Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is being kept off the air indefinitely amid the controversy over his unverified claims that British intelligence wiretapped Trump Tower at the behest of former President Obama. (LAT / Company Town)
Judge Napolitano, the senior judicial analyst for Fox News and former New Jersey Superior Court judge, caused a stir last week when he claimed that the British foreign surveillance agency, the Government Communications Headquarters, “most likely” recorded Trump’s phone calls and provided written transcripts to Obama. (THR)
Sean Spicer cited Napolitano’s argument at a press briefing, and the end result was that GCHQ slammed the claim in a statement and Fox anchors had to state for the record that the news division could not corroborate those claims. (Mediaite)
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith was forced to walk back Napolitano’s statements on Friday, stating “Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now-president of the United States was surveilled at any time, in any way, full stop.” (Variety)
Monday, FBI director James Comey told the House Intelligence Committee that the Bureau has “found no evidence whatsoever to support [the] slanderous accusation” that Obama ordered Trump Tower wiretapped during the campaign last year. (Deadline)