THIS JUST IN July 19, 2011
Murdochs, Brooks, police testify in phone-hacking scandal
Mallory Simon, CNN News blog editor
Edi tor’s Note: Don’t miss live cov er age of tes ti mo ny by police, Rupert Mur doch, James Mur doch and Rebekah Brooks before the British Par lia ment in the phone-hacking scan dal. It begins at 7:00 a.m. ET Tues day on CNN.com/Live, the CNN apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and select ed Nokia hand sets inter na tion al ly. Rupert and James Mur doch and Rebekah Brooks’ ques tion ing will begin at 9:30 a.m. ET. The two hear ings may overlap.
[Updat ed at 1:52 p.m. GMT, 9:52 a.m. ET] New York Times media reporter Brian Stel ter tweets a com ment about Rupert Mur doch’s answer about his com pa ny — one many expect ed Mur doch would say dur ing this hear ing.
@brianstelter: “Is Rupert Mur doch using the we’re-a-really-big-company defense?”
[Updat ed at 1:52 p.m. GMT, 9:52 a.m. ET] Rupert Mur doch asks to say some thing. Thump ing the table repeat ed ly, he says News of the World is only 1% of his com pa ny; he employs 53,000 peo ple around the world and he has to rely on their integri ty.
[Updat ed at 1:50 p.m. GMT, 9:50 a.m. ET] The direct hear ing on the phone hacking, which saw senior police fig ures tes ti fy ing, has ended.
[Updat ed at 1:49 p.m. GMT, 9:49 a.m. ET] Aside from Rupert Mur doch’s remarkable inter rup tion, James seems to be doing most of the talk ing so far. It’s also worth men tion ing that Rupert’s wife Wendi Deng is sit ting vis i bly front-and-center on the bench es behind James and his father.
[Updat ed at 1:48 p.m. GMT, 9:48 a.m. ET] Asked why News Inter na tion al exec utives said at pre vi ous appear ances before select com mit tees that there was no evi dence of ille gal i ty, James Mur doch says the com pa ny relied on a police inves ti ga tion in 2007 and sub se quent inquiries. He says he can’t say exact ly what they knew, but key facts only emerged from civil tri als at end of 2010.
Asked who else was involved with phone hack ing at News of the World, James says a num ber of inves ti ga tions are going on, and he can’t com ment fur ther. He says News Inter na tion al has estab lished a group with in com pa ny that is coop er at ing with the police.
[Updat ed at 1:38 p.m. GMT, 9:38 a.m. ET] Rupert Mur doch inter rupts his son who is apol o giz ing for the ille gal phone-hacking, to say: “This is the most hum ble day of my life.”
[Updat ed at 1:36 p.m. GMT, 9:36 a.m. ET] Now to the main event. James Mur doch sit ting along side his father Rupert asks to read out a state ment, but chair man John Whit ting dale refus es.
[Updat ed at 1:28 p.m. GMT, 9:28 a.m. ET] Dan Rivers has man aged to get into the com mit tee room where the Mur dochs will be grilled. No more tweets allowed,” he writes.
[Updat ed at 1:27 p.m. GMT, 9:27 a.m. ET] It appears we may have a bit of over lapping between the two hear ings, but we’ll be watch ing both. We’ll bring you con tin ued cov er age of com ments from out go ing Met ro pol i tan Police Assis tant Com mis sion er John Yates as well as the begin ning of cov er age of tes ti mo ny in the sec ond hear ing. That hearing, before the Com mons Cul ture, Media and Sport com mit tee, will focus on tes ti mo ny from Rupert Mur doch, James Mur doch and Rebekah Brooks.
[Updat ed at 1:26 p.m. GMT, 9:26 a.m. ET] Yates has been defend ing his 2009 review of the phone hack ing inves ti ga tion which rec om mend ed that no fur ther action was need ed. Asked whether his eight-hour perusal of 11,000 doc u ments was suf fi cient, he said it was.
“You can crit i cize me with hindsight,” he said. “It was a rea son ably sophis ti cat ed process.”
[Updat ed at 1:21 p.m. GMT, 9:21 a.m. ET] As antic i pa tion builds for the day’s main attrac tion – the ques tion ing of Rupert Mur doch — Dan Rivers (@danieljerivers) tweets that some mem bers of the pub lic have been lin ing up since 5:30 a.m. this morn ing to get a seat at in the gallery.
[Updat ed at 1:19 p.m. GMT, 9:19 a.m. ET] As with Stephen son before him, Yates’ answers have brought up the police force’s rela tion ship with Down ing Street – which is a key ele ment when con sid er ing the scan dal’s poten tial to taint the cur rent gov ern ment.
Yates said he had offered to brief the prime min is ter’s chief of staff over the “nuances” of the phone-hacking affair in Sep tem ber 2010. He said the offer was reject ed.
Ear li er Stephen son spoke about being warned by a Down ing Street offi cial that direct ly brief ing Prime Min is ter David Cameron about Neil Wal lis could com pro mise the Conser v a tive leader’s integri ty. He was later unable to put a name to this offi cial.
[Updat ed at 1:10 p.m. GMT, 9:10 a.m. ET] The ques tion ing has turned once again to the sub ject of for mer News of the World exec u tive Neil Wal lis. Yates said he asked Neil Wal lis if there was any thing that could embar rass the Met before he was hired.
Asked about what role he played in the Met’s hir ing of Wal lis’s daugh ter, he said: “The met employs peo ple all the time. I had absolute ly noth ing to do with her employ ment…” He added that he was mere ly “a post box” for her resume.
Yates says he met Wal lis two or three times a year since they first met in 2000 — most ly they had “sport-related” meet ings.
“Don’t get the impres sion we’re bosom bud dies, for ev er round each other’s houses,” he said.
[Updat ed at 1:02 p.m. GMT, 9:02 a.m. ET] Out go ing Met ro pol i tan Police Assis tant Com mis sion er John Yates is fac ing the panel now. Explain ing why he resigned yes ter day over the scan dal he said he want ed to “stand up and be counted.”
He added: “I’ve done noth ing wrong, my integri ty is intact and my con science is clear.”
[Updat ed at 1:01 p.m. GMT, 9:01 a.m. ET] Keith Vaz thanks Fedor cio for com ing in, but adds “I’m not sure we’re any clear er now than we were at the beginning.”
[Updat ed at 12:56 p.m. GMT, 8:56 a.m. ET] Fedor cio faces detailed ques tion ing on why he asked Yates to per form a “due dili gence” check on for mer News of the World exec u tive Wal lis.
He says he asked him to carry out the checks because he knew he had inves ti gat ing phone hack ing; asked by the panel if he knew Wal lis and Yates had been close friends since 1998, he says did not.
Repeat ed ly Fedor cio says: “I had no rea son to doubt Mr. Yates’s integrity.”
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/07/19/exp.exp.sot.fedorico.wallis.employ.cnn "]
[Updat ed at 12:53 p.m. GMT, 8:53 a.m. ET] More from CNN’s Dan Rivers (@danieljerivers) out side the inquiry. He writes: “Just seen Rebekah Brooks in Portcullis House smil ing and look ing confident.”
[Updat ed at 12:43 p.m. GMT, 8:43 a.m. ET] A bit of post-match analy sis on Stephen son from for mer Met ro pol i tan Police Com man der John O’Con nor. He says Stephen son “held his end very well.” The MPs were look ing for a smok ing gun, or evidence of doing favors for News Inter na tion al, but they found no such evi dence, O’Con nor told CNN’s Richard Quest.
Stephen son accept ed his posi tion as top cop was unten able after it was revealed he accept ed $19,000 worth of hos pi tal i ty from Champ neys as it would have implied there was one rule for him and anoth er for ordi nary police offi cers. O’Con nor said Stephen son emerged as a “man of great integrity.”
O’Con nor said he believed some peo ple will ulti mate ly find them selves in the dock over the scan dal and some of them will go to jail.
[Updat ed at 12:39 p.m. GMT, 8:39 a.m. ET] Dick Fedor cio, the Met ro pol i tan police’s direc tor of pub lic affairs, has wast ed no time in point ing an accus ing fin ger at John Yates.
Fedor cio says he was told by Yates that employ ing for mer News of the World exec u tive Neil Wal lis would not embar rass the police force.
[Updat ed at 12:31 p.m. GMT, 8:31 a.m. ET] Stephen son has wrapped things up after an hour and a half with a clos ing state ment in which he praised his police colleagues as “decent hard-working pro fes sion als” and sought to clar i fy the cir cum stances of his depar ture.
“I’m not leav ing because I was pushed” he said.
He sound ed slight ly mor bid speak ing his col league John Yates. “We’re the poor er for his passing,” he said.
FYI: Yates, a for mer assis tant police com mis sion er who blocked an inves ti ga tion into phone hack ing, is very much alive since resign ing over the scan dal yes ter day. He’s up for a grilling later.
[Updat ed at 12:27 p.m. GMT, 8:27 a.m. ET] CNN’s Jonathan Wald (@jonathanwaldcnn) is tweet ing that the arrival of As so ciate edi tor of the Inde pen dent Jemi ma Khan, one of the more glam orous fig ures in the phone hack ing scan dal, is causing excite ment out side the hear ing.
“Flur ry amongst the paparazzi around the queue for the #Murdochs & #Brooks hear ing as #Jemima #Khan enters the building.”
[Updat ed at 12:23 p.m. GMT, 8:23 a.m. ET] Press Asso ci a tion reports that a small but noisy group of pro test ers wear ing Rupert Mur doch and David Cameron masks are mak ing their pres ence felt out side the hear ing. One held a plac ard with “smash Murdoch’s evil empire” writ ten on it.
[Updat ed at 12:22 p.m. GMT, 8:22 a.m. ET] Looks like we’re already run ning over sched ule, which means that the ear li er list ing tim ings for the first hear ing have been thrown to the wind. We could end up with the day’s two inquiries run ning simul ta neous ly, but atten tion will cer tain ly be focused on the Mur dochs and Rebekah Brooks.
[Updat ed at 12:17 p.m. GMT, 8:17 a.m. ET] Pop star George Michael (@georgemichael) has been tweet ing about the scan dal. He’s had his pri vate life delved into many times by the Mur doch press, and has had fre quent run-ins with the law.
He just tweet ed: “A lot of real ly decent police men and women must be watch ing this scan dal in utter hor ror. They have more right to their anger than you and I.”
[Updat ed at 12:11 p.m. GMT, 8:11 a.m. ET] A bit of appar ent buck-passing from Stephen son over the orig i nal phone-hacking inves ti ga tion. He said he asked John Yates, anoth er senior police fig ure who will be ques tioned later today, to look into the mat ter and accept ed Yates’ find ing that the orig i nal inves ti ga tion was suc cess ful, despite the fact he reviewed evi dence for just eight hours.
[Updat ed at 12:04 p.m. GMT, 8:04 a.m. ET] The panel is now ask ing ques tions about why an ini tial inves ti ga tion in 2009 con clud ed that the phone hack ing issue was not pur sued fur ther by the Met ro pol i tan police.
Stephen son said there was “no rea son what so ev er to think that there was any thing wrong with the ini tial investigation.”
[cnn-video url=" http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/07/19/exp.exp.sot.stephenson.no.reason.cnn "]
[Updat ed at 12:00 p.m. GMT, 8:00 a.m. ET] The ques tions are now focus ing on Stephen son’s 2009 meet ings with the edi tor of the Guardian news pa per – which has bro ken many of the sto ries about the phone-hacking scan dal. Stephen son has been accused of try ing to per suade edi tor Alan Rus bridger to back off.
Stephen son said he was act ing on infor ma tion avail able to him at the time. He said he told the paper that the claims about phone hack ing they were mak ing were “noth ing new.”
“I didn’t put pres sure to lay off,” he said, adding that the meet ings were not made at the advice of News of the World exec u tive Neil Wal lis.
[Updat ed at 11:51 a.m. GMT, 7:51 a.m. ET] We’re back to dis cussing News of the World exec u tive Neil Wal lis. Stephen son is being grilled on why Wal lis was given a contract as a police media advis er when the Met ro pol i tan police had dozens of press officers.
Stephen son said: “With the ben e fit of what we know now I’m happy to go on the record that I regret that con tract, it’s embarrassing.”
[Updat ed at 11:47 a.m. GMT, 7:47 a.m. ET] Explain ing his fre quent din ner dates, Stephen son said this was pro por tion ate to News Inter na tion al’s dom i nance of the British media.
[Updat ed at 11:41 a.m. GMT, 7:41 a.m. ET] Stephen son’s dietary habits are now under scruti ny. He’s being asked to explain why he had 18 lunch es or din ners with News of the World exec u tives and “seven or eight din ners” with exec u tive Neil Wal lis over a five year peri od.
He said it was impor tant to improve rela tions between the Met ro pol i tan police and the media.
[Updat ed at 11:38 a.m. GMT, 7:38 a.m. ET] The ques tion ing has moved on to Stephen son’s accep tance of a free stay (worth $19,000) at a health spa named Champneys, which has links to News of the World exec u tive Neil Wal lis – this is the key rea son for his res ig na tion.
Stephen son is insist ing he had no knowl edge that Wal lis was con nect ed to Champ neys. He says his stay was a legit i mate part of reha bil i ta tion from injury.
“I was recov er ing from a seri ous ill ness… wheelchair-bound… con cen trat ing on get ting back to work,” he said.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/07/19/exp.exp.sot.stephenson.appropriate.cnn"]
He adds: “The owner of Champ neys is a fam i ly friend… I paid for many treat ments. It was damnably unlucky Wal lis was con nect ed to this.”
[Updat ed at 11:34 a.m. GMT, 7:34 a.m. ET] A moment of lev i ty caused by what was per haps a Freudi an slip of the tongue from for mer police com mis sion er Stephen son: “When I took over as prime min is ter….,” he said before cor rect ing him self.
[Updat ed at 11:30 a.m. GMT, 7:30 a.m. ET] Stephen son is try ing hard to explain his links to Neil Wal lis, the News of the World exec u tive. Ear li er he said he had no reason to sus pect Wal lis was linked to phone hack ing. He said he first became aware of a con nec tion in Jan u ary 2011.
“Prior to that I had no rea son for concern,” he said.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/07/19/exp.sot.stephenson.wallis.hacking.cnn"]
He said he was advised by a Down ing Street offi cial not to tell David Cameron about his links to Wal lis so as not to com pro mise the prime min is ter.
[Updat ed at 11:25 a.m. GMT, 7:25 a.m. ET] Talk ing about the arrest of Rebekah Brooks, the for mer News of the World edi tor, Stephen son said he was aware the arrest was going to take place up to two days prior to the event. Brooks’ spokesman on Sun day told CNN she her self was unaware she was going to be arrest ed.
[Updat ed at 11:17 a.m. GMT, 7:17 a.m. ET] Stephen son is answer ing ques tions about whether he intend ed to launch a per son al attack on Prime Min is ter David Cameron when he made his res ig na tion state ment on July 17.
In that state ment Stephen son made ref er ence to Cameron’s links to Andy Coul son, a former News of the World edi tor hired by the prime min is ter as a media advis er.
Stephen son insists no per son al attack was intend ed. He reject ed accu sa tions that he implied Cameron’s integri ty had been com pro mised.
[Updat ed at 11:15 a.m. GMT, 7:15 a.m. ET] Stephen son says he is not apolo getic about claims he accept ed hos pi tal i ty from Neil Wal lis, the for mer News of the World exec u tive. He also said the mayor of Lon don and Britain’s home sec re tary, There sa May, accept ed his res ig na tion with regret.
“The deci sion was mine and mine alone” he said.
[Updat ed at 11:09 a.m. GMT, 7:09 a.m. ET] For mer com mis sion er of the Met ro poli tan police Paul Stephen son is explain ing why he resigned.
He says he was try ing to remove him self from the story. He said he want ed to stand down well ahead of the 2012 Lon don Olympics to avoid becom ing a dis trac tion. “We are in extra or di nary times,” he says.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/07/19/exp.exp.sot.stephenson.why.resign.cnn"]
[Updat ed at 11:07 a.m. GMT, 7:07 a.m. ET] And we’re off. Paul Stephen son is first up before the hear ing of the U.K. par lia ment’s home affairs select com mit tee. Stephenson resigned on Sun day over his links to a for mer exec u tive edi tor of the News of the World.
Keith Vaz, who will be lead ing the ques tion ing the chair man of the hear ing, has start ed by declar ing an inter est. He said that he was invit ed to a News Inter na tion al sum mer party, but did not attend.
[Updat ed at 11:00 a.m. GMT, 7:00 a.m. ET] CNN’s Dan Rivers has Tweet ed a photo graph @danrivers of the line to get into the hear ings, which are open to the pub lic. Demand for seats for the appear ances of the Mur dochs and Brooks is expect ed to be heavy.
[Updat ed at 10:48 GMT, 6:48 a.m. ET] Before we delve into the main event, here’s a few use ful links to get you all caught up:
CNN.com’s main story on today’s phone hacking-related devel op ments can be found here. And here’s some use ful back ground mate r i al to help you wrap your head around the key play ers at the cen ter of the scan dal: Press baron Rupert Mur doch, his son, CEO of News Inter na tion al and an exec u tive at News Corp. James Mur doch and for mer News of the World edi tor Rebekah Brooks.
For a look back at how all this start ed, check out our time line of the key events in the phone-hacking scan dal.
[Updat ed at 10:32 GMT, 6:32 a.m. ET] We’ll get start ed with a run down of who will be at the hear ings today. There are two ses sions. The first is a direct hear ing on the phone hack ing, which will see senior police fig ures give evi dence. The sec ond is a standing gov ern ment com mit tee, to which senior News Corp. fig ures have been called to face ques tions.
First up at 11:00 a.m GMT, 7:00 a.m. ET is Paul Stephen son, who resigned as com mission er of Lon don’s Met ro pol i tan police force at the week end because of the phone hacking scan dal. At 11:45 a.m., GMT, 7:45 a.m. ET we have Dick Fedor cio, the direc tor of public affairs at the Met. At 12.15 p.m. GMT, 8:15 a.m. ET we have John Yates, who resigned on Mon day as assis tant com mis sion er of the Met ro pol i tan police, again as a result of the phone hack ing scan dal.
The sec ond ses sion, a hear ing of the U.K. par lia ment’s cul ture com mit tee, is the main attrac tion of the day. At 1:30 p.m. GMT, 9:30 a.m. ET Rupert Mur doch and his son James Mur doch are due to face ques tions. At 2:30 p.m. GMT, 10:30 a.m. ET we have Rebekah Brooks, the for mer edi tor of the News of the World news pa per that was at the epi cen ter of the scan dal.
They are expect ed fol lowed by, Lord Mac Don ald, a for mer direc tor of pub lic pros e cutions at 4:30 p.m. GMT, 12:30 p.m. ET; Keir Starmer, cur rent direc tor of pub lic pros e cutions at 5:00 p.m. GMT, 1:00 p.m. ET and then at 5:20 p.m. GMT, 1:20 p.m. ET we have Mark Lewis, the legal rep re sen ta tive of the Dowler fam i ly, whose mur dered daugh ter’s phone was tar get ed by hack ers.
[Post ed at 10:17 GMT, 6:10 a.m. ET] News Corp founder Rupert Mur doch, his son James and for mer News of the World edi tor Rebekah Brooks are due to tes ti fy Tues day before British law mak ers inves ti gat ing the phone-hacking scan dal.
Law mak ers on the before the Com mons Cul ture, Media and Sport com mit tee will want to know what the Mur doch fam i ly knew — and when — about the alleged ille gal intercep tion of tele phone mes sages of indi vid u als rang ing from celebri ties and politi cians to mur der vic tims and the fam i lies of those killed in ter ror attacks and wars.
Mur doch is engaged in a fran tic dam age lim i ta tion exer cise after it was alleged that News of the World had hacked into the phone of Milly Dowler, a teenag er who was murdered. The alle ga tion sparked fury in Britain; News Inter na tion al boss es, politi cians and police have been try ing to defuse the anger ever since.
We’ll be live-blogging the hear ings from start to fin ish here.
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