Fox Drops Analyst Who Said Brits Helped Wiretap Trump

The Fox legal analyst who claimed that a British intelligence agency helped former President Barack Obama wiretap Trump Tower won't be analyzing anything else for the network in the near future: Insiders tell the AP and the Los Angeles Times that Andrew Napolitano has been "benched" by Fox News following the controversial remarks, which were denounced as "utterly ridiculous" in a rare statement from Britain's Government Communication Headquarters intelligence agency. Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, claimed on air and in a Fox News column that multiple sources told him GCHQ "most likely provided Obama with transcripts of Trump's calls."

Fox anchor Shepard Smith said Friday that the network didn't have any proof for Napolitano's claims, the New York Daily News reports. "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," he said. President Trump described Napolitano as a "very talented legal mind" when asked about the claims during a Friday news conference. "That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox, and so you shouldn't be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox," he said. On Sunday, Napolitano defended his remarks in a statement to Fox's MediaBuzz, saying he still believes what his sources told him. (More Andrew Napolitano stories.)