Washington.

CONNIE CHUNG(Overlap) Did you at any time every ask your staff to lie?

GARY CONDIT(Overlap) Well let me, let me finish this. Let me finish this. Because you’re making the accusation, I think it’s a very important one. That I have not been cooperative. And I’m puzzled by why the police chief would say that. I don’t think there’s anyone in Washington, D.C., who’s been more cooperative in this investigation than myself. And I’m confused by why the police chief would say that. Several weeks before that, the Chief and . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Because you didn’t reveal the true nature of your relationship with Chandra Levy until the third interview.

GARY CONDIT: Well, that, that’s just not correct. In every interview, I answered every question, gave every detail.

CONNIE CHUNG: So you’re suggesting that the police didn’t quite ask you the right questions (Inaudible)?

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) No, I’m not suggesting that at all. I’m, I’m suggesting that, that you’re, you’re going on unnamed sources of the third interview of people who were not even in the room.

CONNIE CHUNG: But you can clear the air . . .

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) And a lot . . . well, I’m clearing the air. CONNIE CHUNG: You can clear the air now by, by revealing exactly what kind of relationship you had. Because it, isn’t it obvious to you that it, when you’re dealing with a missing persons case, that any relationship with the missing person is important for police, authorities to know?

GARY CONDIT: Well, but you and I work under two different assumptions here, I think. I think it’s my job to work for the people who . . . have the responsibility to find Chandra. Not to go out and do news conferences and do talk shows to talk about that.

CONNIE CHUNG: But are you . . . aren’t you . . .

GARY CONDIT(Overlap) I worked with the law enforcement people in every step, provided them information in every interview, and gave up a lot of my civil liberties to make sure that they had all the information that they needed.

CONNIE CHUNG: But aren’t you here to set the record straight?

GARY CONDIT: I think I am setting the record straight.

CONNIE CHUNG: Would you like to . . . tell the truth about the relationship with her?

GARY CONDIT: I’ve told you and responded to uh, the relationship question. And I think the American people, and people watching out there understand. I think they understand that . . . that I’m entitled to some of my privacy. My family’s entitled to some of their privacy. And certainly the Levy’s are, as well.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh, all right, why don’t we talk about the, the uh . . . the last time you met with Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: Sure.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh, that was at your apartment, correct me if I’m wrong . . . April 24th. Is that correct?

GARY CONDIT: Well, it was the 24th or the 25th.

CONNIE CHUNG: And during that meeting, during that uh . . . uh . . . occasion on that, on April 24th, did you two discuss the future of your relationship?

GARY CONDIT: No, we had no discussion. We never had a cross word.

CONNIE CHUNG: Well . . . tell me something. Why would she come to your apartment? She’s a single woman, you’re a married man. Did she always come to your apartment to visit you?

GARY CONDIT: I have people that have come to my apartment all the time. But she came to my apartment in that day to tell me that she had just lost her internship, uh, with the uh, Department of Justice. And that was the discussion we had that day.

CONNIE CHUNG: After that, what was uh . . . what was the next conversation that you had with her? Did you . . . do you recall when your last conversation with her was?

GARY CONDIT: I had a phone conversation with her on April the 29th, which lasted for about a minute. Uh . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: Just a minute?

GARY CONDIT: Uh, approximately a minute.

CONNIE CHUNG: She had called you repeatedly on that date. Correct?

GARY CONDIT: Well, no, that’s not true . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: Her phone records show that.

GARY CONDIT: Well, that. . . .I mean, she might have left a message. But you know, the news media reported that she made all these frantic calls. And that’s just not correct.

CONNIE CHUNG: But her phone records show that she called you repeatedly.

GARY CONDIT: Her phone. . . .she didn’t make frantic phone calls to people. She may have placed a call to me. Uh, she had my voice machine, my voice uh. . . .uh phone company voice answering machine. She may have called and left a message. But it doesn’t indicate that I have a whole series of messages from her.

CONNIE CHUNG: All right, during that conversation uh, did she, was she upset about anything? Did you say. . . ."We need to break up-, break up our friendship?" Anything like that?

GARY CONDIT: No, no Connie. We never had a cross word. It was simply about her travel plans, that she was talking about going back to California. She was real excited about uh . . . going through her ceremony at USC. So she was real upbeat.

CONNIE CHUNG: She wasn’t upset about anything?

GARY CONDIT: She wasn’t upset about anything. She wasn’t upset about losing her job. She-, that, it was a little . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) She wasn’t?

GARY CONDIT: No, she was a little disappointed by it. But she. . . .she had other plans and other hopes. And, and she. . . .she took it very good.

CONNIE CHUNG:Did you talk to her. . . .as a general rule, uh, often? Several times a. . . .?

GARY CONDIT: (Overlap) Oh yeah, several times a week.

CONNIE CHUNG: Several times a week?

GARY CONDIT: Yeah.

CONNIE CHUNG: Not several times a day, everyday?

GARY CONDIT: Not several times a day everyday.

CONNIE CHUNG: And how often do you think she came to your. . . .your apartment to visit you?

GARY CONDIT: Well, I provided all those details to uh, the appropriate people, the law enforcement people. They have that. And uh, it would be uh. . . .best not to get. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) (Inaudible) forgive me, but . . . why are you reluctant to answer that question?

GARY CONDIT: Because that’s. . . .that’s provided to law enforcement and the people who are responsible for fi-, for finding Chandra Levy.

CONNIE CHUNG: But I mean, if there was nothing wrong with it, why can’t you say how many times she came to visit you?

GARY CONDIT: Because if I say a time to you, I may be. . . .well, I don’t know the amount of time off the top of my head, but. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Could you give me a general idea?

GARY CONDIT: But I, but we, but we have shared all that with law enforcement. And I think it’s best that we not go into that. And out of respect for my family, and out of request from the Levy family, I just don’t. . . .can’t go there.

CONNIE CHUNG: Well, after you had that conversation with her, you said it lasted only a minute, when did you expect to talk to her again?

GARY CONDIT: Well, she gave me the impression that she was going to take a train to California. So I assumed in the next few days she was going to take a train to California. So I might talk to her after she got to California, I might talk to her when she got back from California. It wasn’t clear to me whether or not she was actually going to move to California, come back and try to find another job. Um, but Chandra was interested in working at the FBI. She was interested in working at the CIA, or NI-, NSA. Something like that. She was very interested in those areas. And so. . . .the reason the, the Federal Prison Bureau uh, job was important to her, because she thought that was the stepping stone in getting into the FBI.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh . . . on that same day, Chandra left a message for her aunt, saying she had some important news. Do you know what that important news was?

GARY CONDIT: I do not.

CONNIE CHUNG: There have been . . . there has been talk about uh, a possibility that Chandra Levy was pregnant. Do you know if she was pregnant?

GARY CONDIT: I have no reason to think that.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did she tell you she was pregnant? Or anything of that sort?

GARY CONDIT: No, she did not.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh, did you speak with her again after April 29th?

GARY CONDIT: Uh, no. April 29th was the last conversation.

CONNIE CHUNG: So you’re saying that you didn’t expect to hear from her for about a week?

GARY CONDIT: ell, actually, I tried to call her, because I. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: When did you try and call her?

GARY CONDIT: I tried to call her probably the 30th or the 31st, or some time in that week.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh, there, there is no 31st. Uh . . . it’s either the 30th or May first.

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) I mean, the 30th or May first. I did try to . . . well, maybe it was later in the week, because I had not heard from her.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh-huh. And. . . .you were expecting to hear? You, did you, you just said that you weren’t expecting to hear from her for a week?

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) Well, I thought I might. . . .I, I thought I might hear her about her travel plans. She might leave a message and say she was taking a train or she wasn’t taking a train. I never heard that.

CONNIE CHUNG: So did you call her, you’re saying, on the 29th?

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) Yes, I placed a call. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: Or the 30th.

GARY CONDIT: I placed a call on uh. . . .sometime during the next few days, to try to find out what her travel plans were going to be.

CONNIE CHUNG: And you called her apartment?

GARY CONDIT: Yes, I left a . . . yes, left a message.

CONNIE CHUNG: And uh . . . did she ever call you back?

GARY CONDIT: No.

CONNIE CHUNG: Were you concerned?

GARY CONDIT: I was concerned that she had not called me back. But uh. . . .but also just assumed that she had taken a train. And she told me the train was going to take four days.

CONNIE CHUNG: You can’t remember exactly when you called?

GARY CONDIT:On the. . . . ?

CONNIE CHUNG: Yes, when you called again. When you called, was it the 30th? May first? Second, 3rd, 4th?

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) Well, it. . . .it could’ve been. . . .it could’ve been the first. It could’ve been the second. Somewhere in that time frame.

CONNIE CHUNG: Um, your wife made a rare visit to Washington the week that Chandra Levy disappeared. Did she have any conversations with Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: No, my wife did not know Chandra Levy.

CONNIE CHUNG: Did your wife know what kind of relationship. . . .or did any member of your family know what kind of relationship you had with Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: No member of my family knew Chandra Levy.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh, did you ever talk to any member of your family about her?

GARY CONDIT: No.

CONNIE CHUNG: Well, when did your family become aware of Chandra Levy’s existence? That perhaps there was uh, talk that you had uh, some kind of personal relationship with her?

GARY CONDIT:Well, uh . . . the way we were notified that Chandra was missing was on Sunday, May the sixth, Dr. Levy called my house. He talked to my wife. I wasn’t there. Uh, told us. . . .uh, told Caroline that uh. . . .he was concerned, because he had not heard from Chandra for several days. And then when I came in, uh, I mean, it was just. . . .it was, I was horrified to hear that she was. . . .was missing. CONNIE CHUNG: Was that the first time you had heard. . . .that she was missing?

GARY CONDIT(Overlap) That was the first time I had heard that. And then uh. . . .you know, you’re horrified, but at the same time, you’re a parent, and you think there might be another side to this that’s just a mistake. So I called Dr. Levy at home, and uh, talked with him, and. . . .and uh, obviously the anxiety and the hurt in his voice prompted me to commit to him that I would call the law enforcement people immediately. Because he had thought that the Metropolitan police department had not taken it seriously. Maybe she’d just gone on extended holiday or something.

CONNIE CHUNG: I see.

GARY CONDIT: So right after that . . . right after that, I was in Washington D.C., on Monday. I contacted law enforcement. I asked the FBI to be involved. I helped set up the re-, rewan-, reward fund. And so we were consistently quickly involved. Within two days I had detectives in my house, talking to me about (Inaudible). . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Yes. I remember your telling me that. I’m going to turn to another area. A, a flight attendant named Ann Marie Smith said that she had a year-long relationship with you. And that you asked her uh, to lie about it. True?

GARY CONDIT: I didn’t ask anyone to lie about anything. I did not ask Ann Marie not to cooperate with law enforcement. That’s an absolute. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) (Inaudible). . . . sorry.

GARY CONDIT: Absolute lie.

CONNIE CHUNG: This is a statement that uh, your lawyers gave to her, and it says, "I do not and have not had a romantic relationship with Congressman Condit."

GARY CONDIT: Well, that’s a lawyer-to-lawyer statement. And. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: And you didn’t authorize (Inaudible)?

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) I had nothing. . . . I didn’t have any-, I. . . .the lawyers. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:Your, your lawyers just hauled off and had. . . .and sent this to her without your. . . .

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) That is a (Inaudible) statement that a lawyer sent to another lawyer. I did not have anything to do with that.

CONNIE CHUNG: But why would he write up the draft of something . . . without your authorization? I mean. . . .why would you want her to say that she didn’t have a relationship with you?

GARY CONDIT: Because she didn’t.

CONNIE CHUNG: Why, why would she make it up?

GARY CONDIT: You know, Connie, I’m, uh. . . .I’m puzzled by uh, by people who take advantage of tragedy. A missing person that they don’t even know.

CONNIE CHUNG: You’re saying that she completely fabricated this?

GARY CONDIT: She take. . . .she’s taken advantage of this tragedy. She didn’t know Chandra Levy. So she gets to have her moment of publicity, of financial gain. And I’m puzzled by that.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh. . . . hours before police, DC police searched your apartment, you were seen throwing away a watch box. Um, in a dumpster. Why, why did you do that?

GARY CONDIT: Well, the watch box had nothing to do with Chandra Levy and the police. Know that. The fact of the matter. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) But were you trying to cover up a relationship with yet another woman?

GARY CONDIT: Let me finish this. Uh, the watch box had nothing to do with Chandra Levy. The watch box. . . .uh. . . .I, I. . . .I did not take anything out of the apartment before or after the search. The watch box had nothing to do with Chandra Levy at all. It was. . . . trash that I threw away.

CONNIE CHUNG: But why did you throw it away hours before the search?

GARY CONDIT: Well, the watch box, uh, I didn’t take anything out of the. . . .my apartment. The search within my apartment. Nothing came out of my apartment before the search or after the search.

CONNIE CHUNG: Are you saying the watch box was somewhere else?

GARY CONDIT: Yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: Other than your apartment?

GARY CONDIT: Yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: So where was it?

GARY CONDIT: It would be in my office.

CONNIE CHUNG: And so why did you throw it away?

GARY CONDIT: Well, because I was cleaning out my office to be very frankly with you.

CONNIE CHUNG: But why throw it in a dumpster uh, somewhere, instead of just throwing it in the trash can in your office?

GARY CONDIT: Well, the fact of the matter is the watch box had nothing to do with Chandra Levy. And the police department know this.

CONNIE CHUNG: Don’t you think it’s rather suspicious behavior though to throw a watch box in a dumpster?

GARY CONDIT: Well, first of all, I did not throw it in a dumpster. I threw it in a trash can on a street, understanding that the tabloids are going through every bit of my trash at my office, going through things in my office, trying to get things out of my office. It was trash. I threw it away.

CONNIE CHUNG:But. . . .I mean, if, if there was nothing to it. . . .so what if, if uh, the tabloids would find it? If there was nothing. . . .who gave it to you?

GARY CONDIT: Well, there was nothing to it.

CONNIE CHUNG: Who gave it to you?

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) It was a gift.

CONNIE CHUNG: From?

GARY CONDIT: It was a gift.

CONNIE CHUNG: A woman in the office who worked in your office?

GARY CONDIT: Years ago.

CONNIE CHUNG: And did you have a relationship with her?

GARY CONDIT: I did not.

CONNIE CHUNG: Um, tell me, have you made any attempts to silence anyone about any relationship you’ve had with a woman?

GARY CONDIT: I have not asked anyone to. . . .be silent about anything. Matter of fact, I’ve. . . .anyone who says that we tried to keep people from cooperating is just lying.

CONNIE CHUNG: Um, why won’t you take a polygraph test administered by the police? And why won’t you cooperate with Chandra Levy’s parents investigators?

GARY CONDIT: Well, let me say that, that uh. . . .you know, this is sort of new to me. But when the polygraph issue came up. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG: What is sort of new to you?

GARY CONDIT: This polygraph issue, in that uh. . . .I’m not familiar with the polygraph people. But we went out to find the best.

CONNIE CHUNG: I understand.

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) The best in the country.

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) But why won’t you take one. . . .from the police?

GARY CONDIT: (Overlap) We found the best in the country that. . . . he trains the FBI agents who give the polygraph tests. And so we took the test. We passed the test. And his credibility is unchallenged by people in the industry. And I’m, I’m confused by the police chief’s comment immediately after we take the polygraph test. He did not read the polygraph test. Uh, I think you’ll find that people in the FBI now have seen the polygraph test, they can read the polygraph test, and it makes total sense to them. So we basically thought we were being helpful, just found the best guy we could find. And that’s what we did. And I don’t know if. . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) Why, why won’t you cooperate with uh, the Levy family investigators? And why won’t you take. . . .if you, if you are guilty of no criminal wrongdoing, if you’re not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing, why don’t you take a polygraph test given by the police, and cooperate with Chandra Levy’s. . . .

GARY CONDIT:(Overlap) But we’ve taken a polygraph test. And it, and it proves that I’m innocent. And it’s by, it’s by a. . . .a guy who’s one of the highest-regarded gentlemen in that field in the country.

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) I understand. All right.

GARY CONDIT: And let me. . . . on the investigate-, the investigators with the Levys, um, we have offered information that we have on all the issues to the investigators. We have sent letters to them. They have not responded. Now I’m a little bit concerned about the sincerity of their requests, the investigators’ requests, if they’re not willing to take some of the information that we have, go through it and see what it is they need. Once they go through it, if there’s something that we can be helpful with, we. . . .we’re open to do that. But they need to be uh. . . .they, they need to at least show that they’re really interested in. . . .finding out what we’ve already done, what’s been said, what the investigation that we’ve been through says. And once they do that . . . I, we, we’re open to. . . .talk to them.

CONNIE CHUNG: All right.

GARY CONDIT: But, but we just don’t want it to be a TV show, or, or sort of. . . .sort of publicity stunt.

CONNIE CHUNG: We have just a few minutes left. Uh, what has all of this done to you and your family?

GARY CONDIT: Well it’s been tough. I mean, it’s been tough on my family. Uh, we, we’ve gone through tough times. I mean, as I mentioned, uh. . . .they dragged my wife across the country for an interview, because they refused to do it here, and they were going to subpoena her. They tried to uh, go through her medical records, uh, they reported she didn’t have thumbs, and they chased my children around. The tabloids have. But the fact of the matter is, is this is not about the Condits. This is about the Levys. And that’s minor. . . .minor pain, and that’s minor. . . .uh, interference with our life, compared to what. . . .Dr. and Mrs. Levy are going through. Sympathy and our hearts go to Dr. and Mrs. Levy. Not the stuff that we’ve gone through.

CONNIE CHUNG: Uh. . . .do you. . . . I, I. . . .at the end of this interview, we’re, we’re. . . . we only have a few minutes left. Uh. . . . do you fear that uh, the public out there um, may be very disappointed that you didn’t come forward and reveal details today, as we sit here tonight?

GARY CONDIT: Well, I think I have revealed details. The details that I’ve been fully cooperative uh, with law enforcement. I’ve answered every question on every accession. I’ve given up my civil liberties . . .

CONNIE CHUNG:(Overlap) You don’t think you’re stonewalling?

GARY CONDIT: No, I don’t think I’m stonewalling at all. I think that people expect that you can maintain some of your privacy. I think the Levys expect to maintain some of their daughter’s privacy. And I’m trying to honor that. I’m trying to do that with dignity. I, I’m trying to retain some privacy for my family and for their family. And I think your viewer out there will understand that.

CONNIE CHUNG: I’m, I, I would think that many people would want you to maintain your privacy. However, you have constituents out there, something like 600-. . . . 680,000. Do they deserve the truth?

GARY CONDIT: They deserve the truth. And the truth is that I have done everything asked of me by the people who are responsible to find Chandra Levy. I have done everything. I’ve given you the list. I mean, I have not been part of the media circus if, if that’s your point. But it’s not the news media’s responsibility to find Chandra Levy. It’s law enforcement. And I made a decision that I would work with law enforcement to do just that.

CONNIE CHUNG: What do you think happened to Chandra Levy?

GARY CONDIT: I don’t know.

CONNIE CHUNG: You have virtually no idea?

GARY CONDIT: No idea.

CONNIE CHUNG:Can you survive, can your career, your marriage, survive this?

GARY CONDIT: Well, my, my family’s intact. It’s going to take more than the news media. . . . with, with innuendos, half-truths, unnamed sources, to, to split my family up.

CONNIE CHUNG:But. . . .isn’t much of what has happened partly your doing?

GARY CONDIT: In what respect, Connie?

CONNIE CHUNG: You said to. . . . yourself, to your constituents, in a letter, that you’ve made mistakes, and you said that to me earlier.

GARY CONDIT: Right.

CONNIE CHUNG: What mistakes are you talking about?

GARY CONDIT: Well, I haven’t been a perfect man. And I think people, your viewers will understand that. I have not been a perfect man. I’ve made mistakes in my life. I acknowledge that.

CONNIE CHUNG: But what mistakes are you talking about? Are you talking about moral mistakes?

GARY CONDIT: Well, there's a variety of mistakes. I mean, I, I've made . . . uh, all kinds of mistakes in my life, but I'm not going to go into details on this program about the mistakes that I've made in my life.

CONNIE CHUNG: Do you, do you . . .

GARY CONDIT: I acknowledge them. And I'm sorry for them.

CONNIE CHUNG: Do you think you're a moral man?

GARY CONDIT: I think I am a moral man. Yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: Okay. I think we are out of time, Gary. Thank you so much, Congressman Condit.

GARY CONDIT: Thank you.

CONNIE CHUNG: Thank you, I appreciate it.

GARY CONDIT: Thank you.