By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Anne Marie Smith was "taken aback" by Rep. Gary Condit's "total and complete denial" that he had a relationship with her, adding that the "person I saw in that interview with Connie Chung was not the person I thought I knew."
Smith, a flight attendant, told Fox News' Rita Cosby in a live interview Tuesday morning that she was not surprised that the California Democrat played down their affair, but she "was sick" when she heard him deny the relationship and call her a "gold digger" in his interview with ABC News' Chung last Thursday.
"It was not the Gary Condit that I knew," Smith said. "This person was nervous, tense and very angry. ...
"I would really like to know what Mr. Condit thinks a relationship is," she added. "We had a relationship. ... It was an intimate relationship."
Smith said she kept a diary noting details of the relationship and had told some friends and co-workers about it, despite Condit's demands that she keep it a secret. She said Condit had given her bracelets and a necklace, and that they had spoken nearly every day during what she has described as a 10-month liaison.
She said she has missed nearly a month of work because of the case.
Smith said Condit wore dark glasses and a hat when with her, asking her to leave his apartment by herself, allowing him time to leave separately and then catch up with her.
She added that he mentioned other affairs, one lasting seven years, and that at one point he saw several women simultaneously. When Smith asked him whether he was concerned about his wife back in California, who had said was chronically ill, Condit replied, "I would never do anything to hurt my wife — it might push her over the edge."
Condit ended nearly four months of public silence and gave a series of print and broadcast interviews last week. But he repeatedly declined to provide details about the nature of his relationship with missing intern Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old from Modesto, Calif., who disappeared May 1 in Washington.
On Monday, Smith's attorney, James Robinson, filed a citizen's criminal complaint in Stanislaus County Court in Modesto, seeking indictment on charges of obstruction of justice and attempting to suborn a witness against Condit, his chief of staff, Mike Lynch, and Don Thornton, an investigator for a California lawyer who has represented Condit.
Smith and her attorney allege that Condit's legal team, concerned about an article in the Star supermarket tabloid that was going to detail their relationship, asked Smith in July to not speak to the FBI and to sign an affidavit denying their affair.
Smith says she refused to sign the document and had already been interviewed by federal investigators. After she told Fox News' Cosby of the affidavit, Condit's representatives denied that it existed. Smith then produced a copy.
Condit's team has since maintained that the affidavit was a draft submitted to her for her editing and approval.
"I did not ask Anne Marie not to cooperate with law enforcement," Condit said on ABC. "That's an absolute lie."
Robinson, responding to Cosby's questions Tuesday about his legal attack on Condit, said that plans for a civil suit had been "tabled" for now and that he was focusing on getting a grand jury to investigate the congressman.
But Stanislaus County prosecutor Jim Brazelton, who would decide whether to pursue a criminal case, said he's not likely to take any action based only on Robinson's legal maneuvers.
"My office is not driven by the political process," Brazelton said.
Robinson said that he was not surprised at Brazelton's lukewarm reaction, since the county prosecutor is a friend of Condit's.
He did say that jurisdiction in the case extended to San Mateo County, from which Condit's team called Smith, and to the city and county of San Francisco, where Smith lives. Robinson did not mention any plans to take legal action in either locale.
Joleen McKay, a former Condit aide, also has spoken to investigators about her allegations that she had an affair with Condit and that Condit aides tried to pressure her to remain silent about it.
On Monday, Calif. Gov. Gray Davis added himself to the list of leaders criticizing Condit for his response to Levy's disappearance.
"I am disheartened that Congressman Condit did not speak out more quickly or more fully," said Davis, a friend and political ally of Condit's. Condit's two children, Chad and Cadee, work for Davis.
Chad Condit, the congressman's 33-year-old son, appeared Monday night on CNN's Larry King Live, harshly criticizing Davis, his boss, for not standing by his father.
"There is no honor in kicking somebody when they are down," Chad Condit said, adding that he "has no reason not to trust" his father.
After last week's ABC interview, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., criticized Condit and raised the possibility of removing the congressman from the House Intelligence Committee.
Condit was interviewed about Levy four times by Washington, D.C., police and FBI profilers. During the third interview, he acknowledged an affair, according to a police source.
Police say Condit is not a suspect in Levy's disappearance, but have criticized him for not being more forthcoming earlier about his relationship with her.
Fox News' Rita Cosby and the Associated Press contributed to this report
https://www.foxnews.com/story/smith-reveals-details-of-intimate-relationship-with-condit