A chronology of the Chandra Levy story, updated as news breaks. Click here to read the whole story from the beginning.
Tuesday, July 3: Anne Marie Smith, a 39-year-old United Airlines flight attendant who says she had an 11-month affair with Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., told Fox News last night that Condit “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.”
Smith said an investigator for Condit’s lawyers asked her June 15 to sign a declaration that said in part, “I do not and have not 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.” Click here to read the full text of the declaration. Smith said she refused to sign it and that Condit knew the declaration was false. Condit’s lawyers denied knowledge of the document. Condit’s Washington attorney, Abbe Lowell, told NBC News that the allegation “has nothing to do with Chandra. This is a side show.”
The report of an affair between Smith and Condit first appeared in the Star tabloid, which paid Smith’s San Francisco roommate $2,500 for the story. Smith’s Seattle-based attorney, Jim Robinson, told the Washington Post today that Smith had been offered up to $50,000 from tabloids for her story. Robinson said he is a longtime friend who is representing Smith pro bono. He said Smith and Condit had a romantic relationship from July 2000 until May 2001.
The story broke into the mainstream press June 27, when the Sacramento Bee reported that Smith had been interviewed by the FBI. At that time, Robinson acknowledged the FBI questioning but declined to elaborate. “My client is a private individual, and would like to remain a private individual,” he said.
The New York Daily News reported June 28 that Condit told Smith he was separated. And on Friday, June 29, the New York Post reported that Smith told investigators that Condit wouldn’t leave his chronically ill wife because he didn’t want to “pull a Newt Gingrich.” Former House Speaker Gingrich served his first wife with divorce papers while she was hospitalized. The Post reported that Smith saw Condit about four or five times a month, that she was in love with him, and that he never exhibited any violent tendencies toward her.
Smith told Fox News that she told Condit about her FBI interview. “He was really upset with me,” she said. “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.’ “
Rita Cosby, the Fox News interviewer, said on Monday’s O’Reilly Factor that Smith consented to an interview because she wanted to contradict the “false stories” in the Star, and because she was concerned for her safety. Robinson, Smith’s lawyer, told the Washington Post that Smith had received strange phone calls and thought she was being followed.
Most reports have said that Smith broke off the relationship with Condit when she heard about the Chandra Levy case, but the New York Daily News reports today that Smith said Condit called her on May 5 or 6. “I’m going to have to disappear for a while,” Smith said he told her. “I think I may be in some trouble.” As the Daily News notes, Levy’s parents reported her missing May 5, and they called Condit for help on May 6.
In his district, Condit appears to be weathering the political storm. The New York Daily News cited a poll taken last week that found he has a 61 percent believability rating among his constituents.
