Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) is one of the members of Congress who has been actively seeking an investigation into possible News Corporation misdeeds affecting Americans. Now he is directing the attention of the appropriate agencies to a 2005 incident involving a News Corp. marketing company that he originally reported to then AG Alberto Gonzales.
Lautenberg’s current letter went to AG Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller. He wrote, “In connection with the FBI’s review of News Corp.’s conduct, I wanted to bring to your attention the attached letter that I wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in June 2005 regarding another incident involving News Corp. and allegations of illegal conduct. Specifically, FLOORgraphics, Inc. (FLOORgraphics), a corporate constituent of mine based in Princeton, New Jersey, provided in-store advertising on behalf of manufacturers of major food, health, and household items selling products in grocery stores throughout the country. One of FLOORgraphics’s competitors in this business was News America Marketing (News America), which is owned by News Corp.”
Lautenberg continued, “At the time of my letter in 2005, I was informed by FLOORgraphics that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service initiated an investigation into allegations that News America illegally gained access to FLOORgraphics’s password-protected computer system and obtained FLOORgraphics’s confidential data. In response to my letter, the Department of Justice informed me that, as a matter of policy, it was not in a position to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into News America’s conduct, but that the Department of Justice took all allegations of criminal conduct very seriously.”
Lautenberg said he was passing on the information about the FLOORgraphics incident in case it proved relevant in the current investigation into the company.
RBR-TVBR observation: We are not politico – but a blind person can see right through this – it is all politics. Hell, Anthony Weiner and Charlie Rangel who did the so-called crime did not get under the microscope. And the latest development on the Maxine Waters case with outside counsel will look into the handling of this on going issue, which was delayed after internal problems. Lautenberg ‘Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house.’
