Phone-Hacking Scandal Casts Shadow On Piers Morgan, U.S. Political Landscape

The burgeoning News Corp phone-hacking scandal continues to make waves for Rupert Murdoch in the UK, and increasingly they're crossing the Atlantic. Today, CNN anchor Piers Morgan's efforts tobattle allegations that he was involved in phone hacking while editing News Corp.'sUK tabloidsNews of the World and the Daily Mirror suffered a setback. Paul McCartney's ex-wife, Heather Mills, leveled her own accusation against Morgan in an interview with BBC Newsnight. Mills claims that a journalist with the Mirror Group, which owns the Daily Mirror, admitted to her that he hacked into her voicemail in 2001 and listened to a message McCartney left her after she'd left for India in the wake of a fight. The BBC notes thatwhile the journalist in question wasn't Morgan, the CNN anchor did tell the Daily Mail in 2006 that he had listened to a "heartbreaking" message McCartney left Mills while she was in India following a "tiff." While not accusing Morgan of engaging in phone hacking himself, Mills points a finger at the former Daily Mirror editor. "There was absolutely no honest way that Piers Morgan could have obtained that tape that he has so proudly bragged about unless they had gone into my voice messages," she said. Morgan, whoalso serves as a judge on NBC's reality competition show America's Got Talent, denied the allegations in a statement. Meanwhile,the spiraling crisis is threatening to spill into American politics. It has providedtalking points to Democrats andcould become a key weaponfor President Barack Obamas re-election campaign asFox News, whose evening lineup features some of the most powerful voices of conservative opposition, is now being investigated by the Obama administration. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed the ongoing investigation into allegations that News of the World reporters hacked into the telephones of Sept. 11 victims, setting an Aug. 24 meeting with 9/11 family members. U.S. politicians have generally avoided open combat with Murdoch,but with the media mogul suddenly appearing mortal, his foes may be emboldened. Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes is going to be hamstrung, Murdoch biographer and AdWeek editor Michael Wolff told Politico. Ailes operates independently, but in this context, he will not be able to operate independently: This is going to be in the hands of lawyers and higher PR officials, and it will not be about whats good for Fox, itll be whats good for News Corp and for an ultimate settlement. A Fox spokeswoman dismissed Wolff as a gadfly and didnt respond to a question about the News Corp scandals impact on the network. None of the American outlets have been implicated in the illegal reporting that brought down News of the World, and some observers said they doubted that management would tinker with the lucrative cable network that continues to dominate the ratings. The same cannot be said for News Corp.s newspapers, which could be spun off into a new company to insulate more valuable assets from further damage. EvenThe Wall Street Journal, a powerful conservative voice in its editorials, could again be on the block. The Journal on Wednesday reported that"about 35 privacy-invasion lawsuits" have now been filed against the News of the World, up from two dozen in April. The Journal alsosaid that News International, News Corp's British publishing arm, has allotted $24.4 million-$32.6 million to cover potential litigation.