Lawyer: Condit feels abused by media

Condit's attorney says the congressman feels that the media "is not focused on what it should be"

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Gary Condit's lawyer says his client is fully cooperating with the police and still hopes that missing former intern Chandra Levy will be found, but feels "abused by the typhoon of the news media."

"He is absolutely frustrated that people don't understand the difference between him wanting to be cooperative with the police and not having a press conference on Pennsylvania Avenue and explaining everything about his life since he went to high school," said lawyer Abbe Lowell in an interview with MSNBC that was taped Thursday.

"I think he feels abused by the typhoon of the media that just sort of swirls around and knocks people over along the way."

VIDEO CNN's Candy Crowley reports on Condit's public relations dilemma (July 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Aunt says Levy described affair with Condit

The 53-year-old California Democrat hired Lowell in the face of a barrage of questions about his relationship with Levy, 24, a former intern with the Bureau of Prisons who was last seen at her Washington gym April 30.

"At the bottom of this, he's as concerned as he was about what happened to Chandra Levy and hopeful that she will be found," Lowell said about Condit, who has given no interviews since the disappearance.

"The fact that he's not giving long interviews to the press at this point is because the press is not focused on what it should be, which is the disappearance of Chandra Levy," Lowell said.

The Washington lawyer said one reason Condit had declined public comment is that he fears it could hinder the investigation. "Something that he or somebody else says that gets out in the media can actually have an impact on a lead the police may be following, and he doesn't want to take that risk," Lowell said.

But Condit has complied with police requests for information, Lowell said.

So, too, has Condit's wife, Carolyn, Lowell added. She was in the Washington area "about the same time that Chandra Levy was reported missing," he said. Though Mrs. Condit did not know Levy, "she has answered the questions the police had that might have any possible usefulness," Lowell said.

Throughout the public scrutiny of the case, Condit has tried to maintain his privacy, despite the fact that reporters have been tracking his public movements, Lowell said. "For 35 years in his marriage and 30 years in his public service he has kept his private life fairly private. It's hard for him to do now, but he's going to hold on and try."

Asked if Condit plans to quit, Lowell said, "He has given no thought to any such thing in any conversation I have overheard him have with anybody."

Instead, the congressman is focused on more immediate matters, Lowell said. "I think right now he's thinking about how am I helpful with the police, how do I keep my family together, how do I protect the privacy that I have earned over this past however-many decades?"

Despite the stresses borne by Condit, "he's holding up pretty well," his lawyer said.