KEITH OLBERMANN: Despite his humiliating appearance in front of the British parliamentary hearing, Rupert Murdoch has, thus far, escaped unscathed from the News of the World newspaper hacking scandal.
In our number-one story — he might not do so from the News of the World and The Sun hacking and bribery scandal. Eight arrested over the weekend. Legal stirrings in this country. The arrests came after an investigation into News International's bribery of public officials. Five of the eight arrested were journalists at The Sun newspaper, which Murdoch owns, the others included a police officer, a defense ministry official and a member of the British Armed Forces.
The bribery investigation had been opened in the wake of the hacking scandal that forced the closure, or at least got Murdoch to close, the News of the World as a preventive measure last summer. The new set of arrests, possibly opening the door for charges to be brought against Rupert Murdoch in this country.
Last July, Attorney General Holder launched a preliminary investigation into News Corp. The new arrests would make it possible for charges to be brought against Murdoch under American's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for American companies to bribe public officials overseas. If guilty, a company can be fined up to $2 million per violation, culpable individuals face personal fines of up to $250,000 per violation and imprisonment for up to five years.
One potential obstacle? The five-year statute of limitations, with some of the most recent arrests coming from events that are nearly a decade old. While charges with possible jail time might be coming soon, some are already calling for penalties which could hurt Murdoch financially. Specifically, his company's lucrative 39 percent ownership of the television broadcaster BskyB. After these recent arrests, one member of Parliament calling for Murdoch's News Corp to drop its stake in the TV giant.
(Excerpt from video clip) TOM WATSON: It's quite clear to me that over many years, wrongdoing took place on a number of newspapers at News International. He's the boss of the company, he's responsible for corporate governance, and therefore, he's not a fit and proper person to run a television company under the rules as they stand.
OLBERMANN: Joining me now, columnist, author, Nixon White House counsel and, of course, "Countdown" contributor John Dean. John, good evening.
JOHN DEAN: Good evening, Keith.
OLBERMANN: Explain to me, to what degree and why Murdoch would be vulnerable here on the bribery issue.
DEAN: Well, you pretty well outlined it with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which is this operative law. But, it's never been used against something like a newspaper. It's typically been used against somebody who has profited directly from the bribe and then used that as a basis for fines and prosecution. Here, if — say, these police officers were sources, I'm not sure quite how — with a newspaper — you would show the profit of any one given story in an ongoing product.
The other thing is, Keith, you've got to be aware of in this story, it appears that Murdoch and News Corp are the people who gave the names of the operatives who got arrested. They had an internal investigation, they created a very tough Management and Standards committee, filled with lawyers who knew what to do, and they are the ones who appear to have revealed to the police the emails that resulted in these arrests. Now, this might have been to prevent them going after James, to throw a few people under the bus so they don't go too far. So, a lot of this hasn't shaken out yet. We're just seeing the surface of the arrest.
OLBERMANN: The other tract brought up over the weekend, particularly in the U.K., was the idea that one of the attorneys from the horrible Milly Dowler case, in which they hacked into the dead teenage girl's voice mail and gave the wrong impression that she might still be alive, that one of those attorneys is headed to the U.S. to discuss possible legal action with attorneys here. Any idea what on earth that could be?
DEAN: Well, it could well be that he's going to try to do here what did he in the U.K. which is to use a civil lawsuit for discovery purposes and open up the activities in the United States to see what is going on. He would be just using a federal or state statute that prohibits surveillance and hacking. We have a number of those statutes.
If one of his clients — and there have been reports that based on the material that was published in publications here, that it was hacked material or illegally-obtained material — and it looks like that's the basis they're coming here, and I think it's to do what they did in the U.K., is to start a discovery process.
OLBERMANN: The other thing they did in the U.K., clearly, the solutions, thus far in Britain, have been to get him to jettison his at sets. He closed the News of the World preventively, then he backed off buying more of BskyB and now, he's being pressured to bail out. Could we see something like that here? I mean, obviously The New York Post would be the first thing he'd throw overboard to save Fox or Fox News. But, I guess the fulcrum point here might be The Wall Street Journal.
Is there any scenario in which he could be pressured into giving one of his journalistic or nearly-journalist enterprises?
DEAN: Nearly, right. The issue is, have any of these operations engaged in illegal activities?
We have no evidence of that at this point. I think it's still confined to the U.K. and I don't think he's going give up any of his American assets based on what's happened in the U.K. They're trying desperately to contain it, not let it cross over the Atlantic and come to the United States. And so far successfully, and they've got a powerful team working on it. He has hired the best lawyers you can get in this business to help him.
OLBERMANN: Well, they'll have their own things to atone for when they meet their makers.
"Countdown" contributor, John Dean. John, as always, great thanks for your time.
DEAN: Welcome back, Keith.
OLBERMANN: Thank you kindly, sir.
