Condit lawyer rejects resignation calls

Abbe Lowell blames Condit's staff in part for his client's public image.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Despite a series of poorly received interviews, the attorney for Rep. Gary Condit said Sunday his client would neither resign nor give up his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.

"I don't think he's considering that at all," attorney Abbe Lowell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Condit, 53 and married, is under fire because of his relationship to a missing former government intern and his conduct during the investigation into her disappearance. In his latest interview the California Democrat blamed the news media for at least some of his troubles.

"The press has sort of made this into a soapbox scandal ... to keep their ratings up," an angry Condit declared in the Newsweek issue scheduled to hit the stands Monday. The story was posted on the magazine's Web site Sunday.

In Thursday's ABC interview with Connie Chung, Condit never directly answered a central question: Did he have a romantic relationship with missing 24-year-old former intern Chandra Levy?

"We had a close relationship. I liked her very much," Condit told Chung. Because of a desire to respect his family's privacy and a "specific request by the Levy family," he would not provide details about the nature of their relationship, Condit said.

"I've been married 34 years. I have not been a perfect man. I have made mistakes in my life," said Condit. He repeated that line four times during the ABC interview.

Although Condit's camp had hoped the interviews would at least calm the political waters, the opposite seems to be happening.

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Numerous lawmakers and political pundits, including Democrats, have criticized Condit as evasive in the interviews. The Modesto Bee, the leading newspaper in his California district, repeated its call for Condit to resign.

Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said in an interview Sunday he was "disappointed" in Condit's performance and pointedly declined to endorse the lawmaker.

Asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether Condit should resign, McAuliffe said, "That decision's up to Gary, and that's up to the voters in central California. They have to make that decision."

McAuliffe said it was "possible" that Democrats in California might redraw Condit's district in such a way that he would lose some key areas of support.

A CNN poll of 501 adults in Condit's Modesto-area district indicates the congressman's troubles are costing him support.

The poll, conducted Friday and Saturday, indicated a majority of those who voted for him last year would vote against him in 2002, with just 40 percent of Condit voters from 2000 saying they would vote to re-elect him.

Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," two Republican lawmakers -- Rep. David Drier of California and Scott McInnis of Colorado -- said the House Ethics Committee should investigate Condit. One of their colleagues, Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, already has called for an investigation.

"It's appropriate at this point for the Ethics Committee to looked into this," said Drier, a point that won the grudging agreement of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New York, who said it was premature to call for Condit's resignation.

"There's nothing but smoke out there," Rangel said. "And since Bob Barr has already initiated a complaint ... I think his complaint should be investigated and we should see whether there's any fire here."

Lowell, Condit's attorney, dismissed the calls for the lawmaker to give up his seat on the House Intelligence Committee. Several Republicans have said his conduct has left him vulnerable, and they have questioned his truthfulness.

"Congressman Condit has shown his ability to hold information," Lowell said on NBC. "Maybe some people are criticizing him, saying he holds it too well.

"And Congressman Condit has also shown that there are so many stories about him out there -- I mean this -- there's really nothing that people could blackmail him about. And he has proven his effectiveness as an Intelligence Committee member. Why would he resign now?"

Lowell also appeared to blame Condit's staff for one disputed point -- whether the lawmaker knowingly misled the public and investigators about the nature of his relationship with Levy. Initially, aides to Condit had specifically disputed reports of an affair.

"Congressman Condit did not tell his staff to go out and lie. Congressman Condit did not authorize those statements to be made," Lowell said.

"Those staff people spoke about what they hoped was the truth and what they thought was the truth. And they acted very quickly, and they acted sort of in what they assumed was the issue. And that is something that they have answered to."

In the Newsweek interview, Condit described in a little more detail his relationship with Levy, although he refused to say whether it was an affair.

"We were close," he told the magazine. "I never made any bones about that." He described Chandra as "full of life" and said the two "hit it off well."

He disputed reports from Levy's aunt that the two had discussed a future together as a couple.

"We never had a conversation about marriage or a future or children," Condit said. "She understood her boundaries very well."