Former judge and frequent Fox News contributor Andrew Napolitano has reportedly been taken off the air — for now.
Multiple outlets say Napolitano has been sidelined at Fox News for repeating on air unverified claims that former President Obama asked U.K. intelligence to spy on Trump Tower.
"Did Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump when President Obama was in the White House and President Trump was Mr. Trump running for office?" Napolitano said. "Well, we don't really know the answer to that."
Napolitano also said, "Sources have told Fox News that President Obama could very easily have and probably did use a foreign intelligence service to gather this information for him."
"Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command," Napolitano said on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning. "He used GCHQ. What the heck is GCHQ? That's the initials for the British spying agency."
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Both White House press secretary Sean Spicer and President Trump defended accusations against Obama by pointing to Napolitano. Fox News' Shepard Smith walked back Napolitano's claims shortly thereafter.
"Fox News cannot confirm Judge Napolitano's commentary," Smith said Friday. "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."
