US Lawmaker Condit Under Criminal Investigation

US Federal authorities have begun an initial criminal inquiry into whether Democratic Congressman Gary Condit obstructed justice or encouraged perjury in the investigation of former intern Chandra Levy's missing case, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

FBI agents and prosecutors from the US attorney's office interviewed flight attendant Anne Marie Smith, 39, Wednesday and again Thursday. Smith claimed that Condit urged her to sign a statement denying a 10-month affair she says they had. She also said Condit told her she did not have to cooperate with FBI agents who questioned her.

"What is on the plate is perjury and obstructing justice, and we must decide if these allegations have merit," one law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity.

Condit, A Democratic Representative from California, has denied asking anyone to lie or not cooperate with investigators who are trying to figure out what happened to Levy.

Levy, who is from Modesto, California, part of Condit's congressional district, is missing since April 30. She just completed an internship at the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons. Police are treating Levy's disappearance as a missing person's case.

Congressman Condit, 53, a father of two, admitted in the third interview by authorities last week that he had affair with 24-year- old Levy.

The search for Levy was proceeding on several fronts Thursday, including a search of vacant buildings in the nation's capital.

Police also are negotiating with Condit's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, to set conditions under which the California Democrat would submit to a lie detector test. Police said Condit was not a suspect.

Condit's apartment in Washington D.C. was searched by police Wednesday. Several items taken from his apartment were being turned over to the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, said Joe Gentile, a police spokesman.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that FBI agents have also interviewed a Pentecostal minister who described an affair between his then-18-year-old daughter and Condit.

The minister, Otis Thomas, was quoted by the Post as saying Condit had told his daughter never to speak of the relationship.






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