Hannity & Colmes: Is Condit's Silence Hurting the Investigation?

This partial transcript from Hannity & Colmes, June 22, 2001 was provided by the Federal Document Clearing House.

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COLMES: Welcome back to HANNITY & COLMES. I'm Alan Colmes.

But first: Congressman Gary Condit has finally met with Chandra Levy's mother and has contacted D.C. police to meet with them a second time. He insists he's shared all the information he knows about the missing intern. Many still speculate he has not been forthcoming about the nature of their relationship. Is Condit's silence hurting the case?

Joining us now in Mountain View, California, George M. Kraw, an attorney and columnist for the legal publication "The Recorder."

Counselor, nice to have you with us. What's wrong with this picture here? It seems like he didn't want to take -- the parents didn't want to take his call last weekend. Now he's meeting with them only with attorneys present. Why is he acting like a man who's got something to hide if he has nothing to hide?

GEORGE M. KRAW, ATTORNEY, "RECORDER" COLUMNIST: I don't know. I can't -- I can't answer that question. But Congressman Condit has an obligation to speak out and to -- to talk to the parents and also to explain his behavior, I think, to the public at large. I know his representatives here have wanted to make this a situation where -- where they will claim that -- that he should not be speaking out publicly because it would hurt the police investigation. I have not heard anything from the Washington police to that effect.

COLMES: He's -- are you pretty sure that he -- I mean, everybody thinks he must have had an affair with this woman and that even if he did, that wouldn't mean he's complicit in her disappearance or...

KRAW: No. And that's -- that's not -- that's not the issue. The issue is what does he know. He had at last 20 phone calls from her during the last month before she disappeared. There were four or five pages the day before. I mean, obviously, there was some relationship between them, and he has information concerning her.

Instead, he chose to hide behind press representatives and his lawyers and not -- not explain -- not explain the situation. His only interview with the Washington police was 15 or 20 minutes. I can't believe that if it wasn't a congressman it wouldn't have been longer than that. And even yesterday, when the Washington police wanted to talk to him, he said, well, he's busy on House business.

COLMES: Well, as an attorney, what would you suspect, then, is going on here, based on all that we do know and the behavior?

KRAW: Well, obviously, there's something embarrassing to the congressman. But I mean, that is not -- again, that is not the issue. The issue is what does he know? As a public official, he has an obligation to be a good citizen, too. And he is not -- he's certainly not -- he's certainly not fulfilling that obligation the way he's been behaving during the past...

COLMES: What's interesting is...

KRAW: ... the past few weeks.

COLMES: ... he initially offered $10,000 toward a reward, and that comes out of his campaign fund.

KRAW: Right.

COLMES: It's not even personal money. And there are questions about the propriety of that.

KRAW: Well, I don't -- again, the reward may be -- may be helpful, but I think the congressman has been more interested from day one in spinning the story than in helping to find -- helping to find Mr. Levy. I mean, he initially described her as a good friend and a great person. Then he checked himself into the witness protection program, so he wasn't available to talk to -- either to the family or to the press or anyone else.

HANNITY: Mr. Kraw, welcome to the program. I want to go back to this issue of preferential treatment because he's a congressman. As you pointed out, it was only 15 or 20 minutes. Now, seven weeks later, now he says publicly he's willing to meet with people, whoever is investigating the case. Police keep saying he's not a suspect, though. Is that believable?

KRAW: Well, I think the question of the competency of the Washington police is a separate issue that we could debate here. I mean, my point is simply that the congressman obviously knows something about this woman and was not willing to be forthcoming and -- and volunteer information early

on. I mean, it's the police that have to come to him. He has -- he has been quiet, using again his representatives and his lawyers to speak on his behalf. Obviously, he has information, and...

HANNITY: Yeah. His -- his behavior is odd. I mean, I think everybody could agree upon that. I mean, and it appears -- and I think this is why there's so much national speculation about this. It appears as

though he has something to hide.

Oh, I think we just lost our satellite.

You know, it appears in this particular case, the night -- it was sensitive, but don't know, and that's why I think it would be beneficial that he go public and tell everybody everything that he knows.

COLMES: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) understand his behavior. It just -- obviously, there's more to this story. We hope we can find out about it soon. And our hearts go out...

HANNITY: Well, and I -- and I hope and pray this -- they are able to find this woman and...

COLMES: We agree on that.

HANNITY: It is awful. Well, we lost our satellite. We got to take a break, and we'll come back.

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