Andrew Napolitano returned to Fox News on Wednesday to join host Bill Hemmer for a segment on America’s Newsroom. The pop-in spot was Napolitano’s first appearance on the network since earlier in the month, when he suggested that then-President Obama used British surveillance routes to circumvent U.S. laws in an attempt to surveil Donald Trump. Fox News had previously pulled Napolitano from the air following the remarks that were quickly debunked by the House and Senate intelligence committees. The remarks, as baseless as they may be, were successful in making President Trump feel “somewhat vindicated” in his initial claims that President Obama had indeed been surveilling him within Trump Tower.
Napolitano began his appearance by reiterating that he stands by his previous wiretap claims, adding that the government needs to keep American’s informed about how much they surveil them in the future.
“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 on how much authority we want the government to have to surveil us, and the more the American public knows the more informed there and Congress’s decisions will be.”
As Hemmer mentions at the top of the clip, Napolitano has certainly had quite a few days. Since making the claims, Napolitano has found himself at the forefront of the wiretap claim and the chaos that has followed. After initially taking Napolitano’s words as gospel, Trump told the media that he was merely quoting a “talented legal mind” from Fox News, and perhaps the media shouldn’t speak to him about the claims, they should speak to Fox News. On Fox News‘s part, they’ve clearly stated that wiretapping allegations have not been confirmed by anyone withing their news division. Full stop.
It’s yet to be seen if Napolitano will continue the regular appearances he made on Fox prior to his claims, but the newest appearance makes it clear that he is no longer completely banned.
(Via Fox News)