Condit Calls Flight Attendant a Liar

Congressman Gary Condit says Anne Marie Smith is a liar. The California Democrat, in televised interviews Thursday night and Friday, accused the flight attendant of making up the story that she had a sexual relationship with him.

Condit accused Smith of trying to use Levy’s disappearance to grab some fame and money. He also denied Smith's charge that he asked her to sign an affidavit denying their relationship.

But Smith, saying she was "appalled" by Condit's two television interviews, said Friday that she can prove both that the affair took place and that she was asked to sign a legal document denying it.

"It is ludicrous for him to say everyone is lying but him," Smith told Fox News Friday. She said she came forward only because Condit had asked her to lie, and that she had not made "one dollar" from doing so.

Smith, 39, said she can describe the layout of Condit’s Washington apartment.

She also said she can corroborate the allegation that Condit required his girlfriends to follow a set of "rules" in order to conceal their relationships with him.

The rules — which included instructions not to carry identification when visiting Condit's apartment — were the same as the ones Chandra Levy allegedly told her aunt that Condit asked her to follow.

Levy’s identification was found in her apartment after she disappeared.

Smith reportedly told the FBI she ended a year-long romantic relationship with Condit when she saw press reports about Levy. She said she had not spoken to Condit in the two weeks or so before the 24-year-old federal intern disappeared, but she did call him after she was contacted by the FBI.

Smith said Condit told her not to talk to the media or law enforcement authorities.

In July, Smith's lawyers supplied Fox News with a copy of what they said was a draft of the affidavit Condit asked Smith to sign. They said the document contained a note written by Don Thornton, an investigator who works with Condit's West Coast attorney. In an interview with ABC’s Connie Chung Thursday night, Condit said he never asked Smith to lie about the alleged affair.

"I didn't ask anyone to lie about anything. I did not ask Anne Marie not to cooperate with law enforcement. That's an absolute lie," Condit said.

Condit did not deny the existence of the affidavit, but called it "a lawyer-to-lawyer" statement that he "had nothing to do with."

Condit did not explain why his attorneys would fire off such a document without his authorization. But when asked why Smith was asked to sign an affidavit saying she did not have an affair with him, Condit replied tersely, "Because she didn’t."

"I'm puzzled by people who take advantage of tragedy — a missing person that they don't even know," Condit told Chung. "She's taken advantage of this tragedy. She didn't know Chandra Levy. So she gets to have her moment of publicity, of financial gain. And I'm puzzled by that," he said.

On Friday, in an interview with a local California television station, Condit told reporter Jodi Hernandez that Smith’s motives should be questioned.

"Her motive is to sell a story to a tabloid. That's what she did. And for you to embrace that as just a regular news story is a little bit questionable to me," Condit said.

Smith told Fox News she was outraged by Condit's attack on her character.

Feminist commentator Susan Estrich called Condit’s comments  the "nuts and sluts" defense, a strategy in which men in Condit’s position attack the mental stability or moral reputation of women like Smith who come forward.