Condit Aide Denies Pressing Mistress
W A S H I N G T O N, July 26, 2001 -- Rep. Gary Condit's top aide in Washington today denied reports that he urged a former colleague to lie to FBI agents about her relationship with the congressman.
USA Today quoted former Condit staffer Joleen McKay as claiming that Mike Dayton, the congressman's senior staffer on Capitol Hill, had urged her to "leave [the affair] in the past or it will ruin you."
Law enforcement sources tell ABCNEWS that McKay, now 29 and married, has told the FBI she carried on an affair with Condit in 1994.
Dayton Denies Claim
Asked by ABCNEWS this morning if he had ever asked any woman to lie to police and the FBI, Dayton answered, "Absolutely not."
McKay is now the second woman from Condit's past who has come forward to claim she was pressured to keep quiet. Flight attendant Anne Marie Smith also has told investigators she was urged by Condit intermediaries to sign a false affidavit denying an affair with the California Democrat.
The Modesto Bee reports that Dayton and his boss, Condit chief of staff Mike Lynch, have each hired high-powered criminal defense lawyers.
Another former Condit staffer tells ABCNEWS that Dayton first knew McKay in high school, introduced her to Condit at an Independence Day parade in Modesto and often chauffeured them around the city.
FBI agents and police want Condit to answer some questions about this relationship with McKay as it relates to their search for missing intern Chandra Levy.
Watch Box Questions
Law enforcement sources tell ABCNEWS investigators will get that chance, as Condit has agreed to meet for a fourth time with investigators searching for Levy.
Police say Condit is not a suspect in Levy's disappearance. But the married congressman has acknowledged to police, sources say, that he carried on an affair with the 24-year-old Federal Bureau of Prisons intern.
Investigators are expected to ask Condit, 53, about a watch box he was seen discarding in a trash bin in Northern Virginia hours before police searched his Washington apartment on July 10.
Law enforcement officials believe it was Dayton's car that Condit was spotted getting out of when he discarded the watch box, based on the witness' description of the car. Officials have no reason to believe the driver was not Dayton, although the witness could not identify the driver.
Law enforcement sources say the watch box was traced back to McKay, who has told the FBI she had a sexual relationship with Condit while working in his Washington office in 1994. McKay also told agents she gave the watch to Condit as a gift.
Workplace Romance
According to a source who also worked in Condit's office at the time, McKay worked first as a receptionist and later, after Condit's personal tutoring helped her learn the policy ropes, was promoted to legislative aide. Congressional records confirm she was an employee in Condit's office in 1994.
The former Condit aide says McKay carried on an affair with Condit for at least a year in Washington, a relationship that continued after she left Washington and moved to San Francisco in the fall of 1994.
After she left the congressman's office, the source tells ABCNEWS, McKay became a "phantom employee," a term of art on Capitol Hill for a person who no longer works in an office but continues collecting pay. Though the source said she was a phantom staffer for at least a month, ABCNEWS has been unable to confirm a departure date to match against congressional payroll records.
The affair was well known among Condit's Washington staff, the source said, and even among fellow congressmen.
"I noticed they constantly went out together and even double-dated with other congressmen and their mistresses," the source said.
But Condit laid down rigid rules of secrecy for the relationship, the source said, including a code for leaving nonverbal messages on McKay's answering machine using buttons on the phone. The secrecy "was so overwhelming for her," the source said, "she would have emotional eruptions throughout the day."
"I was blind to the affair until finally I confronted her about why she kept bursting into tears and running out of the office," the source said. "I noticed she would go in to meet with him and then come out crying. But no one on the staff ever spoke of it."
Another source of friction allegedly was jealousy.
"'I can't have any friends," the source quoted MacKay saying. "'He gets jealous. He's very jealous.'"
The source has not been contacted by police or the FBI. While police say they are suspicious about the timing of Condit's decision to dispose of the watch case he received from this young woman, sources say there is no evidence at this time to link the incident to Levy's disappearance.
Lingering Questions
When Condit sits down for his next interview with police, it will mark the second time FBI agents have participated. Also joining this week's meeting will be an FBI victimization profiler. The profiler hopes Condit can help shed more light on Levy's life in Washington. This interview is expected to take place before the weekend.
Agents and police also want Condit to provide greater detail about the timeline of his activities on May 1, the day Levy vanished. Police detectives today interviewed ABCNEWS reporter Rebecca Cooper about the timeline Condit has provided detailing his activities in the days surrounding Levy's disappearance. Cooper confirmed to police that she met with Condit at the Tryst coffee shop in his Adams Morgan neighborhood on May 2, late in the afternoon.
As for the McKay allegations, while the U.S. attorney's office launched a preliminary inquiry last month to determine whether Condit may have tried to obstruct justice in the probe, law enforcement sources tell ABCNEWS this aspect of the Levy case is "not a priority" at the moment.
The sources say investigators are likely to revisit the issue at some point, and may re-interview Dayton and other Condit staffers, but are currently focusing their resources on the search for Levy.
A senior law enforcement source says police and the FBI continue exploring the possibility that Levy may have been a victim of a street crime and are looking into sex offenders who have been released recently in Washington. They also are looking into acquaintances of Levy.
ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.