The Justice Department is investigating possible phone hacking of Sept. 11 victims by News Corp. journalists, Attorney General Eric Holder told family members of victims in the terrorist attack Wednesday.
During a 75-minute meeting with about 10 victims’ relatives, Holder “broke protocol by acknowledging there is an investigation,” New York attorney Norman Siegel told reporters after accompanying the family members to the meeting in Washington.
“[Holder's] words with regard to the allegations, he said they were ‘very disturbing’ and that it is a priority for him and the DOJ,” Siegel told Fox News. “We didn’t get the specificity that we would have liked, but did not realistically expect. We are not accusing anyone of wrongdoing at this point. Hopefully the allegation turns out to be not true.”
Family members offered to give the department old cell phone numbers and computer data used by the victims to help with the probe, Siegel said, adding that he also expects government lawyers to enlist the help of cell phone carriers like Verizon and AT&T.
But Siegel said he didn’t have any evidence of hacking, and neither Holder nor Assistant FBI Director Kevin Perkins, who also attended the meeting, indicated having such evidence.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that FBI investigators haven’t found hard evidence that News Corp. employees might have hacked phones connected to the victims of the 9/11 attacks and that they have broadened their inquiry to look for other cases of potential phone hacking by the company.
Holder had agreed to meet with 9/11 family members after allegations that their phones or the phones of their family may have been hacked by employees of News Corp. surfaced in the British media.
Jim Riches, a former deputy chief in the New York Fire Department whose son, Jimmy, died in the attacks on the World Trade Center told reporters he would hate to know that people were listening to calls he received after the attack.
“I received many phone calls after 9/11 concerning body parts and my son,” Riches said. “These are things that people don’t realize that 9/11 families had to go through. And I would hate to know that people were listening
