www.justiceforchandra.com

[benn]

Condit and good old Google.

http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/gary.htm

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1.

Gary Condit-Democrat, House of Representatives from California
Flight Attendant Says Condit Asked Her to Lie

Back to the Politicians-Mostly Thieves, Liars, and Control Freaks Page

AP
Chandra Levy, left, and Gary Condit pose for a picture in his Washington office

Monday, July 02, 2001
By Rita Cosby

Washington, D.C. — A flight attendant who said she had a long-term affair with Rep. Gary Condit says the congressman asked her to sign a declaration denying their relationship, and told her she did not need to talk to the FBI following the disappearance of Chandra Levy.

Anne Marie Smith, 39, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News that she refused to sign the draft of a declaration that was submitted by Condit attorneys to her lawyers, and insisted the California Democrat knew the document was a lie.

"Mr. Condit knew it was false and he was asking me to sign it and, I personally could never have signed it," Smith said in an interview on Monday. "I would never have signed it. And he was urging me to sign it, he said you don't want anything, this could be personally embarrassing for both of us."

Smith's lawyers on Monday evening supplied Fox News with a copy of what they said was a draft of the declaration. They said the document contained a note written by Don Thornton, an investigator who works with Condit's West Coast attorney.

Jim Robinson, Smith's attorney, claims to have had a phone conversation with Thornton in which the latter referred to the form as an "affidavit." Robinson says the document is indeed an affidavit, as opposed to a declaration, since it is composed of the specialized vocabulary of the legal profession called legalese.

Lawyers for Condit said on Monday night they did not know of any such document. Thornton spoke with Fox News and also denied any knowledge of the form.

An investigator searches Chandra Levy's Washington apartment-AP

Condit lawyers have declined to comment on any relationship he may have had with Smith.

Smith also said she told Condit she had spoken to the FBI about the Levy case. "I left him a voicemail and I said, 'You need to call me, it's urgent,'" she said.

She said he called back the next day, and that he did not respond well when she told him what was happening.

"I said, I have been contacted by this agency, and I want you to know and I said, you know, it was just a routine questioning, they said they would keep my name confidential," she told Fox News.

"He was really upset with me, he said, 'Oh, I see how you are, I see what you're doing.' And I said, 'No, you know, I've never been in a situation like this.' ... He said 'You don't have to talk to the media, you don't have to talk to anybody. You don't even have to talk to the FBI.'"

Smith reportedly told the FBI she ended a year-long romantic relationship with Condit when she saw press reports about Levy, the missing Washington intern, a source close to the woman told Fox News.

Smith said she has not spoken to Condit since one or two weeks before the 24-year-old disappeared. Smith also said she knew the California Democrat was married and suspected he might be seeing someone else, but she didn't know for sure.

Smith also said Condit told her he was "lonely in Washington," with his chronically ill wife spending 99 percent of her time in California.

Condit has been the subject of much media and law enforcement attention in the weeks since he "broke off his close friendship" with Levy. He broke off the friendship only two days before she disappeared, the congressman told investigators, according to Fox News police sources.

The congressman provided the new details about his relationship with Levy in a second, hour-long interview with police, but stopped short of saying whether he and the 24-year-old had a romantic relationship, the sources said. Condit did, however, strongly hint the two had been lovers, the sources said.

When Condit delicately broke things off with Levy with the explanation that she was moving back to California, she was distraught, refusing to take no for an answer and even becoming obsessed with him, the sources said.

Levy called Condit several times on a special line in the 24 hours before she vanished, but he never returned those calls, the sources said.

Condit, 53 and married, has repeatedly said through public statements that he and Levy were only good friends, with his staff denying there was a romantic relationship.

Levy's parents, Susan and Robert Levy of Modesto, Calif., have hired former Washington homicide detectives to scour their daughter's Washington studio apartment for fibers, love letters, notes and any other clues that could help them find out what happened to their daughter, who has not been seen since April 30.

Fox News' Mike Emmanuel contributed to this report.©Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2001 Standard & Poor's

Fox News Network, LLC 2001. All rights reserved.



The Washington Times
www.washtimes.com
6 women talk to police in Levy case

John Drake and Jim Keary
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published 7/4/01

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Chandra Ann Levy have interviewed six women who said they have had romantic relationships with Rep. Gary A. Condit, who has said he is a "friend" of the missing intern's, a law enforcement source said.
The women came forward after Miss Levy was reported missing in early May, the law enforcement source said. They included a United Airlines flight attendant who said in a television interview Monday that Mr. Condit pressured her to deny their yearlong affair in a written statement.
Flight attendant Anne Marie Smith, 39, of San Francisco said in her interview on Fox News that she refused to sign the statement. Miss Smith, speaking in Seattle, also said Mr. Condit told her not to cooperate with the FBI, which had contacted her in the Levy investigation.
"We've talked to five other women other than the flight attendant," the law enforcement source said. "They are all types and ages."
Chris Murray, a spokesman for the FBI's Washington Field Office, yesterday said the agency has interviewed Miss Smith. He declined to comment further on the Levy case or the Smith interview.
Police have said publicly that Mr. Condit, who represents Miss Levy's hometown of Modesto, Calif., is not a suspect in her disappearance, which is being investigated as a missing persons case.
In a written statement yesterday, Mr. Condit denied telling Miss Smith to mislead investigators or not talk to the FBI. "I have not asked anyone to refrain from discussing this matter with authorities, nor have I suggested anyone mislead the authorities," the California Democrat's statement reads.
In addition, Mr. Condit's office in California issued a statement from the law firm representing him that disputes Miss Smith's account. Cotchett, Pitre and Simon said it e-mailed a "draft" statement to Jim Robinson, Miss Smith's attorney in Seattle, to clarify her relationship with the congressman following a tabloid magazine report about the matter.
Mr. Robinson was to review the draft statement and "edit, cut, suggest" changes before having Miss Smith sign it, the law firm statement reads. One part of the statement would have Miss Smith, under penalty of perjury, deny having had a "relationship with Congressman Condit other than being acquainted with him. I do not and have not had a romantic relationship with Congressman Condit."
Miss Levy, 24, a former intern at the Bureau of Prisons, was last seen in the District on April 30, when she canceled a gym membership near her apartment in the Dupont Circle area. Police, citing bank, phone and computer records, said this week she may have spent part of the next day in her apartment.
Detectives found no signs of a struggle in her apartment, and her money, credit cards and her driver's license were with her packed luggage.
Police twice have interviewed Mr. Condit, saying he provided useful information. Privately, law enforcement sources said he provided few details and little more than what was outlined in written statements to the media.
Authorities are trying to interview Mr. Condit's wife, Carolyn, in California. Mrs. Condit, who is reportedly critically ill, has been uncooperative in working out ground rules for talks, sources said.
The law enforcement source said Metropolitan Police detectives are coordinating with FBI agents in California to see if other women have acknowledged having affairs with Mr. Condit, 53.
In her televised interview Monday, Miss Smith did not say Mr. Condit and Miss Levy were having an affair, but she suspected he was seeing someone else, though she did not know for sure. She said she had not spoken to Mr. Condit since one or two weeks before Miss Levy vanished.
Law enforcement officials yesterday refused to say if they were investigating Mr. Condit for obstruction of justice in the wake of Miss Smith's televised statement.
"We are continuing our investigation and won't respond to rumors, innuendos or comments made by others," said Sgt. Joe Gentile, spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department. "Our focus is the disappearance of Miss Levy. We are trying to determine what happened. That is the focus of our investigation."
Spokesmen for the U.S. Attorney's Offices in the District, California and Seattle have refused to comment on the case, saying they can neither confirm nor deny a federal probe into whether Mr. Condit has interfered with the investigation.
"If you've got someone encouraging a potential witness to not be truthful about any information that could be regarded as important ... to the investigation, that could qualify as obstruction of justice," said former federal prosecutor David Schertler, who worked in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District for 12 years.
An obstruction of justice charge "covers a lot of different types of conduct that interfere with authorities being able to carry out their investigation," said Mr. Schertler, who served as chief of the homicide section before becoming a defense attorney in 1996.

Copyright © 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Aunt Details Alleged Affair
Account Based on Talks With Levy, Relative Says

By Allan Lengel and Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 6, 2001; Page B01

Chandra Levy's aunt said yesterday that her niece provided her with an extensive account of a relationship with Rep. Gary A. Condit, describing how the congressman went to great lengths to keep the liaison a secret and explicitly warned that he would stop seeing her if she told anyone.

Linda Zamsky's account of the relationship is based on conversations and meetings she said she had with Levy since last fall, when the 24-year-old intern at the Bureau of Prisons first told Zamsky that she was having a relationship with Condit. Zamsky, who became Levy's confidante, said she is speaking out publicly for the first time out of frustration with Condit, whose aides have adamantly denied the existence of a relationship.

"He was emphatic," Zamsky, relaying her conversations with Levy, said of Condit's caution over the liaison. "It had to remain secret. If anybody found out about this relationship, it was done, over, kaput."

The search for Levy, who was last seen in downtown Washington on April 30, moved on several fronts yesterday. Condit's wife, Carolyn, was interviewed by the FBI and D.C. police who are investigating what is still classified as a missing persons case. D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said a suicide by Levy now seemed unlikely, discounting one possible explanation of her disappearance. And Condit's attorney released the longest statement to date, emphasizing the congressman's continuing cooperation.

Zamsky's account places Condit at the center of Levy's life in Washington -- a married man who gave her gifts, paid for a couple of plane trips to California, orchestrated their meetings and often spent weekends with her in his Adams Morgan apartment. The details contradict the account provided by Condit's aides and attorneys, who say there was no relationship.

Condit's chief of staff in Modesto, Calif., Mike Lynch, declined to comment on Zamsky's account of the relationship. He referred calls to Marina Ein, a public relations specialist hired yesterday by Abbe D. Lowell, an attorney for Condit. Ein also declined to comment on Zamsky's account, saying Condit's priority "is finding a young woman who seems to have vanished. The rest is sensationalism."

Zamsky's description of an affair, which has been provided to police and videotaped by investigators, raises the importance of Condit as a source of information on Levy. Police searching for a missing person generally focus on those who were closest to the individual, attempting to establish frame of mind, habits and behavior before the disappearance. In cases involving women who vanish, police pay particular attention to anyone with whom they were known to be having a sexual relationship.

In a 90-minute interview, Zamsky, 40, spoke of the secretive relationship described to her by Levy. The picture painted by the aunt is of a woman who relished the attention of the older man, heeded his caution and treasured his gifts, which included a gold bracelet and Godiva chocolates. Levy hoped Condit would marry her and even envisioned a life with children, the aunt said.

The first mention of a relationship took place at Thanksgiving, when Levy went to visit Zamsky in her home on Maryland's Eastern Shore. At the time, her niece emphasized the secretiveness of the affair and was reluctant to mention a name, said Zamsky, who is married to Levy's uncle.

"There was a look in her eyes. She was excited. She said he's here in Washington and he goes home occasionally. She said he's in government. She mentioned he had two kids," Zamsky said.

As they watched C-Span, Levy explained the dynamics of the House and Senate to her aunt and described her love interest as "looking a bit like Harrison Ford. She said he was lean, in good shape, worked out, very conscientious about his body for a 53-year-old."

"I asked, 'How do you get in touch with him if it's so secretive, this relationship?" Zamsky recalled. "And she said, well -- and this is when she came and accidentally said his name to me. She would dial a number. It would play music, and she would leave a message. . . . She said, 'I would also call the office, and they would answer 'Gary Condit.' And that's how his name came out."

"And she goes, 'oops.' She says, 'You didn't hear that.' And I said 'no' and of course I did," Zamsky said. "I made real light of it. I kind of dummied up because I wanted her to feel comfortable."

Levy then confided that the relationship was already intimate.

At that time, Zamsky said, Levy described how Condit instructed her to avoid hinting to anyone in his building that she was visiting him. If she was in the elevator and someone pressed his floor, she was to press a different floor. If they asked if she was new in the building, she was told to say she was visiting a sick friend.

Zamsky said Levy told her that she and Condit spent a lot of time in the apartment; sometimes he would cook, sometimes they ordered in. When they went out for dinner, Levy told her aunt, she would go downstairs first, hail a cab and then get inside. Condit, whose apartment faces the street, would then come running down, wearing a baseball cap and jeans, and hop in. They would go to the suburbs, often for Thai food.

Zamsky said Levy told her that she was free to date other men as well. "She said, 'No.' She wanted this to be a monogamous relationship. She was willing to do whatever he wanted her to do in order for this relationship to work."

Condit would compliment Levy, Zamsky said, telling her: "It's nice to see someone who is willing to be flexible with my schedule and my lifestyle. I haven't had that in a relationship before."

In January, Zamsky said, she spoke to Levy by phone and her niece mentioned possibly moving in with Condit at some point. Zamsky thought that it might just be wishful thinking because he was still married. But Levy told her that she thought it could work.

In early April, Levy went to Zamsky's home for Passover, where she was joined by her family, visiting from California. Zamsky said Levy told her the relationship was progressing -- she talked about carrying on a secretive affair for five years and then marrying Condit and having a baby.

During Levy's visits and in telephone calls, the aunt said, she heard that Condit had bought her plane tickets so she could return to California for school. On Valentine's Day, she received chocolates and a card. Once, Levy showed Zamsky a gold bracelet she said the congressman had given her on Valentine's Day or Christmas.

The relationship seemed to become more serious in April, Zamsky said. The night before Passover began, Levy and Zamsky went out for pizza and then ice cream.

"We bought Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough. We didn't buy the low-fat. She said that's what they eat. She didn't use his name. She said her 'boyfriend, my guy.' Most of the time she referred to him as 'my guy.' "

After Passover, Zamsky said, she did not talk to Levy for a couple of weeks. Then on April 29, the day before Levy was last seen, Levy left a message on Zamsky's voice mail. Zamsky would not hear from her niece again.

"Hi, Linda. This is Chandra. My internship is over," Levy said in the message. "I'm planning on packing my bags in the next week or 10 days. Heading home for a while. Don't know what I'm going to do this summer. And I really have some big news or something important to tell. Call me. . . ."

Zamsky said yesterday that she did not know what Levy was referring to, but added that the 24-year-old did not seem upset.

Lowell, Condit's attorney, did not return phone calls for comment yesterday. In his statement yesterday, he noted that the congressman has given two "substantial interviews to the police and directed staff to provide information that may be requested of them."

The statement also castigated the media, citing the "seemingly unbounded effort to expose highly personal and private Condit family matters." That is an apparent allusion to media coverage of Anne Marie Smith, a flight attendant who told Fox News last week that she had a year-long affair with Condit and that the congressman's representatives asked her to sign a false affidavit last month, which she refused to do. Condit and his attorney both issued statements Tuesday denying that anyone had been told not to cooperate and saying that the affidavit in question was a draft subject to revision.

Law enforcement sources described yesterday's session with Carolyn Condit at the FBI office in Tysons Corner as productive and said she was helpful. One source familiar with her account to the FBI said she told authorities that she does not know Levy. She said she was in Washington from April 28 to May 3 primarily to attend a luncheon hosted by first lady Laura Bush. The source said Carolyn Condit was able to place her husband at work at certain times during the period she was in Washington.

Ein, the public relations specialist retained by Condit's team, has represented Democratic National Committee officials and the New Republic magazine, among others. She said the Levy case is similar to other matters she has handled.

"We're dealing with human beings and their lives and reputations here," she said.

"I think that we're all hopeful for a positive outcome," Ein said. "We have a young woman who's missing who we hope and pray can be found. We would like to see the media do everything possible to assist the police and focus on what is important here, which is Chandra Levy."

Staff writers Andrew DeMillo, Bill Miller and Sue Schmidt contributed to this report. Dvorak reported from Modesto.