Fox News: “We Know Of No Evidence Trump Surveilled At Any Time In Any Way”
UPDATED with video: “Fox News cannot confirm Judge Napolitano’s commentary; 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,” Shepard Smith said on Fox News Channel moments after Donald Trump told reporters to talk to FNC about remarks his press secretary made from the podium at the White House.
Smith later noted the remarks had been made “on the morning show, but not on Fox News.” Napolitano had cited “three intelligence sources” he said “have informed Fox News.”
Trump told German reporters they should be asking Fox News about its report on Brit intelligence spying on Trump for then President Obama during the election.
Trump had revved up his “this is what I was told” responsibility-ducking technique when asked about his claims that Obama asked British intelligence to spy on him during the election. Trump pointed the finger at Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano.
Trump’s comment came in response to a reporter’s question during a White House presser with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A German reporter asked Trump if he regretted having claimed Obama wiretapped him during the campaign, and if he now thought it was a mistake to have said Brit intelligence was involved, according to a simultaneous translation provided to cable news outlets.
“We said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind, who was the one responsible for saying that on television” Trump said, insisting “I did not make an opinion on it. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox, and so you should not be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox.”
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Theresa May said after Spicer made his comments, “We’ve made clear to the administration that these claims are ridiculous and they should be ignored and we’ve received assurances that these allegations will not be repeated.” But White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said today that the White House regrets nothing about his statement.
On Thursday Spicer admonished reporters about their coverage of Trump’s unproven tweets about the alleged Obama-ordered wiretaps on Trump Tower. He read from a prepared list of reports he said support Trump’s claims including one from a Fox News Channel broadcast.
“On Fox News on March 14, Judge Andrew Napolitano made the following statement: Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command…He didn’t use the NSA, he didn’t use the CIA, he didn’t use the FBI, he didn’t use the Department of Justice. He used GCHQ… the initials from the British intelligence spying agency. By having two people say to them the president needs transcripts of conversations involving candidate Trump he’s able to get it and no American fingerprints on it.”
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