Her dogged pursuit of the truth from the evasive congressman on PrimeTime Live Thursday had to impress viewers, even conservative Republicans she upset in 1995 by hoodwinking Newt Gingrich's mom into whispering into her ear on CBS.

        Ms. Chung — overshadowed on an ABC News staff by Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel, Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer — proved that she was their equal Thursday.

        Given only 30 minutes with the 53-year-old Democrat, she managed to ask all the questions Americans have been asking since the Washington intern vanished April 30.

        Did he kill her? Was she in love with him? Was she pregnant? Did she want Mr. Condit to leave his wife? Was he always truthful and forthcoming to investigators?

        She hammered away, repeatly trying to get him to admit he had a sexual affair with the woman half his age. He refused to cave. She refused to quit.

        Four times Mr. Condit resorted to his pre-programmed statement about having “been married for 34 years” and admitting he had “made his share of mistakes.”

        When he refused to say how often Ms. Levy had visited his Washington, D.C., apartment, Ms. Chung pressed harder:

        “Why are you reluctant to answer that question? If there was nothing wrong with it, why can't you say the number of times she visited you? ... Can you give us a general idea?”

        Mr. Condit replied: “I think it's best that we not go into it.”

        Not everything was about sex. She also grilled him on his statements to authorities investigating the woman's disappearance.

        Once she cut him off in mid-sentence by saying, “Truthfully, did you answer every question truthfully?”

        Another time, she said point-blank: “If you're not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing, why don't you take the polygraph test given by the police?”

        Ms. Chung also proved to be an effective listener. She deviated from her list of prepared questions to seize on statements made by Mr. Condit. She pounced on his claim that he tried to call Ms. Levy on April 31, pointing out that the month only had 30 days.

        Exasperated near the end of the interview, Ms. Chung boldly asked: “Do you fear the public out there may be disappointed that you didn't come forward and reveal details?” She also accused him of “stonewalling.”

        He replied: “I don't think I'm stonewalling at all. I think people expect that you should maintain some of your privacy. And I think your viewers out here will understand it.”

        Yes, we got it. Thanks to Ms. Chung, we could see a man refusing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

        In the close, Ms. Chung asked the congressman to elaborate on those mistakes he referred to in the first minutes of the program.

        “I've made all kinds of mistakes in my life,” he said. “But I'm not going into details on this program.”

        Viewers had to be thinking that doing a national TV interview with the relentless Ms. Chung was just another huge mistake for the politician.

        Contact John Kiesewetter by phone: 768-8519; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jkiesewetter@enquirer.com.

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