Douglas Caddy

New York Daily News Picks as Editor Colin Myler, Formerly of News of the World The New York Times By AMY CHOZICK and RAVI SOMAIYA January 5, 2012 Toby Melville/ReutersColin Myler, the new editor of The Daily News in New York.The Daily News of New York on Wednesday appointed Colin Myler, a former editor of the recently closed News of the World tabloid in London, its editor in chief. Effective on Tuesday, Mr. Myler, 59, will succeed Kevin Convey, a former editor of The Boston Herald who has led The Daily News since 2010. “The New York Daily News is a great institution of American journalism which will only get better under the leadership of Colin,” the newspaper’s publisher and chairman, Mort Zuckerman, said in a memo to the staff. The new position will pit Mr. Myler against his former employer, Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owned News of the World. It still owns The New York Post, the News’s fierce tabloid rival, where Mr. Myler served as managing editor for five years under the editor Col Allan. “Colin Myler will lead our print and digital platforms into the next generation of newspaper publishing,” Bill Holiber, president and chief executive of The Daily News, said in a statement. Mr. Myler was brought in to run News of the World in 2007 after the first flurry of the phone-hacking scandal that eventually led to the closing of the paper, a 168-year-old tabloid, in the summer. A reporter for the tabloid and a private investigator the reporter hired to illegally intercept the voice mail messages of the royal family and their aides had been jailed. Mr. Myler was seen, reporters at the newspaper have said, as a safe leader to pilot the publication through treacherous waters. Mr. Myler, said the reporters, who did not want to be named discussing internal matters for fear of jeopardizing severance arrangements, was thought of in the newsroom as a cautious but sharp operator, his instincts honed over years at Britain’s tabloid newspapers and at The New York Post. He inspired fierce loyalty in many of his employees. But when the hacking scandal escalated last year, Mr. Myler, along with the legal manager, Tom Crone, turned on James Murdoch, the son of the News Corporation chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, after he testified that he had not been informed of the full scope of hacking at the paper. Mr. Myler and Mr. Crone asserted in a brief statement that James Murdoch had seen crucial evidence that pointed to more widespread illegality at the tabloid before he decided to pay a $1.4 million settlement, which included a confidentiality clause, in a legal case that might have exposed the full extent of the practice. Mr. Myler and Mr. Crone have since been in a terse war of words with their former boss. They have held their ground, while Mr. Murdoch denies their account, and any wrongdoing, and has said he agreed to the settlement only because it made financial sense.

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Poster's note: This is bad news, indeed. It appears that Obama and his political Justice Department have decided to do nothing about the phone hacking in the U.S. by Murdoch. It may be that Obama & Co. have decided that to do so could adversely affect Obama's chances of being reelected; or it may be, as with their decision not to prosecute Wall Street and the Big Banks for the trillion dollar frauds they committed, that their natural interests lie with covering up the criminality. ----------------------------- 9/11 Relatives Who Suspect Hacking Await Answers The New York Times By DON VAN NATTA Jr. January 2, 2012 Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, relatives of some of the victims began suspecting that someone was eavesdropping on their telephones. Some heard mysterious clicking sounds on their home and mobile phones. The fiancée of one man who died at the World Trade Center remembers listening to snippets of someone else’s conversation on her line. A husband of another victim recalls hearing somebody remotely accessing his home answering machine, which still held the final, reassuring message left by his wife shortly before the crash of Flight 93. Others say they are baffled as to how details about their loved ones appeared in British tabloids within days of the attacks. Ten years later, their long-held suspicions aroused by The News of the World phone-hacking scandal in London, dozens of relatives of victims contacted the Justice Department. On Aug. 24, eight of them met with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and asked him to determine whether their privacy had been violated. As a first step, they asked him to see whether Scotland Yard had a record of their names or phone numbers among the material seized from a private investigator who hacked cellphone messages for the tabloid. Four months later, they are still waiting to hear back and are frustrated by the Justice Department’s silence. “It’s not that hard to find out — it’s quite a simple thing, really, isn’t it?” said Patricia Bingley, a British citizen whose son, Kevin Dennis, a 43-year-old trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, worked on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower. Ms. Bingley said she was stunned to see, in the Sept. 18, 2001, issue of The Sun, a photograph of her son reading a bedtime story to his two sons, which she did not give to the paper. The story also contained details about her son that she said no one from her family had provided to The Sun. “It never made sense to me,” she said, adding that she suspects hacking or worse by the paper. “I’d like very much for the government to tell us whether this happened or not. Celebrities seem to have no trouble finding out.” In July, as revelations about widespread phone hacking by the tabloid were spilling out, another British newspaper, The Daily Mirror, reported that a private investigator said that News of the World reporters had offered to pay him to retrieve phone records of Sept. 11 victims. After the report, which was not confirmed by other news organizations, the Justice Department opened an investigation. To date, no evidence has emerged publicly that Sept. 11 victims were hacking targets. Jodi Westbrook Flowers, a lawyer at a South Carolina firm that represents more than 6,700 relatives of Sept. 11 victims, said she and her colleagues had scoured the British tabloids and found scores of details about the victims. Relatives were not certain how the tabloids found out so much so quickly after the attacks. One of the relatives, whom she declined to identify, said that five days after Sept. 11, The Sun published the words from a voice mail message left on his cellphone by his son, who was aboard one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center. (British authorities are also investigating whether hacking occurred at The Sun, which, like The News of the World, is owned by News Corporation.) In late September, Ms. Flowers, of the Motley Rice law firm, sent Mr. Holder phone numbers of two dozen relatives of victims and asked that Scotland Yard run them through the 12,000 pages of documents seized from the home of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator responsible for most of the hacking by the now-shuttered News of the World. She said at least 100 of her clients, in both the United States and Britain, now want similar information. On Nov. 3, Vida G. Bottom, chief of the Justice Department’s public corruption unit, wrote to the lawyers, saying, “The F.B.I. has undertaken a preliminary review to assess the veracity of those allegations.” Ms. Flowers said she was disappointed by the vagueness of the response. “We asked a simple threshold question, and we basically received a nonanswer,” she said. Ms. Flowers added, “If there was no hacking, it is wildly coincidental that so many people describe similar experiences.” Even so, two Justice Department officials with knowledge of the inquiry said they did not expect much to come of the investigation. The officials, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss a continuing criminal inquiry, said the investigation remained open in case Scotland Yard discovered evidence confirming the suspicions of the Sept. 11 relatives. They both said they were doubtful such evidence would emerge. Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said only, “It’s an ongoing investigation.” Norman Siegel, a lawyer for nearly two dozen victims’ families who also attended the meeting with Mr. Holder, said, “As far as I know, there is still serious interest in this investigation not only by the Department of Justice and the F.B.I. but by Attorney General Holder himself.” He said he understands his clients’ frustration, but remains optimistic they will ultimately believe their suspicions have been investigated “in good faith.” A determination that the relatives of Sept. 11 victims were hacked would add a new, explosive twist to the scandal, particularly if they are in the United States. The confirmed cases of hacking — which extend to celebrities, government officials and crime victims — have all been confined to Britain. Many of the instances recounted by relatives of victims do not fit the pattern of the confirmed hacking cases, in which cellphone messages were illegally accessed in pursuit of tabloid stories. But even if they cannot point to subsequent tabloid stories, the relatives with memories of the odd occurrences after the attacks are eager for an answer from the Justice Department. Lorie Van Auken, whose husband, Kenneth Van Auken, died in the World Trade Center, said she noticed clicks on her home phone line for months after the attacks and overheard cross-talking voices. “It is mystifying,” she said of the Justice Department’s silence. “This is a peace of mind issue. We just want to know the truth.” In interviews, more than a half-dozen relatives of Sept. 11 victims reported having suspicions that someone had gained illegal access to their phones. Jack Grandcolas, whose wife, Lauren Grandcolas, was aboard Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pa., said that one night several months after her death, his home telephone rang and he listened as the answering machine played previously recorded messages, apparently through a password-enabled command. “It was as if the phone had been accessed by someone,” he said. Among the messages was the one his wife left from the plane saying: “I’m totally fine. I just love you more than anything, just know that. And you know, I’m, you know, I’m comfortable and I’m O.K. — for now. Just a little problem.” Years later, that message appeared on YouTube accompanied by a laugh track. Although Mr. Grandcolas said he allowed two documentary producers to use the message, his memory of the answering machine episode and clicking sounds he heard on his phone after the attacks made him wonder if he was a victim of hacking. Lucy Aita, whose fiancé, Paul Innella, 33, of East Brunswick, N.J., died in the World Trade Center, said she also recalls clicking sounds on her telephone for months after the attacks. “Every time we picked up the phone, we heard a little clicking noise that was intermittent,” she said. “Then we started hearing voices of people, as if they were on a speaker phone. A few times we’d say, ‘Can you stop listening to us, please?’ Then all of the sudden, we’d hear a click and they would be gone.” Charlie Savage contributed reporting.

Gordon Brown's Downing Street emails 'hacked' Computer crime by press may be as widespread as phone scandal The Independent By James Cusick, Cahal Milmo Monday, 2 January 2012 Police investigating computer hacking by private investigators commissioned by national newspapers have uncovered evidence that emails sent and received by Gordon Brown during his time as Chancellor were illegally accessed. Mr Brown's private communications, along with emails belonging to a former Labour adviser and lobbyist, Derek Draper, have been identified by Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta team as potentially hacked material. They are currently looking at evidence from around 20 computers which hold data revealing that hundreds of individuals may have had their private emails hacked. The links discovered from the seized computers suggest that the email investigation could involve as many victims as those involved in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. The eight-strong Tuleta team is looking at the possibility that several Fleet Street titles commissioned specialist private detectives to access computers. News International yesterday declined to comment on the latest allegations. A source with knowledge of the contents of some of the computers seized from private investigators told The Independent that analysis of a portion of the hundreds of thousands of messages found on the machines showed that Mr Brown and Mr Draper were targeted while the former Prime Minister was Chancellor of the Exchequer. The period includes potentially sensitive episodes in the difficult relationship between Mr Brown and Tony Blair. One of Mr Brown's former cabinet colleagues, Peter Hain, has confirmed that he held discussions with police officers investigating the potential hacking of his computers during the period when he was Northern Ireland Secretary. The period discussed with Mr Hain, from 2005 to 2007, overlaps with the period Operation Tuleta is looking at in connection with the Brown-Draper emails. Scotland Yard last night declined to discuss its inquiry into the electronic eavesdropping. A spokesman said: "We are not prepared to give a running commentary on an ongoing investigation." NI's chief executive, Tom Mockridge, said his company had been advised that Mr Hain's computer equipment "was not and has not been the subject of an investigation by Operation Tuleta" and that there was "no belief or suspicion that this equipment was hacked". Mr Hain, however, said he had met with the head of Operation Tuleta, Detective Inspector Noel Beswick, and discussed the hacking of three of his computers: two issued by the Northern Ireland Office, and a personally owned machine. The Tuleta team has also interviewed a former Army intelligence officer who has made a formal complaint that his computer was illegally accessed six years ago as part of a search for documents associated with the province's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. Mr Brown has previously accused News International of accessing parts of his private life including his bank accounts. He said he "could not understand" why he had the protection and defences of a chancellor or prime minister, and yet remained vulnerable to "unlawful or unscrupulous tactics". Earlier this year Mr Brown sent Scotland Yard tape recordings which he claimed challenged NI assurances that The Sunday Times had broken no laws when it investigated his personal financial affairs. He told Sue Akers – the Met's Deputy Assistant Commissioner who is leading the phone-hacking and email-hacking investigations – that three senior Sunday Times journalists, whom he named, were aware of the "blagging" techniques used to access his personal details. Mr Draper, a former lobbyist and former assistant to Lord Mandelson, has found his private correspondence being published on two occasions that have damaged the Labour Party and the reputation of Gordon Brown. In 2008 a sequence of email exchanges between Mr Draper and Lord Mandelson damaged a planned make-over of Mr Brown's reputation during his difficult time as Prime Minister. In the leaked emails, Mr Brown was described as a "self-conscious person, physically and emotionally" and someone "not comfortable in his own skin". In 2009 leaked emails between Mr Draper and Gordon Brown's head of strategy and planning, Damian McBride, offered a series of planned smears targeted at David Cameron and George Osborne. It was suggested that the Tory leader could be falsely branded as having an embarrassing medical condition, and that Mr Osborne, then shadow Chancellor, could be alleged to have taken drugs with a prostitute. Although all the allegations were nonsense, Mr Draper, then re-emerging as a prominent pro-Labour blogger, wrote back to Mr McBride saying "Absolutely totally brilliant Damian." There is no suggestion that any of this material was accessed through illegal computer hacking techniques. Contacted by The Independent, Mr Draper said he had been given no details by Scotland Yard about whether his emails had been hacked. Mr Brown did not respond to a request for comments.

In reading any posts made by Robert Merritt in our Forum, it is appropriate to keep in mind this famous saying by Woodrow Wilson almost a century ago: “I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man be a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise that fact by speaking.”

Murdoch's £100m plan to settle hacking cases before they get to court News International will use legal fund to prevent further revelations The Independent Martin Hickman, James Cusick Thursday, 29 December 2011 Rupert Murdoch's News International is thought to have prepared a legal fund of £100m to settle civil litigation actions brought by victims of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal ahead of a High Court showdown in the new year. News International is understood to have earmarked the money to settle several high-profile cases, with some claimants likely to receive well above £1m, according to sources close to the situation. The litigation surrender fund is five times the £20m Wapping set aside in April when it ended five years of denial and admitted hacking had been rife at its best-selling paper. Since then the number of hacking cases has jumped from around 20 to about 55. In total 800 people had voicemails intercepted by the NOTW, according to the Metropolitan Police, indicating that Mr Murdoch's UK newspaper group potentially faces hundreds more claims for damages. Lawyers acting for the existing round of claimants, mostly famous entertainers, sports people and terrorism victims, are thought to be in the final stages of negotiation in several cases, with settlements expected to be imminent. One senior lawyer told The Independent the inflation in NI's settlement fund "indicates they are serious to avoid further damage in court". News International appears to be keen to settle as many cases as possible before mid-February when Mr Justice Vos begins to hear a group of test cases – those of the actor Jude Law, the sports agent Sky Andrew, the footballer Paul Gascoigne, the solicitor Graham Shear and Sheila Henry, the mother of a victim of the London 7/7 bombings. The High Court trials hold the potential to reveal more details of wrongdoing by NOTW and deliver further damaging publicity about the invasiveness of hacking and the distress of victims. Several of those lead cases are among those thought likely to be settled out of court in coming weeks. Other claimants could be brought in to serve as new test cases, but that is likely to result in a delay which would allow Wapping more time to settle more of those key cases out of court. Another lawyer said NI was now engaged in a "risk analysis" and was weighing up the overall costs of the trial and the "blueprint" for further damages that would emerge when Mr Justice Vos delivered his verdict. In all, News International has settled 13 cases, probably at a cost of between £7m and £10m, although the company has declined to confirm numbers settled, outstanding or how much money it has set aside to settle them. Sources at the company, which closed the NOTW in July, said it was committed to reaching speedy resolutions "with those who have been affected". Paper money: The payouts so far Bob and Sally Dowler: £3million The news that the NOTW hacked into the phone of their missing daughter, Milly, in 2002 disgusted the public in July 2011. Max Clifford: £1million One of the non-Royals Mulcaire admitted hacking. A hush payment with a gagging clause. Gordon Taylor: £425,000 plus £270,000 costs Glenn Mulcaire admitted in 2006 hacking the phone of the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. Sienna Miller: £100,000 plus £200,000 costs The actress had evidence showing her messages had been intercepted for stories about her relationship with Jude Law. Tessa Jowell: £200,000 plus costs As a former cabinet minister and key Blairite with important political secrets, Jowell's case was particularly sensitive. Leslie Ash and Lee Chapman: £100,000 plus costs The TV presenter and former footballer were alleging the NOTW had hacked their and their children's phones.

I hereby request that the moderator(s) of the Watergate Topic cancel the membership of Robert Merritt in the Education Forum. His latest “public letter” is nothing but a venomous attack upon two members of the forum – Kris Milligan and me. None of his postings contribute to the accumulation of information and knowledge about Watergate but instead regularly contain unfounded and scurrilous accusations about other members, which apparently was his motivation in joining the forum. An example of Merritt’s record of distortion and inaccuracy is his statement in the above “public letter” that “Caddy has been working for the CIA for many years with the front law firm of Mullen & Company and many other CIA affiliated employers.” The Mullen Company was not a law firm; it was a public relations firm in Washington, D.C. that was retained by General Foods Corporation by whom I was employed from 1967-1970. I was never an employee of the Mullen Company. At no time did I ever work for or was ever employed by the CIA. Merritt goes on to charge that I am a pedophile and that “Caddy owns an apartment complex in Houston, Texas, that is walled in for secrecy – not security.” For the record, I state that I am not and never have been a pedophile and have never before been so accused and do not now and have never owned an apartment complex. These are outright fabrications by Merritt. Merritt’s accusations against John Dean and Kris Milligan are also overtly venomous in nature and deserve to be dismissed forthrightly. A typical Merritt misrepresentation is the photograph of himself that he has posted on the forum. This is his high school photograph. Merritt is a 67 year old man who looks nothing like the photograph he has posted. I request that action be taken promptly by the moderator(s) to revoke and cancel the membership in the forum of Robert Merritt.

Did Nixon have a gay affair with a Mafia fixer? Forget Watergate. A new book claims America's most corrupt President hid a far more personal scandal... By Tom Leonard Daily Mail (U.K.) Last updated at 11:58 PM on 26th December 2011 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078822/Did-Nixon-gay-affair-Mafia-fixer-Forget-Watergate-A-new-book-claims-Americas-corrupt-President-hid-far-personal-scandal-.html He carpet-bombed Cambodia, spewed out anti-Semitic slurs and crude misogynistic jokes in the White House and smeared his political opponents with ruthless 'dirty tricks' campaigns. And, of course, he lied to his country about his involvement in the Watergate scandal and went down in history as America's shiftiest, darkest President. Given everything that Richard Nixon has been accused of, it's difficult to believe there could be any more skeletons left in his cupboard. But it seems there are. A new biography by Don Fulsom, a veteran Washington reporter who covered the Nixon years, suggests the 37th U.S. President had a serious drink problem, beat his wife and — by the time he was inaugurated in 1969 — had links going back two decades to the Mafia, including with New Orleans godfather Carlos Marcello, then America's most powerful mobster. Yet the most extraordinary claim is that the homophobic Nixon may have been gay himself. If true, it would provide a fascinating insight into the motivation and behaviour of a notoriously secretive politician. Fulsom argues that Nixon may have had an affair with his best friend and confidant, a Mafia connected Florida wheeler-dealer named Charles 'Bebe' Rebozo who was even more crooked than Nixon. The book, Nixon's Darkest Secrets, is out next month — by coincidence at the same time as the UK release of a new film directed by Clint Eastwood about another supposed closet gay among Washington's 20th-century hard men. But while FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, played in Eastwood's film by Leonardo DiCaprio, allegedly had an affair with his squeaky-clean deputy Clyde Tolson, Nixon's supposed secret paramour was a very different character. Bebe Rebozo was a short, swarthy, good-looking Cuban-American businessman with a history of failed relationships with women and close alliances with Miami's Mafia chiefs. The veteran TV newsman Dan Rather recalled how Rebozo 'transmitted the sense of great sensuality', paying tribute to his 'magnetic' personality and 'beautiful eyes'. Fulsom uses recently revealed documents and eyewitness interviews — including with FBI agents — to shed new light on long-standing suspicions among White House insiders that Nixon may have been more than just good buddies with Rebozo. He claims Nixon's relationship with Pat, his wife of 53 years, was little more than a sham. A heavy drinker whom his own staff dubbed 'Our Drunk', Nixon used to call his First Lady a 'f***ing bitch' and beat her before, during and after his presidency, says Fulsom. The pair had separate bedrooms at the White House — and in Key Biscayne, the exclusive resort near Miami where Nixon holidayed, Mrs Nixon didn't even sleep in the same building. Rebozo, however, was in the house next door. Fulsom claims one of Nixon's former military aides had a secret job 'to teach the President how to kiss his wife' so they would look like a convincing couple. How much of this can we believe? Nixon died in 1994 and his reputation is pretty much irredeemable. As with Eastwood's Hoover film, there is no definitive proof, but plenty of 'supporting evidence'. Fulsom quotes a former Time magazine reporter who, at a Washington dinner, bent down to pick up a fork and saw the two holding hands under the table. It was, the reporter judged, sufficiently intimate to suggest 'repressed homosexuality'. Another journalist related how, loosened up by drink, Nixon once put his arm around Rebozo 'the way you'd cuddle your senior prom date. Something was fishy there'. But who exactly was Bebe Rebozo, and how did a shady Florida businessman of unclear sexual leanings end up as the bosom friend of one of the most paranoid and buttoned-up political leaders of the 20th century? Born two months before Nixon in 1912, Charles Gregory Rebozo was the son of a Cuban cigar-maker and, as the youngest of nine, was stuck with the nickname 'Bebe'. He came from poverty but worked his way up through property speculation and then banking. According to the FBI, he had close links with Mob bosses such as Santo Trafficante, the Tampa Godfather, and Alfred 'Big Al' Polizzi, a stooge of Meyer Lansky, the Cosa Nostra's financial brains. By the 1960s, an FBI agent was describing Rebozo as a 'non- member associate of organised crime figures'. He bought land in Florida with a business partner who was believed to be a front for some of the most powerful Mafiosi. When Rebozo started his own bank in Florida in 1964, Nixon — then a lawyer — wielded a golden shovel at the ground-breaking ceremony and became its first depositor. According to Mafioso Vincent Teresa, the bank was used by the Mob to launder stolen cash. It hardly seems possible that Nixon, who pledged to make fighting organised crime a priority of his presidency, could not have known of his best friend's Mafia links. Nixon had just won one of California's U.S. Senate seats when he first met Rebozo in 1950. Fearing Nixon was facing a nervous breakdown, fellow Senator George Smathers suggested a holiday in Florida and enlisted his old school friend Rebozo to show the socially awkward Nixon a good time. Their first jaunt together — in Rebozo's 33ft fishing boat — did not go well. Rebozo later complained that Nixon just sat reading papers and, according to his host, barely said half a dozen words to him. Smathers said Rebozo later told him: 'Don't ever send that son of a bitch Nixon down here again. He's a guy who doesn't know how to talk, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't chase women... he can't even fish.' But Rebozo persevered — and according to a cynical Smathers, Nixon's rising stardom in Washington and the potential influence it offered 'had a lot to do with it'. In months, the pair were inseparable, holidaying with Nixon's wife Pat — and without her. Rebozo became an 'uncle figure' to the Nixons' two daughters, Tricia and Julie. The dapper Cuban-American chose Nixon's clothes and even selected the films he watched at the White House. On Nixon's solo visits to Key Biscayne, they swam and sunbathed, indulging in their shared passions for discussing Broadway musicals and barbecuing steaks. Both men were also extremely secretive, and their relationship — described as the 'most important unsolved mystery in Nixon's life' — was kept so discreet that the New York Times did not mention it for nearly 20 years. Observers noticed their intimacy became most apparent when they were drunk. An aide recalled them playing a game called King of the Pool at Key Biscayne: 'It was late at night, the two men had been drinking. Nixon mounted a rubber raft in the pool while Rebozo tried to turn it over. Then, laughing and shouting, they'd change places.' They were seen together at the same British-themed hostelries in the Key: the English Pub, where they drank beer from tankards engraved with their names, and the Jamaica Inn, where they ate at a discreet booth. Both spots were owned by another businessman with Mob links and the secret service asked Nixon to find another place to eat. Why the President's minders didn't raise alarms about Rebozo's Mafia connections has puzzled experts, but they probably didn't dare. When a New York newspaper investigated Rebozo's Mob links in the 1970s, its staff suddenly found themselves under secret service surveillance. A White House aide once dismissed Rebozo's role as 'the guy who mixed the Martinis', but he was far more important than that. [Richard Nixon died on April 22, 1994, four days after suffering a major stroke in New York. He was 81] When Nixon became President, Rebozo got his own office and bedroom at the White House, and a security clearance that allowed him to go in and out without being logged by the secret service. Using a false name, says Fulsom, Rebozo even got into Nixon's hotel suite during a trip to Europe. The President's closest colleagues complained at the way Rebozo monopolised Nixon's time. General Alexander Haig, his last chief of staff, is said to have imitated Rebozo's 'limp wrist' manner and joked that Rebozo and Nixon were lovers. According to Fulsom, Henry Kissinger resented the way Rebozo would fly on Air Force One, the Presidential plane, wearing a blue U.S. Navy flight jacket bearing the President's seal and with his name stitched on it. Away from Nixon's side, Rebozo surrounded himself with glamorous women and threw Miami parties that descended into orgies, but was it all a front? Aged 18, Rebozo reportedly enjoyed an 'intense' affair with a young man, Donald Gunn. He later wed Gunn's teenage sister. The marriage lasted four years and, according to his wife, was never consummated. Rebozo didn't marry again until middle age, when he entered what Newsweek magazine described as an 'antiseptic' alliance with his lawyer's secretary. 'Bebe's favourites are Richard Nixon, his cat — and then me,' the lady complained later. A fellow Miami resident told Nixon biographer Anthony Summers that Rebozo was definitely part of the city's gay community. Summers and co-writer Robbyn Swan, however, question whether there is enough evidence to suggest Nixon was gay. 'They held hands on occasion, and both men had problems with consummating physical relationships with women, but we found no evidence that Nixon was actively homosexual,' Summers told me this week. Physical or not, Nixon's attraction to Rebozo has struck many as politically reckless. Nixon expert Professor Fawn Brodie couldn't understand how he would be 'willing to risk the kind of gossip that frequently accompanies close friendship with a perennial bachelor'. After all, she added, Nixon was, in public, a virulent gay-hater. When Walter Jenkins, a trusted aide to President Lyndon Johnson, was caught providing sexual favours to a retired sailor in a YMCA lavatory, Nixon denounced him as 'ill'. People who suffered this 'illness', he added, 'cannot be in places of high trust'. Rebozo was certainly in a position of 'high trust', and not only because he was a key fundraiser. He was with Nixon when he announced his successful run for President and again in June 1972 when Nixon learned that five men hired by the White House to break into the Watergate building had been arrested. 'We were swimming at Key Biscayne in front of my house,' Rebozo recalled. 'They came out and told him. He said: "What in God's name were they doing there?" We laughed and forgot about it.' Rebozo also ended up being investigated by the Watergate committee, which found that a £64,000 cash contribution from the industrialist Howard Hughes that was meant for the Republican Party was actually in Rebozo's safe deposit box. It also emerged that both Nixon and Rebozo's personal wealth had soared during Nixon's first five years in the White House, Rebozo's rising nearly seven-fold from £432,000 to nearly £3million. Rebozo escaped prosecution — allegedly because of a White House deal — and he stood by his disgraced friend. He was at Nixon's bedside during his final days. When Rebozo died in 1998, he left more than £12million to the Nixon memorial library, whose executive director eulogised him as a 'consummate gentleman' on whose 'wise counsel, shrewd political insight and ready wit' Nixon relied. Typically, Nixon had been rather less charitable — he always described Rebozo as just a 'golfing partner'. Nixon's Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story Of America's Most Troubled President by Don Fulsom (Thomas Dunne Books, £16.62) is published on January 31, 2012. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078822/Did-Nixon-gay-affair-Mafia-fixer-Forget-Watergate-A-new-book-claims-Americas-corrupt-President-hid-far-personal-scandal-.html#ixzz1hrcDMVeX

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/dec/25/scour-moon-ancient-traces-aliens?newsfeed=true

11/22/63 by Stephen King this week is Number One on The New York Times best seller list for print fiction. It was Number Two last week.

http://www.blackopradio.com/archives2011.html Show number 557

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=18417&st=0 This link contains a video of Mark Lane's report on the circumstances surrounding the death.

Investors call on News Corp to loosen Murdoch family's grip News Corp directors urged to abolish stock structure that leaves 'vast majority' of shareholders 'disenfranchised' By Ed Pilkington in New York guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 December 2011 12.00 EST News Corporation directors are coming under renewed pressure from investors to loosen the grip of the Murdoch family after one of America's leading bodies on corporate governance called for an end to the company's dual-class stock structure that reinforces Rupert Murdoch's dominance over its affairs. The Council of Institutional Investors, CII, has written to two News Corp board members, Sir Roderick Eddington and Viet Dinh, to protest at what it calls the disenfranchisement of the "vast majority of News Corporation's owners". The council's letter accuses the directors of allowing a minority of "insiders" to control the media empire by maintaining multiple classes of stock. That in turn "raises the risks of poor performance and governance and other abuses, since boards at such companies are not accountable to all shareowners". The council's admonition carries considerable weight because not only is CII a respected voice in the US on good governance, its members also collectively have more than $3tn in assets under management and many of them are News Corp shareholders. News Corp's dual-track share system has come under mounting fire since the phone-hacking scandal involving the now defunct newspaper News of the World. Under the system, 69.3% of total equity shares are held in the form of 1.8bn Class A shares, yet these are non-voting and effectively stripped of power. By contrast, just 30.7% of total equity shares are held in the form of 799m Class B shares with voting rights. Rupert Murdoch controls more than 40% of Class B shares, which, when added to the substantial portion of voting shares held by a Murdoch ally, the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, gives the family effective control over the company. The duality has come to be seen increasingly as an affront to the bulk of investors holding non-voting stock. At the annual meeting of News Corp in October, 35% of shareholders voted to remove Murdoch's son James from the board. James Murdoch has been heavily damaged by the phone hacking scandal, having appeared in front of the parliamentary committee exploring the phone hacking scandal. At the annual meeting, a similar 34% voted against James's older brother Lachlan. Analysts pointed out that if Rupert Murdoch and Alwaleed were taken out of the equation, the shareholder revolt against the Murdoch brothers would have been closer to 75%. "Such high 'against' votes signal deep dissatisfaction among unaffiliated shareowners with the company, in particular the ethical and legal breaches that occurred on the directors' watch," the CII's director Ann Yerger wrote in the letter. The protest raised by CII was backed by the Change to Win investment group, which works with pension and benefit funds sponsored by trade unions that collectively hold over $200bn in assets. The group's governance policy analyst, Michael Pryce-Jones, said: "If the board fails to take action on the year's most resounding vote of no confidence, investors are going to hold them accountable and are going to question the ability of these directors to uphold the interests of shareholders at the other companies on which they serve." ------------------------------------- The whisper is that email hacking could have been more widespread than phone hacking The Independent By Cahal Milmo Monday, 2 January 2012 If 2011 was the year when the words "Operation Weeting" entered the popular lexicon, 2012 is likely to see "Operation Tuleta" added to the list of game-changing police investigations everybody is talking about. Since it was set up six months ago, Scotland Yard's inquiry into allegations that private detectives were hired by newspapers to target computers of public figures has been overshadowed by Operation Weeting, which deals with the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. But revelations that police are investigating evidence that emails sent and received by a Chancellor of the Exchequer were illegally accessed – making Gordon Brown the second Labour cabinet minister after Peter Hain to be potentially computer hacked – shows the significance that Tuleta is rapidly gaining. It also shows how big the next headache to face the Metropolitan Police – and Britain's battered newspaper industry – is turning out to be. Among the cognoscenti of the phone-hacking scandal, there has long been a whisper that Tuleta could show wrongdoing on a scale similar – or greater than – the eavesdropping of voicemails on behalf of the NOTW. Scotland Yard said last month it thought there were about 800 victims of phone hacking. Weeting has 120 detectives and staff. Tuleta is examining nearly 20 computers containing 750,000 documents with a staff of eight officers. It is also understood that while Weeting is restricted to the activities of a single (shut) newspaper, the computer hacking investigation is looking at the commissioning of private investigators by journalists on several titles. Questions are being asked of the police as to whether they are deploying sufficient resources in the computer hacking inquiry. Lawyers involved in civil damages claims arising from phone hacking believe an investigation of any email interceptions needs a police operation the size of Weeting.

Leveson Inquiry: Piers Morgan's evidence called into question Daily Telegraph By Andy Bloxham 6:00AM GMT 22 Dec 2011 Heather Mills yesterday denied playing Piers Morgan a telephone message from her former husband Sir Paul McCartney. In a statement, the former Lady McCartney directly contradicted evidence which Mr Morgan gave to the Leveson Inquiry into journalistic standards. She said she could "categorically state" she had "never ever" played Mr Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, "a tape of any kind, never mind a voice message from my ex-husband". The statement undermined Mr Morgan’s bullish performance at the inquiry, which was further called into question by evidence from a former employee. James Hipwell, who was convicted and jailed for share price manipulation, said Mr Morgan must have known about mobile phone hacking by journalists working for him as it was so commonplace. He told Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry that hacking was so widespread it was “a bog-standard journalistic tool”. Hipwell, who was described during the hearing as “an acknowledged xxxx”, said he had seen showbusiness reporters for the paper hack phones “every day” to get stories and said Mr Morgan must have known about it. He said: “Looking at his style of editorship, I would say it was very unlikely that he didn't know it was going on because there wasn't ever much he didn't know about. “He took a very keen interest in the work of his journalists. Showbusiness is very close to his heart.” He also disclosed that a colleague had attempted to hack the phone of Mr Morgan himself but he did not know if it had been successful. Hipwell, who worked at the newspaper between 1998 and 2000, added: "The openness and frequency of their hacking activities gave me the impression that hacking was considered a bog-standard journalistic tool for getting information." He said: "I don't think the illegality of it was ever even considered. It just seemed to be fair game, fair play, any means to get a story." Mr Hipwell was given a six-month prison sentence in February 2006 for making nearly £41,000 by mentioning stocks in the Daily Mirror's City Slickers column and then selling them as values rose. Mr Morgan, who hosts a chat show on the CNN network in the US, insisted on Tuesday that he had never listened to illegally obtained telephone messages while editor of either the Daily Mirror or the News of the World. Instead, he suggested that a private message left by Sir Paul on his former wife Heather Mills’s voicemail, which was played to him and featured the musician singing We Can Work It Out, had been leaked by her. When pressed by Robert Jay QC, the counsel to the inquiry, Mr Morgan refused to say when or where he heard the message because he wanted to protect a “source”. The potentially damaging claims against Mr Morgan were among several related developments which took place yesterday. Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former director of communications and a former editor of the News of the World, lost his battle at the High Court to get News Group Newspapers, a News International subsidiary, to pay his legal fees over the phone hacking scandal. However, Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator employed by the News of the World, won a similar action against NGN which means they must continue to pay his legal fees because they had wrongly terminated an agreement between them to do so. In his ruling, Sir Andrew Morritt, the Chancellor of the High Court, said: “They are, as they always were, in it together." The inquiry was adjourned until January 9.

Blog: What a remarkable year for the press... By Roy Greenslade Guardian December 22, 211 This year will be recorded as a landmark in the history of Britain's national newspapers. The second half of 2011 was, by any standards, remarkable. Look at what happened following the 4 July revelation in The Guardian that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked. News International went into meltdown. It closed the News of the World. Its chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, resigned. Its former chief, Les Hinton, resigned. Rupert Murdoch appeared before MPs to say it was the most humbling day of his life. His son, James, was forced to make two appearances and, in the process, showed a lack of humility. He suffered the indignity of investors in both News Corp and BSkyB voting against him. Scotland Yard lost its chief and another senior officer amid criticism of its handling of phone hacking evidence in its possession for for five years. The Met police, in seeking to make up for its previous failings, launched three separate inquiries. Some 18 arrests have followed. Scores of hacking victims launched actions against News International, with several receiving many thousands of pounds in settlements. The Dowler family were given £3m. And then, of course, there was - and is - the judicial inquiry led by Lord Justice Leveson. None of the past royal commissions have pursued the press as rigorously as the Leveson inquiry. I explored this astonishing turn of events in my London Evening Standard column yesterday. But, as I write, it is far from the only story about the state of the press...

Leveson inquiry: Rupert Murdoch could be called News Corporation chairman and chief executive could give evidence before the inquiry early next year By Lisa O'Carroll guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 December 2011 13.35 EST Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, may be called to give evidence before the Leveson inquiry into ethics and standards in press. Robert Jay, the counsel for the inquiry, dropped a large hint on Tuesday that Murdoch will be asked to appear before the inquiry early next year. Jay was quizzing Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, about an incident back in 1995 when he was editor of the now defunct News of the World. The tabloid had just run photos of Victoria Spencer, the former wife of Earl Spencer, in a clinic where she was receiving treatment for anorexia. That was against the editor's code of conduct and it prompted Rupert Murdoch to issue a rare public rebuke. At the inquiry Morgan was offering his recollection and "impression" of a conversation that subsequently took place with Murdoch, when Jay cut across him to say: "I can ask him for his impression when we get there." The Leveson inquiry said it could not comment about future witnesses. The inquiry was established under the 2005 Inquiries Act and has the power to summon witnesses including newspaper reporters, management and proprietors to give evidence under oath and in public. News International said it could not comment. A source familiar with the matter said that Murdoch had not been approached by the inquiry at this stage.

First police officer arrested over alleged payments from journalists 52-year-old woman held at Essex police station after being arrested under Operation Elveden guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 December 2011 05.38 EST The Metropolitan police have arrested a 52-year-old female serving police officer over payments from journalists, Scotland Yard has said. The 52-year-old woman, believed to be a royal protection officer, is being held at an Essex police station after detectives arrested her at her home at dawn. She is the first police officer arrested under Operation Elveden, an inquiry into alleged illegal payments to officers which is running alongside the Operation Weeting phone-hacking inquiry. A police statement said: "At approximately 06:00hrs this morning, Wednesday 21 December, officers from Operation Elveden arrested a serving Metropolitan Police Servive (MPS) officer on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and offences contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. "The 52-year-old woman was arrested at a residential address in Essex and is currently in custody at an Essex police station. "This is the eighth arrest under Operation Elveden. In linked investigations; 16 people have been arrested under Operation Weeting and one person arrested under Operation Tuleta." "Operation Weeting is conducting the new investigation into phone hacking. "Operation Elveden is the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police. This investigation is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). "Operation Tuleta is investigating a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy received by the Met since January 2011, which fell outside the remit of Operation Weeting, including computer hacking."

Heather Mills: I can categorically state that I never played voicemail message to Piers Morgan Daily Telegraph 4:25PM GMT 21 Dec 2011 Heather Mills, the former wife of pop star Sir Paul McCartney, said that she never disclosed private voicemail messages from her ex-husband to former tabloid editor Piers Morgan. At the Leveson Inquiry into press standards it was suggested that Ms Mills may have leaked her own private voicemail messages from Sir Paul to the Daily Mirror when Morgan was editor. But Ms Mills said that Morgan was using her as a ''scapegoat''. In a statement, Ms Mills said: "For the avoidance of doubt, I can categorically state that I have never ever played Piers Morgan a tape of any kind, never mind a voice message from my ex-husband. "Piers Morgan is doing all he can to deter the Leveson inquiry from finishing their important job. "Morgan is using me as his scapegoat and I would be more than happy to answer any questions that the inquiry would like to put to me. "As stated in a press release by my ex-husband, he has never insinuated that I have leaked tapes of him to the media." She added that she would be ''more than happy'' to answer any questions the inquiry had for her about the subject. Morgan was questioned yesterday about an article he wrote in 2006 detailing a "heartbreaking" message left by the former Beatle for his then wife. "He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang We Can Work It Out into the answer phone," wrote Morgan. Although he Insisted it was not "unethical" to have listened to the message he refused to say who played it to him as it would "compromise a source". Lord Justice Leveson, the inquiry chairman, suggested he may be forced to call "the lady in question" to get to the bottom of the matter. Morgan, speaking by video link from the US, said it had already been "stated as a fact" that Miss Mills recorded their conversations and had given them to the media. Morgan, who hosts a chat show on the CNN network in the US, insisted he had never listened to illegally obtained telephone messages while editor of either the News of the World or the Daily Mirror. He suggested that one private message left by Sir Paul McCartney on his former wife Heather Mills's voicemail, which was played to him, had been leaked by the former Lady McCartney herself. Lord Justice Leveson told the inquiry that he was "perfectly happy" to summon Miss Mills to give evidence on the matter as it emerged that Rupert Murdoch could also be called to the inquiry. "The only person who would lawfully be able to listen to the message is the lady in question or somebody authorised on her behalf to listen to it. Isn't that right?" Morgan replied: "Possibly." After the judge said he could call Miss Mills to explain whether she authorised Mr Morgan to listen to her messages, he said: "All we know for a fact about Lady Heather Mills McCartney is that in their divorce case Paul McCartney stated as a fact that she had recorded their conversations and given them to the media."

Leveson Inquiry: Sir Alex Ferguson's medical records 'blagged' Daily Telegraph 5:52PM GMT 19 Dec 2011 Sir Alex Ferguson’s medical records were “blagged” by the News of the World before being used as a bargaining chip to get stories about Manchester United, the Leveson Inquiry has heard. Matthew Driscoll, a former sports reporter for the now defunct tabloid, inadvertently revealed the manager’s name while giving evidence to the inquiry into press ethics. The journalist, who won almost £800,000 in compensation from the newspaper after he was bullied out of his job, described how he received a tip that the long-serving manager was suffering health problems. “I had been given a tip that a very prominent manager had health problems. I didn’t know how bad they might be or how significant they might be but it was something I had to check out,” he said. Mr Driscoll said he told the Leveson Inquiry he told his boss he was having difficulty proving the claims, and was later contacted by the sports editor who said he had obtained his medical records. “I got a phone call back, saying, ‘you’re absolutely right. The story is true. I’ve got his medical records with me at the moment’,” he said. “He said, ‘it’s nothing life-threatening but I know exactly what it is, what procedure he’s had,’ and I did ask him, 'how was that obtained?' I was told it was a blagging technique. “I was told sometimes you would get a situation where if an investigator had sent a fax to a GP or a hospital, saying 'I’m his specialist, I need these details,' it was incredible how many times that would get sent straight back.” Mr Driscoll said Sir Alex was “very upset” about the story and said there was “no way he wanted that story to appear in public.” He went on: “It was put to Alex Ferguson that we wouldn’t use this information and in the end, it was mentioned to him that we would keep it quiet and we would keep it out of the public domain and because of that, he then started co-operating with the paper.” Asked by Lord Leveson if there was a deal, Mr Driscoll replied: “You could definitely call it that

From coasttocoastam.com website of December 19, 2011, summarizing the previous evening’s radio show: During the first hour, William Pepper, the lawyer for Sirhan Sirhan, explained why he believes his client is innocent of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. He noted that, until recent changes in the law, Sirhan's case has been "mired in procedural quagmire" for decades without any opportunity for a fresh legal examination of the facts. Pepper detailed a litany of issues which suggest that Sirhan was not Kennedy's assassin, including audio forensics of the shooting as well as the analysis from a Harvard psychologist who asserts that the alleged killer was the victim of "hypnoprogramming." Having filed the necessary legal paperwork to challenge Sirhan's conviction, Pepper hopes for a positive ruling sometime early in 2012. http://www.williampepper.com/pdf/courtformattedExhibitA.pdf http://www.williampepper.com/news.html

From coasttocoastam.com website of December 19, 2011, summarizing the previous evening’s radio show: During the first hour, William Pepper, the lawyer for Sirhan Sirhan, explained why he believes his client is innocent of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. He noted that, until recent changes in the law, Sirhan's case has been "mired in procedural quagmire" for decades without any opportunity for a fresh legal examination of the facts. Pepper detailed a litany of issues which suggest that Sirhan was not Kennedy's assassin, including audio forensics of the shooting as well as the analysis from a Harvard psychologist who asserts that the alleged killer was the victim of "hypnoprogramming." Having filed the necessary legal paperwork to challenge Sirhan's conviction, Pepper hopes for a positive ruling sometime early in 2012. http://www.williampepper.com/pdf/courtformattedExhibitA.pdf http://www.williampepper.com/news.html

Phone hacking was 'routine' at Sun and NoW, Sean Hoare allegedly told brother Stuart Hoare tells Leveson inquiry his brother Sean, a former News of the World journalist, regularly talked about hacking By Jason Deans, Lisa O'Carroll and James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 December 2011 07.02 EST Phone hacking was "routine" at the Sun and News of the World, the late Sean Hoare, who worked at both News International titles, told his brother before his death, the Leveson inquiry has heard. Stuart Hoare said on Monday that his younger brother, whose body was discovered in his Watford home in July, had claimed in emails the practice was "routine at the Sun" and "probably more daily at the News of the World". Hoare also said Sean had told him these were both practices he had witnessed. In a written witness statement to the inquiry, Stuart Hoare also claimed: "Sean had worked with certain individuals at both the Sun and News International where phone hacking was a daily routine. "I know this to be the case because Sean and I regularly discussed this and there are emails in existence which support Sean's description of a practice referred to during such meetings as 'the dark side'. "The reality was that phone hacking was endemic within the News International group (specifically Sean identified that this process was initiated at the Sun and later transferred to the News of the World) and he went on record both verbally and in writing to make this claim." Sean Hoare started shifting at the Sun in 1990, where he first met Andy Coulson, and eventually became deputy editor of the Bizarre showbiz column, according to his brother's witness statement. He also worked for the Sunday Mirror and People "before finally settling at the News of the World". He left the paper in 2005. Speaking about his brother's own involvement in phone hacking, Hoare told the inquiry: "Sean didn't realise at the time that he was probably doing wrong. He got carried away like a lot of journalists and was certainly under a lot of pressure from seniors to deliver. "I think he thought he was producing, he was getting the stories, he was getting his name on the front page." In his witness statement, Hoare wrote that during his brother's journalism career, "alcohol was always an accepted part of the job, many a relationship/meeting made over a drink, no matter what time of day". Stuart Hoare was asked by Lord Justice Leveson why his brother thought drink and drugs were part of the job. "I think Sean in his way thought that within the entertainment world, to allow Sean to do some of the jobs, to gain the friendship of certain individuals, Sean felt that he had to be like them. I hate it, I don't understand it, but that's what he did," Hoare replied. "He came close to a lot of celebrities and got a lot of information that benefited him and his employer." However, Hoare said his brother had probably been away from drink and drugs for "about seven or eight months" when he talked to the New York Times about phone hacking. The New York Times published a story featuring Hoare's allegations in September 2010. "Sean's decision to go public certainly wasn't motivated by money as he did not get a single penny for any of the articles written in the New York Times. His sole motivation was based on trying to put wrongs right," Hoare wrote in his witness statement. "Sean, in early 2010, was in an ideal position to blow the whistle on phone hacking as he had been completely sober for the last 12 months and was now self-employed." However, Hoare wrote that in December 2010 his brother began drinking again "as he became caught up in the phone-hacking scandal". Concluding his evidence to the inquiry on Monday, Hoare said: "I've found it very, very difficult today not to name names. But the seniors that were involved in the practices that went on know they were involved and know they were in the wrong. "Sitting here today I've tried to put some of the wrongs right on [sean's] behalf and [on behalf of] his ex-colleagues who have suffered pain and imprisonment." The inquest into Sean Hoare's death in November found that he had died of natural causes. The Hertfordshire cononer, Edward Thomas, said Hoare suffered from alcoholic liver disease. James Hanning, the deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, told the inquiry that Sean Hoare had "named about eight people" at the News of the World who he had claimed were involved in phone hacking. Hanning said he had told him the names in the context of a discussion about an unnamed journalist at the paper who Hoare believed would co-operate with the police investigation into the practice. "He said 'X will probably sing' … and then he named about eight people," Hanning said. He added that Hoare had given him the impression that hacking had been taking place "as long as he had been at the News of the World, maybe longer". Asked if Hoare had told him the practice had also been used at the Sun, Hanning said: "I don't remember him saying that specifically." He claimed "he would assume I would understand that to be the case". Hanning also said Hoare had told him that well-known figures who regarded themselves as friends of senior managers at the paper were hacked. "He talked about it as if it was just one shot in the locker," he added.