NY Pol Wants FBI Probe Into Possible News Corp. Hacking of 9/11 Victims

Rep. Peter King urged the FBI on Wednesday to open an investigation into whether Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation attempted to obtain phone records of Sept. 11 victims, amid a growing scandal over phone hacking at the company's U.K. newspaper group.

The request for an FBI probe comes the same day British Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament he will look into whether victims of the 9/11 attacks were targeted or had their phones hacked by journalists working for Murdoch's news outlets, including the now-closed News of the World.

In a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, King said there are reports that "journalists working for the News of the World solicited a New York police officer to gain access to the content of private phone records of 9/11 victims from the days leading to the attacks."

King, a Republican representing Long Island, said he was asking for an FBI probe into News Corp. "not only as the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, but as a member of Congress who represents a district that lost more than 150 constituents in those terrorist attacks."

News Corp. shut down the 168-year-old News of the World last week following revelations that journalists at the tabloid, once the top selling paper in the U.K., hacked the phone records of ordinary citizens and paid police for information for stories they were working on.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat from New Jersey, has also called for a government investigation. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder he said that "further investigation may reveal that current reports only scratch the surface of the problem at News Corporation."

Contact Us