MSNBC reports. Excerpt:
July 25 — A private polygraph administered to Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., asked 10 questions, four dealing with Chandra Levy and none with allegations by a flight attendant that the congressman tried to persuade her to sign a false affidavit, The Associated Press has learned.
THREE INDIVIDUALS who have seen the test results since they were turned over to police said the former FBI lie-detector test expert who administered it did not directly ask the congressman if he had an affair with the missing former federal intern.
The test did ask another question designed to get at the issue, according to the sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.
“Has Chandra Levy ever been to your residence in Washington?” the polygrapher asked, according to the sources. Condit answered “yes,” and the polygrapher concluded he was truthful, the sources said.
Condit acknowledged an affair with Levy in his third interview with police, according to a police source. He took the lie-detector a few days later. Since Condit took the test, police have openly questioned its validity.
The expert who conducted the polygraph, former FBI agent Barry D. Colvert, concluded Condit was not deceptive on any of the 10 questions, the sources said. A separate computer calculation conducted after the test concluded the chances of his lying were less a hundredth of 1 percent.
Washington police have publicly suggested the private polygraph was inadequate because it was administered on behalf of Condit’s lawyers. Police are pressing for a fourth interview with Condit and a second lie-detector test, this one conducted by authorities.
“Our point all along is that it can’t be validated because none of our professionals were there,” Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer said Wednesday. He declined to discuss the actual results, saying he had never seen the polygraph.
The sources said the FBI and police detectives interviewed Colvert for more than an hour late last week about why he chose the questions and his assessment of Condit’s credibility.
Abbe Lowell, Condit’s attorney, said earlier this month that Condit took the polygraph and answered “no” to three questions:
• Did the congressman have anything at all to do with Levy’s disappearance?
• Did he harm her or cause anyone else to harm her in any way?
• Does he know where she can be located?
The question about visits to his apartment was the only other question on the test about Levy, the sources said. The other six questions, the sources said, involved more generic issues designed to provide the polygrapher with a baseline to determine Condit’s credibility.
The polygrapher didn’t ask any questions about California flight attendant Anne Marie Smith, who alleges she had an affair with Condit and later was asked by the congressman and his representatives to sign an affidavit denying a relationship, the sources said.
Condit has said he never asked anyone to lie.