LOWER MANHATTAN — Relatives of 9/11 victims who are worried their loved ones' phones were hacked by News Corp. reporters traveled to Washington, DC, Wednesday to discuss their concerns with Attorney General Eric Holder.
The family members asked Holder to widen his probe into the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World, the now-shuttered British tabloid that is accused of hacking the phones of crime victims to gain information for stories.
The family members also want the federal government to investigate whether their computers may have been hacked as well, reported Fox News, which is also owned Murdoch.
Norman Siegel, a lawyer representing the families, told DNAinfo afterward that the 75-minute meeting was "encouraging."
Holder told the family members the phone-hacking allegations were "very disturbing and a high priority for him and the Department of Justice," Siegel said.
"[Holder] said he would follow the facts."
In addition to the attorney general, three members of the FBI and five other staff members from the DOJ attended the meeting, Siegel said.
Holder promised that this meeting was just an initial one, and he said he would remain in touch with the families as the investigation continued, Siegel said.
"The 9/11 families have already suffered through the most horrific tragedies," Siegel wrote in a letter Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller last month, requesting the meeting on behalf of the families.
"It is upsetting that there now exists an allegation that a newspaper would seek to illegally obtain information about their love ones, and perhaps even their own personal lives, and exploit it for profit."
