Gary Condit gets apology, money from writer (Dominick Dunne)

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-condit16.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Former Rep. Gary Condit has settled his $11 million defamation lawsuit against writer Dominick Dunne, accepting an undisclosed amount of money and an apology for claims the writer made about Condit's role in the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy.

In a statement released from Condit lawyer Lin Wood on Tuesday, Dunne said he did "not say or intend to imply that Mr. Condit was complicit in her disappearance, and to the extent my comment may have been misinterpreted, I apologize for them." snip

Dunne specifically renounced his comments on radio's ''Laura Ingraham Show'' in December 2001 in which Dunne said a man told him Condit frequented Middle Eastern embassy sex parties. Dunne had also made comments in TV interviews that he believed Condit knew more about Levy's disappearance than he was telling authorities.

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[Wapsie B]

1. Now if only Joe "dead intern" Scarborough will come clean.

Joe, what happened to Lori?

[saskatoon]

5. Scarborough

I hate that I never see anything now re that damn Scarborough. There was tooooo much that was not exposed. i hope somebody smarter than I am will start a new probe into that. Come on some of you people who are so aware of what has gone on in the past, please resurrect how that guy was involved.

[Scairp]

2. Wow

I'm glad. I'm sick of these alleged journalists being able to say anything they want and hide behind the 1st amendment while they do it.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

17. Dunne's a slime

An ass-kissing "diarist" who lives and breathes just to be around famous and wealthy people, who define him.

The things he wrote about Gary Condit were shameful. I'm really glad Condit went after him. Maybe it'll shut him up now.

[WI_DEM]

3. That's the consequence of the "jump the gun" journalism of today

I think Condit is a slime, but is probably no different than most congressmen in having affairs on the side. Only problem is his affair--turned up missing. I wonder how come more people didn't jump the gun on Scarborough?

[hiley]

6. Scarborough is not a

Democratic party member so he can do what he wants.

[Frances]

7. It's simple

Scarborough is a Repub and Condit was a conservative Dem. Being conservative wasn't enough to save him.

[cliss]

16. I agree. Condit was sleazy,

but he didn't kill the girl. He just got caught doing something that he's been doing for years.

It ruined his career, trashed his family. From the way his wife looked in the tabloids, it will probably send her to an early grave.

Really sad.

But there are a lot worse things going on in Washington.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

18. Did you realize

that there was absolutely NO evidence that Condit was having an affair with that girl?

The only thing they had was that the girl had told her aunt (by marriage) that she was having an affair with a Congressman. She never named Condit, and the aunt looked - to me, anyway - like a complete head case.

No one else ever came forward to attest to the truthfulness of that story. I've been a Washington lawyer for 30 years, and I know that this kind of secret doesn't stay secret. Not ever. I doubt he ever had anything going with Chandra Levy.

How's that for disgusting?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. Bingo. Lots of people are being "convicted" by the media acting...

...as the propaganda arm of the far rightwing. By the time a real trial takes place the media goes nuts when somebody actually gets acquitted...like Robert Blake did today, for instance.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

27. Bingo, indeed

Do you know how people lie to get chosen for a jury?

It's so frustrating.............

[BeyondGeography]

4. If he charged Dunne $1 for every name he's dropped

during his career, the settlement was in the millions.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. The headline on page 24!!!!!

[LisaM]

9. OK, Dominick, what about Michael Skakel?

I hardly claim to know the truth about the Skakel case, but I think it's another DD and Court TV type smear job. Funny how Dunne only goes after people with Democratic connections.

I got in so many arguments with people over Condit. I don't like the guy, but thought the real irony in his case was that he had so publicly and sanctimoniously lectured Clinton over the Lewinsky incident, not that he was possibly involved in Chandra Levy's death. When she turned up apparently murdered by someone else, I got an apology or two - though sadly, no multi-million dollar settlement.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

19. Keep this in mind

Dunne has had a hard-on for the Kennedy family for DECADES. He hates them with a white-hot passion.

I was with a friend (journalist) who was covering the Smith rape trial in Florida a number of years ago, and one night, we ended up in Au Bar, the place where that whole mess started. Dunne was going on about the defendant and his family, and it was vitriol from beginning to end.

He's nuts.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

24. He's not only nuts, he's paid well to spread his bile far and wide.

[Eloriel]

10. Im sorry to hear this

AFAIC, Condit is another one of those sociopaths, not at all unlike Scott Peterson. He had NO remorse, and demonstrated absolutely no common, ordinary, regular, everyday normal human being type of sentiment about her, her disappearance, etc. No one who watches that interivew he had with Connie CHung who knows much about human nature could come away NOT recognizing his callous disregard for the sociopathology it is and ultimately suspecting him of complicity at the least.

There were a number of reasons to suspect his own involvement, if not directly then thru some of the "friends" he may have had in the intel community (thanks to his committee work in the House). I personally think he's guilty as sin -- either directly or indirectly, and NO ONE would be able to dissuade me.

A crime nearly as big as her disappearance and death is that he's getting away with whatever his part in it was -- even if "his part" was not giving a good god damn when she disappeared (tho I'm personally convinced "his part" was much, much more).

I hate seen Dunne muzzled on the subject.

[amazona]

15. the killer is known and is not any member of Intel!

Sheesh. Ingmar Guandique was a slimebag criminal purse-snatcher and assaulter of women from the lowest dregs of society. Not any spook from Intel or anything else. No tinfoil hats for this one.

Condit is innocent. He was a victim. I don't think we should be slamming Democrats who are victims of the media press machine here on DU, we can get that kind of focus anywhere on TV.

And Dominick Dunne can bite me.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[OldLeftieLawyer]

21. C'mere, Amazona

and let this OldLeftieLawyer give you a big hug for being the Voice Of Reason here.

:yourock:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

20. Can you direct me to anything.....

.......that definitively links Condit to Levy, in a romantic sense, that is?

There was no affair, and Dunne got all caught up in his own self-importance.

One of the facts you're overlooking is that Levy had been telling lots of stories - all of them false - to lots of people.

And if you can diagnose a malignant pathology like sociopathy simply by watching an interview, an edited interview, on TV, you're God.

Her disappearance was nothing - it happens all the time here in DC - until her crazy parents got her crazy aunt to go to the DC Police, another bunch of jokers, with the story that Chandra had told her she was having an affair with a Congressman. Other than that, there was absolutely NO evidence that such an affair had ever taken place.

Dunne's an animal, and a scoundrel, and a punk, and he should be muzzled. What he did to Condit was the crime.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. Hey, Eloriel...what evidence do you have that Condit even slept with...

...Condra Levy, much less killed her and disposed of his body? Where is it, Eloriel, and why did you keep it from the Condit investigation?

Thi must be a surprise to you, but Dunne is a long-standing rightwing gossip columnist that is paid very well to spread his hatred of liberals far and wide. He screwed up this time and had to cough up some bucks. Too bad more people haven't gone after the slimey little goose-stepping turd...maybe he'd be out of business by now.

Here's another clue for you....Connie Chung was NOT the liberal media star that you and others apparently think that she was by the time she interviewed Condit. Additionally, Condit had already been charged, tried, and executed by a media that has gone very far to the right...he was very angry with the media by the time of the Chung interview, and it was definitely very obvious. Maybe you ought to take a second look at that interview and see if you'll agree with me that Ms. Chung deserves an Emmy for her performance.

[Up2Late]

11. Does Scarborough have a "Call In" show?

That would be great to call in and ask him what he thinks, seeing how he got away with bumping of his Office worker.:evilgrin:

[joeybee12]

12. Good! Interesting how there never was any proof that Condit was involved

nor was there ever any proof he had sex with her. And once the body was found, the police never questioned him anymore. He got screwed because he was an easy target. Dunne represents all that is wrong with journalism today--gossip that passes as news. I'm glad he has to pay a price for his recklesness.

[amazona]

14. the killer was Ingmar A. Guandique

He had no relation to Gary Condit at all, he was a douchebag who assaulted other women jogging in Rock Creek Park in an identical matter and was in jail almost immediately because he got caught in two other attempted assaults.

It angers me that the police and the press conspired to smear Condit, and for what? The police at least had to know he was innocent. Their excuse for clearing Guandique by mistake, oops, for several months was flimsy beyond belief. They used the opportunity to attack an innocent man shamelessly and without mercy.

There is no mystery about who killed Levy, and it just boils my blood when anyone tries to claim Condit had anything to do with it, because it is not fair to slander a man on page 1 and then admit he's innocent on page 57. I can't stand the unfairness of trying to destroy a man and his family just for a cheap news story.

I am glad Dunne has to pay but I think a lot more media ghouls should have been forced to pay and if there was a way to make police departments pay for their bungling, hell, they should pay as well.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[stillcool]

13. That whole MSM extravaganza seems like so long ago.....

The summer of Chandra Levy and shark attacks. It really makes me question anything that i ever 'learned' by way of cable news. They lie.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

22. And then along came 9/11,

and we found out what it's like to be screwed.

I long for the good old days of shark attacks. The kind done by sharks. The kind in the water.

[DawnneOBTS]

26. I remeber that too...

Being in Ocean City, MD for Labor Day Weekend when the boy was killed in VA Beach. Everybody was like "SHARK." A week later, it was all forgotten. You know how you think back on how much you've enjoyed your vacation for a while after it's over? Well it ended really quickly in 2001. Brings back a bad memory. BTW, I agree with you 100% on Chandra Levy. If Condit was a Rethug, he would have never been accused at all.