Fox Analyst Returns To Fox, Stands By His Debunked Theory That Obama Had The British Spy On Trump

The Trump Administration Caused An International Incident By Invoking Andrew Napolitano’s Baseless Claim

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

In his first appearance back on the network after he was benched for making a baseless claim that President Barack Obama asked British intelligence to illegally wiretap Trump Tower during the 2016 election, Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano stood by his claim. Napolitano was previously forced off the air after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer cited the analyst’s remarks during a press briefing, which led to an international incident with the UK. Media Matters first noted that Napolitano’s wild accusation came from a discredited conspiracy theorist and RT guest. Although Fox has tried to distance itself from Napolitano's claim, Fox host Bill Hemmer simply said in response to Napolitano standing by his story, “we'll see how this story plays out.” From the March 29 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

BILL HEMMER (CO-HOST): With me now, Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano. And judge nice to see you.

ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Good to see you. 

HEMMER: Good morning to you. You've had a few quiet days. 

NAPOLITANO: Yes I have.

HEMMER: You likely needed them. 

NAPOLITANO: Yes.

HEMMER: Before we get to the case facing the former congressman of Illinois, you put out a statement, I think it was 10 days ago --

NAPOLITANO: Right.

HEMMER: Saying you were confident in the story that you reported here in the past month. 

NAPOLITANO: Yes.

HEMMER: You still stand by that or -- 

NAPOLITANO: Yes, I do, and the sources stand by it. And the American public needs to know more about this rather than less because a lot of the government surveillance authorities will expire in the fall and there'll be a great debate about how much authority we want the government to have to surveil us. And the more the American public knows about this, the more informed their and Congress' decisions will be. 

HEMMER: So no change then?

NAPOLITANO: Correct.

HEMMER: And we'll see how this story plays out, in time.

NAPOLITANO: We will. Yeah. I think a lot more is going to come.