Tom Hayes reports: "Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating allegations that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp hacked, or tried to hack, into the phones of 9/11 victims. His comments underlined the seriousness of Murdoch's trouble on both sides of the Atlantic, and came on the same day that his top deputy in Britain resigned her office."

News Corporation Chief Rupert Murdoch is seen through his car window as he leaves his London home, 07/15/11. (photo: Ben Stansall/Getty Images)

FBI Opens Investigation Into Murdoch's
News Corp.

By Tom Hays, Associated Press

15 July 11

law enforcement official says the FBI has opened an investigation into allegations media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims.

The official spoke Thursday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

New York City-based News Corp. has been in crisis mode because of a scandal that sank its UK newspaper the News of the World.

A rival newspaper reported last week the News of the World had hacked into the phone of UK teenage murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 and may have impeded a police investigation into her disappearance. More possible victims soon emerged, including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Murdoch says his media company will recover from any damage wrought by the phone-hacking and police bribery allegations.

The FBI's New York office hasn't commented.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

The decision to investigate was made after US Rep. Peter King and several other members of Congress wrote FBI Director Robert Mueller demanding an investigation, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

The official stressed that the probe was in its infancy but declined to discuss the scope of it or say whether any investigative steps had been taken.

News Corp., based in New York, has been in crisis mode because of a scandal that sank its UK newspaper the News of the World.

A rival newspaper reported last week that the News of the World had hacked into the phone of UK teenage murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 and may have impeded a police investigation into her disappearance.

More possible victims soon emerged: other child murder victims, 2005 London bombing victims, the families of dead soldiers and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

US Department of Justice spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said Thursday that the department "does not comment specifically on investigations, though anytime we see evidence of wrongdoing, we take appropriate action."

The FBI and US attorney's office in New York declined comment. There was no immediate response to a phone message left for News Corp.

King, a Republican, said Thursday afternoon he had not officially been contacted by the FBI and said he wanted to reserve comment until he hears from the agency.

"If they do, I'd be gratified," he said in a brief telephone interview with the AP.

On Thursday, Murdoch caved in to pressure from Britain's Parliament as he and his son James first refused, then agreed, to appear next week before lawmakers investigating phone hacking and bribery by employees of their newspaper empire.

Murdoch began his media career in Australia in 1952 after inheriting The News newspaper after the death of his father, and he has built News Corp. into one of the world's biggest media groups. Assets include Fox News, the 20th Century Fox movie studio, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and three newspapers in Britain - down from four with the death of the News of the World.

Also Thursday, Scotland Yard said it had made its seventh arrest related to the inquiry into phone hacking at the now-defunct tabloid, whose closure was a doomed effort to keep alive a bid for the highly profitable network British Sky Broadcasting. Police didn't disclose the name of the arrested man.

Associated Press writer Frank Eltman contributed to this report.

Expert: Murdoch May Face US Charges

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+17 # Heartbeatt 2011-07-15 09:32

So, lets see how it will go. There are so many who have sucked up to him, besides countless he has bribed, donated to their political parties, and then hacked their phones, emails, accountants, etc. - so he probably has the dirt on a great number of highly-placed people.
Plus a huge amount of money handy to pay scrupulous lawyers.
Doesn't look good for those who are appalled and revolted, but the winds of change do seem to be blowing strong!

+1 # AML 2011-07-18 11:03

If you were one of those people, wouldn't you consider this a chance in a million to free yourself from the bondage of being in bed with him? If everyone does it at once there is the chance his evil empire could crumble.

+17 # humanmancalvin 2011-07-15 09:56

Okey-Dokey...Murdoch & Fox-Non-News to be investigated by groups of law officials & politico's that would surely include some from the Republican party. Hmmm..why do I see the proverbial monkey wrench being thrown into the gears of any such investigation? Don't know about you, but I generally do not "bite the hand that feeds me."
Now, if this investigation were to take place in say, Canada, where Fox news is not even allowed to be aired because it has been determined to be a biased source of right wing political propaganda rather than an actual "News" program, then I would have some faith in a "Fair & Balanced" outcome.Now here in the good ole' USA, let me just say I have more than my fair share of doubt that there will even be a hand-slapping rather than any type of reform even if wire tapping of 9/11 family victims are proven.
America:right or wrong!!! Ahhh..no.

0 # billy bob 2011-07-15 12:16

I agree, but fox is allowed in Canada. I can't remember what the exact deal is, but apparently it's only not shown through certain venues.

-1 # humanmancalvin 2011-07-15 15:40

Wrong..unless perhaps picked up by a private satellite owner. It is banned by the Canadian government. Please feel free to Google.

+1 # billy bob 2011-07-15 20:15

I Googled it and here's an RSN article I found:

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/276-74/5123-fox-news-lies-keep-them-out-of-canada

Look at the comments from Canadians at the bottom. I don't live in Canada, but according to them, Fox isn't allowed to air a "Canadian" broadcast, but cable providers are allowed to show American broadcasts of Fox. There's no Canadian law against that. So, yes, you CAN watch Fox on Canadian cable TV, but it will be an "American" broadcast, rather than one made specially for Canada.

+12 # Lulie 2011-07-15 10:10

I hope they nail the bastard. But they probably won't -- he's rich.

+8 # fredboy 2011-07-15 10:28

Arrogance takes many paths.
It's time for Murdoch to be revealed.

+15 # Margaret Morris 2011-07-15 10:29

The story broke in the Guardian first but got a mild tsk tsk reaction from the politicos who are Murdoch's friends. What took the story and turned it into the fall of the Murdochian empire in the UK was the action of people on a mom's blog who were incensed enough to target the ADVERTISERS of News of the World in large numbers and with great success. A stampede of them cancelled with the tabloid. And the story got legs.

It was only then that the politicians and the cops acted.

Those of us who are annoyed with the Faux in Fox could do the same when a juicy issue arises. Beck's demise happened with this sort of effort.

+4 # William Bjornson 2011-07-15 10:55

The FBI! The FBI is compromised beyond any credibility at all. It only takes seeing the domestic terrorism ops they are running against us. A perfect example is the psyop against the City of Portland, Oregon. They took an innocent, acute emotionally disturbed young man (18 yo, his parents told him their intention to divorce) and, using a Middle Eastern asset who previously was earning 'bounties' recruiting and converting recent orphans of American firebombings, subjected him to the same treatment. His many friends all said this "most normal guy" just "changed", became angry and argunentative. But, why would the FBI do this to the young Mohamed Osman Mohamud? Because for 5 years, Portland has been defying Homeland Security by being the only city in America to refuse to join the JTTF, which allows the Feds to simply 'take complete control' of all local resources with absolutely no local oversight or even knowledge of what the resources will be used for. That's why.

+5 # William Bjornson 2011-07-15 10:56

#2: Portland had a wise, old exPolice Chief mayor at the time, Mayor Tom Potter, who understands these things and said, "No way!" is that going to happen HERE. If you read the arrest warrant and FBI affidavit with an eye to how you, yourself, would attempt to incriminate an innocent person, you will learn much from this document. If you go into the background and learn of Mr. Mohamud independently, learn how the FBI profiled this lad in his emotional extremity as 'convertable', how they blocked his attempt to work on a fishing boat in Alaska (confirmed job) during summer break from his high GPA college courses, how a Mosque was 'firebombed' immediately following the Portland operation to silence the Muslim community, and his current 'protective custody' (long-term solitary confinement) and 'suicide watch' (naked), the 'fifth columnist' on the Portland City Council, you will see clearly that the spirit of the KKK is alive and well in the FBI, because this is nothing less than a "LYNCHING". A talented young man will spend his life in prison so Portland could be forced into the JTTF.

+7 # William Bjornson 2011-07-15 10:57

#3: Incidentally, the current Portland City Council, compared to Tom Potter's term, is ruled by the original keeper of the 'skeletonized closet'. Add a council member with a hidden agenda to the council, and it's an easy, and SUCCESSFUL psyop for the FBI. This identical scenario has been used in several other places (Maryland, Florida, et al) to secure Homeland Security objectives. The FBI went completely corrupt under hoover (transie) and his psychopathic lover, the arch Homophobe, cohn. Read your own history. Naw, the FBI works FOR people like murdock. It's laughable to think they work for us.

+11 # Ray Pierotti 2011-07-15 11:07

Here is another thing we need to consider. This could lead to FOX "news" shutting down. We need to pit pressure on all of the other networks, MSNBC, CNN, etc. to make sure that they don't hire the likes of O'Reilly, Hanity, Karlson, Ducik, etc. These people need to be driven from journalism permanently. A letter and email writing campaign should start immediately. maybe we can drive this scourge from within our midst.

+6 # rose 2011-07-15 11:38

I sincerely hope that something comes from this FBI investigation that seriously discredits that sorry excuse of a "news" network, Fox. They, no doubt, are not covering this story even for a millisecond...hypocrites!

+2 # reiverpacific 2011-07-15 12:02

"William Bjornson". Well said; I live at the Oregon coast but follow Portland "Cop Watch" on that city's excellent radio station KBOO (I programmed for them at one time). Portland has an unenviable recent record of what only can be described as racially motivated shootings, especially of "disturbed" unarmed people. Not as progressive as the city likes to put out, eh?
As for the FBI, credibility on their part has never really recovered from the bad ol' days of J. Ed'. Hoover's COINTELPRO, it's many victims (like Leonard Peltier) and in fact, may have never actually gone away, just become more hi-tech and less traceable.
Which points to the irony of this crowd investigating Murdoch's News Corp' for pretty much the same thing; I'm certainly not defending Muck-doch, far from it. Just pointing out the double standard or if you like, the dirty pot-investigating the scabby kettle scenario which is likely to unfold and be whitewashed like so many other crimes of a socio-political nature.
Sometimes you just have to chuckle in a "Gallows-humor" kinda way.

+6 # JohnnyK 2011-07-15 13:47

Isn't Fox supposed to be fair and balanced? Bill O'Reilly says it is.

+3 # Paul Scott 2011-07-15 14:18

The fact that Murdoch’s BS has been of minor interest, in England, for four years and has only recently gotten special attention is very interesting.

The other issue that was trying to get out of the basement, where it had been locked since it’s revelation a few years back was the Bush/Cheney torture of POW’s.

However, a four year old investigation that had been simmering for four years, and getting very little traction, was turned to boiling the point overnight. I simply don't buy coincidences in goverment corruption any more.

The question is, can DOJ do two things at once; its past history says no and I have a pretty strong hunch which issue will be kept locked in the basement

Maybe old Rupert is being used just like he used others.

+4 # Kayjay 2011-07-15 15:32

Maybe the lack of coverage of Mudoch's plight on Fox news will illuminate the network's bias and hypocrisy to its right wing fandom. And thus the BOYCOTT Fox network campaign may have some serious traction. Murdoch probably won't do any prison time, but may his empire will crumble around his ankles.

+3 # billy bob 2011-07-16 05:59

Many people who watch fox news refuse to watch or listen to anything else. They have no idea what's going on in the world around them. Why should they start being more intelligent now?

If fox was suddenly taken off the air many right wingers would think their cable was out. There are restaurants in the south and midwest that would air a blue screen on the 4 TV sets on every wall, because no one even remembers where the remote is.

There are entire sections of this country that would be forced into the dark ages as people tried to extract the news from chrystal balls, soothsayers, chicken entrails and talkiing dogs on their mail route. Some people'd be afraid there was a power outage.

Anything to avoid reality, because reality is NOT "fair and balanced" to their opinion.

-3 # acomfort 2011-07-15 17:52

I like the idea of a boycott of FOX . . . oh wait . . . does that mean I can't watch FOX sports???

+1 # billy bob 2011-07-15 20:15

Yeah, it does.

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