-Caveat Lector-

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,32911,00.html


Smith's Lawyer to File Legal Action Against Condit Monday

FOXNews/AP
Sunday, August 26, 2001


The lawyer for Anne Marie Smith, the flight attendant who says she had an
affair with embattled Rep. Gary Condit, said on Fox News Sunday he plans to
take legal action Monday against the California Democrat.

Meanwhile, a California paper renewed its call for the congressman to
resign, and sources tell Fox News that Condit's district may be redrawn in
order to gracefully deny him re-election.

Without stating exactly what claim he would file against Condit, Jim
Robinson, Smith's attorney, said that it would be related to Condit's
nationally televised interview with ABC's Connie Chung this past Thursday
night.

Condit denied to Chung that he had had a relationship with Smith, who had
earlier said that the FBI had interviewed her about her affair with the
congressman in relation to another affair he was allegedly having with
24-year-old missing intern Chandra Levy.

Levy disappeared on May 1, shortly after her internship with the Federal
Bureau of Prisons ended. Washington, D.C., police said that Condit only
admitted having had an affair with her in his third interview with them,
and that he tried to block the investigation into her disappearance in
other ways. They still insist, however, that he is not a suspect and that
there is no evidence of a crime.

On Friday, Condit backtracked a little about his denial of the relationship
with Smith, telling Newsweek magazine that "In my opinion, we did not have
a relationship. It would probably be her definition of a relationship
versus mine."

Robinson told Fox News' Brit Hume that Condit was "back to the old Clinton
playbook, except for the fact that apparently he never feels anybody's pain
but his own."

When pressed by Hume whether he thought that perhaps the congressman
considered his dealings with Smith "a recreational relationship," Robinson,
who appeared to be a bit sleepy at 6 a.m. Seattle time, laughed but would
not elaborate.

Robinson did state that he considered Condit's alleged attempts to elicit a
false affidavit from Smith, in which she would swear to not having had an
affair with the congressman, a criminal act.

When questioned about whether his legal action against Condit would involve
the charge of suborning perjury, Robinson said that as a civil lawyer he
did not have the power to bring an indictment, "[b]ut I'll be able to talk
about it after I make the filing."

Smith told Fox News' Rita Cosby in July that she never signed Condit's
affidavit. When the congressman's representatives challenged the existence
of the document, Smith produced a copy.

Smith also told Cosby that she saw personal effects in Condit's apartment
that she assumed were Levy's. Robinson said that the FBI's questioning of
Smith was prompted by the bureau, which apparently already knew of his
client's relationship with the congressman, and that the affidavit was
intended to "impeach her testimony later."

In response to the Condit team's charges that Smith and her lawyer are only
speaking out against the congressman for financial gain, Robinson told Fox
News Sunday that "I have not received a dime on this case. ... She hasn't
paid me, nobody's paid her. There's no money."

Condit's legal team is "between a rock and a hard place" over the
affidavit, Robinson said. If Condit admits his affair with Smith, her
lawyer explained, "then he admit[s] obstruction of justice and suborning
perjury. ... If they say the affidavit is false, then Joe Cotchett
[Condit's first lawyer] is in a whole lot of trouble."

Back in California, the largest newspaper in Condit's 18th Congressional
District repeated its call for his resignation following the Connie Chung
interview.

"After months of watching him stall and stonewall, Condit's weasel-like
performance on Thursday was terribly disappointing," says an editorial
published Friday in the Modesto Bee.

"If he can cheat on his own commitment to his family, how's he going to
treat the community?" said housewife Christine Lagow. "Especially now,
after his interview, there's even more support for him to resign than there
ever was before."

The Bee and several other California newspapers earlier this month called
for Condit's resignation because of his silence over his relationship with
Levy.

Friday's editorial echoed a chorus of negative reviews following the highly
anticipated interview. From California to Capitol Hill, he was criticized
for his sometimes evasive answers to Chung's questions and his lack of an
apology to voters or Levy's parents.

"Instead of accepting responsibility and apologizing for this shameful
conduct. Condit clung to his strategy of spin and denial," the editorial
said.

Condit tried to repair the damage on Newsweek's Web site Friday.

"I sat there the whole time with Connie Chung waiting for her ask me
something other than a sex question," said Condit, who acknowledged having
a close relationship with the former Bureau of Prisons intern but
sidestepped questions about its nature.

Sources tell Fox News that the Democrats in charge of California's
congressional redistricting following the 2000 census are planning to shore
up the 18th District by shifting its borders to include some staunchly
Republican areas, as well as the more blue-collar, traditionally Democratic
city of Stockton.

The district is at present largely rural, and voters have been supportive
of Condit's middle-of-the-road voting record. The congressman is a leader
of the House Blue Dog Democrats, who are more conservative than the party's
mainstream and often vote with the GOP, and Condit was even briefly
considered by President Bush for a Cabinet post late last year.

"It's a nice way to show Condit the door," one Democratic source told Fox
News. Draft redistricting maps are expected to be released within the next
two weeks.


Fox News' Rita Cosby and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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