Piers Morgan Addresses Ties To Phone Hacking Scandal, Denies Any Wrongdoing

Following reports by ThinkProgress, Ad Week, and others noting that CNN had ignored host Piers Morgan’s connection to the tabloid at the center of the News Corp. phone hacking scandal, Morgan himself addressed the issue on his show for the first time last night, denying any “unlawful” activity. Morgan was once editor of the now-defunct News of the World, owned by News Corp., and had been implicated in a separate hacking allegation stemming from his time editing a rival paper, the Daily Mirror.

Morgan opened his show last night by briefly addressing the issue with a short monologue, before bringing in guests to discuss the wider hacking scandal. “For the record, I do not believe that any story we published at either title was ever gained in an unlawful manner, nor have I ever seen anything to suggest that,” Morgan said. Watch it:

Morgan promoted the book he wrote about his time at the tabloids, which includes an eyebrow-raising section that explains how to hack into someone’s voice mail account.