FBI agents talking to Condit about intern’s disappearance

By John Solomon

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – FBI agents are sitting down with Rep. Gary Condit to create a profile of Chandra Levy they hope will help solve the former intern’s disappearance. Condit, meanwhile, received a sharp rebuke today from a Democratic colleague and friend.

“I will say that through his actions and behaviors, Congressman Condit has brought controversy and discredit to his family, his district and the Congress,” Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, said in a prepared statement.

Stenholm stopped short of calling for Condit to resign, saying “ultimately it remains the prerogative of each congressional district to elect who they wish.” The Texan said he is reserving judgment in case the House conducts an ethics investigation and must vote on a punishment.

While police say Condit is not a suspect in Levy’s disappearance, he did not admit until his third interview with authorities that he had an affair with the California woman and is currently being investigated for possible obstruction of Justice.

Stenholm and Condit have been longtime leaders of the “Blue Dog” conservative Democrats in Congress, who sometimes break with their party on social and fiscal issues.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Condit, D-Calif., agreed Tuesday for their client to speak with FBI profilers after a new agent assigned to the case offered to do it without questions from local police, according to sources familiar with the FBI’s contact with the congressman.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the session could occur as early as this week, depending on Condit’s schedule.

The sources said the FBI told Condit’s lawyers they intended to conduct the session without Washington police present. City police have interviewed Condit three times and recently expressed interest in a fourth interview with him.

A police source said Condit, 53 and married, said in his third interview with police that he had an affair with the 24-year-old former intern. He has denied any role in her disappearance and, according to his lead lawyer, passed a lie detector test administered by a former FBI expert hired by the Condit team.

Agent Bradley Garrett, who specializes in drawn-out cases for the FBI’s Washington field office, arranged the profile session Tuesday in discussions with Condit’s lawyers, the sources said.

Garrett indicated to Condit’s legal team that the FBI was taking a fresh look at Levy’s disappearance, the sources said. They said the profilers would seek information from Condit and others on where Levy might have gone, who she might have seen or any reason she might have been vulnerable when she disappeared.

Levy, of Modesto, Calif., who was in Washington on an internship with the federal Bureau of Prisons, has not been seen since April 30, when she canceled her membership at a Washington gym. Police believe she disappeared after the afternoon of May 1, when she last logged off her computer.

Levy’s parents this week released new photos and video footage of their daughter, seeking to keep attention focused on her disappearance. Police searched various fields Tuesday without success.

Police have said they do not consider Condit a suspect in Levy’s disappearance, which they are treating as a missing persons case, not a crime.