Culture

Shepard Smith: ‘Fox News Knows Of No Evidence Of Any Kind’ To Support Trump’s Wiretapping Claims

During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a German reporter asked President Donald Trump about his persistent wiretapping claims — especially in light of his recently blaming British spies for the alleged act of espionage, which stemmed from a Fox News report. While the White House previously apologized for the gaffe, Trump did not. Instead he pivoted with a joking reference to a past WikiLeaks release suggesting the Obama administration had done the same to Merkel’s government. “At least we have something in common,” he said while gesturing toward Merkel.

A portion of the room laughed at the joke once it was translated, though Fox News anchor Shepard Smith (who you can see above in a short clip and in a longer one below) was not amused. He rebuffed the basis for the Fox News reference — comments made by network personality Judge Andrew Napolitano on Fox & Friends‘ Tuesday episode — and maintained the cable news network had no evidence to support the wiretapping claims.

“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.”

As for Napolitano, he told the Fox & Friends co-hosts “three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command” in order to obtain the British government’s help with the Trump Tower wiretap. And while Shepard vehemently denied this on Friday, a network spokesperson told BuzzFeed News Napolitano stood by his previous statements.

Both the House and Senate intelligence committees, along with Speaker Paul Ryan, have declared no evidence exists to support Trump’s baseless claims about his predecessor’s alleged spying on his New York home. Even so, as Press Secretary Sean Spicer maintained during his Thursday press briefing, the president is sticking to his story.

You can watch the full video of Smith addressing the issue below.

(Via Business Insider, BuzzFeed News and CNN)

×