ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin's grandchild, said the former Republican vice presidential candidate wanted to adopt his child so that people wouldn't know her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Johnston said Palin had a plan to deal with Bristol's pregnancy.
"Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging - she wouldn't give it up. She would say, 'So, are you gonna let me adopt him?' We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn't want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid," Johnston told the magazine for its October edition, which goes on sale Saturday. Excerpts of the interview were posted Wednesday on the magazine's Web site.
Meghan Stapleton, Palin's spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to request for comment, but has previously discounted Johnston's allegations. Palin has been keeping a low profile since she resigned on July 26 with more than a year left in her first term.
A week after Republican presidential candidate John McCain named Palin as his running mate, the campaign issued a statement that her unwed daughter was pregnant. It also said Bristol, now 18, and the young man would marry. Johnston, 19, lived with the Palins awaiting the birth of Tripp, who was born in December.