Condit had a private meeting with Cheney on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, May 1, to discuss the California energy crisis, according to White House and law-enforcement sources. The meeting began at 12:30 p.m. EDT and lasted for about 20 to 25 minutes, the sources said.
It was at that very moment that, according to police, Levy was in her Dupont Circle apartment wrapping up a three-hour-plus session on her laptop computer in which she sent out e-mails and surfed the Internet. She searched for plane schedules for return trips to California, looking for discount fares on Southwest Airlines, and clicked on various Web sites, apparently to check out locations in Washington, including, law-enforcement sources say, a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream store.
Analysis of the hard drive on Levy’s laptop shows she signed off the computer about 1 p.m., the last moment for which police can account for the 24-year-old former Bureau of Prisons intern. For the past two months, her disappearance has been the subject of a massive and virtually unprecedented investigation that has thoroughly baffled federal and local law-enforcement officials and generated international media attention-much of it fueled by speculation about her secret romantic relationship with Condit.
But not until today did Cheney’s name surface as a potentially important witness in establishing a precise accounting for Condit’s activities during the moments that Levy is believed to have vanished. White House sources say that, so far, neither the vice president nor anybody on his staff has been contacted by the Washington police department. Sources familiar with the meeting say that Cheney and two aides met with Condit that day at the suggestion of Republican leaders who view Condit, a moderate Democrat, as a potential ally of the White House. The sources say that Condit did not appear to be overly distracted or under stress during the meeting, which revolved around talks about the vice president’s energy plan and soaring electricity prices in California. “There was nothing unusual about the meeting,” a White House official said.
One unanswered question is why the vice president’s office, in response to questions from NEWSWEEK and other news organizations, waited until today to confirm that Cheney met privately with Condit on one of the most important days in the Levy investigation. Cheney aides appeared loathe to discuss the meeting apparently out of fear that the vice president’s name might be associated in any way, even tangentially, with a tawdry Washington scandal. “I have no comment,” said Julianna Glover Weiss, the vice president’s press secretary.
After that, police and other sources say, Condit returned to his office on Capitol Hill and stayed there until about 5 p.m. doing office work, taking phone calls and meeting with staff members. He may also have gone to the House gym and worked out. Around 5 p.m., Condit left his office and went to a doctor’s appointment, returning to Capitol Hill sometime after 6 p.m. to vote twice on the House floor on resolutions involving autism and supporting National Charter Schools Week. Condit also submitted a written speech into the Congressional Record praising Tom Sawyer, the sheriff and coroner of Merced County. About 7 p.m., a staff member drove Condit to his Washington apartment where, the congressman has said, he spent the rest of the evening with his wife, Carolyn, who was visiting from California.
Despite their continued frustration with the level of Condit’s cooperation, law-enforcement officials say the timing of the session with Vice President Cheney-and the rest of Condit’s activities that day- provide a reasonably persuasive account that makes it less likely Condit had any direct role in Levy’s disappearance. “He was in his office [that afternoon],” said one law-enforcement official. “We’ve spoken to his staff and we’re comfortable with their responses. His time is accounted for.”
Late today, Washington police released a complete list of 30 Web sites Levy visited on her computer on May 1. They included the official House of Represenatives Web site, as well as the site for the House Agriculture Committee, on which Condit serves. Among others were the sites for The Washington Post, The Modesto Bee, USA Today, National Geographic and the Drudge Report, as well as Amtrak, Southwest Airlines and GoFrance.About.com. Investigators say they have been unable to glean anything especially noteworthy from the list of Web sites, a point perhaps best underscored by Levy’s visit to the Baskin-Robbins Web site. Sources say Levy apparently was checking out the address of a nearby Baskin-Robbins on Connecticut Avenue. She also had downloaded discount ice-cream coupons that were found in her apartment, along with her clothing, her credit cards, her ATM bank card and two pairs of sneakers, after she disappeared. A visit to the site suggests that Levy may have been planning a visit to Baskin-Robbins the following evening, May 2, which was billed as “Free Scoop Night.”
