FILE- In this Dec. 15, 2016, file photo, Judge Andrew Napolitano waits for an elevator in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. Fox News Channel has pulled legal analyst Napolitano from the air after... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE- In this Dec. 15, 2016, file photo, Judge Andrew Napolitano waits for an elevator in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. Fox News Channel has pulled legal analyst Napolitano from the air after disavowing his on-air claim that British intelligence officials had helped former President Barack Obama... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel has pulled legal analyst Andrew Napolitano from the air after disavowing his on-air claim that British intelligence officials had helped former President Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump. 
 
 A person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a personnel matter said Napolitano has been benched and won't be appearing on the air in the near future. Fox had no immediate comment Monday. 
 
 Napolitano's report last week on "Fox & Friends," saying he had three intelligence sources who said Obama went "outside the chain of command" to watch Trump, provoked an international incident. Britain dismissed the report as "nonsense" after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer quoted it in a briefing, part of the administration's continued defense of Trump's unproven contention that Obama had wiretapped him at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign. 
 
 FBI Director James Comey, testifying before Congress on Monday, became the latest official to state that no evidence has been found to support Trump's charge. 
 
 The president, when asked about the incident, said that "all we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didn't make an opinion on it. You shouldn't be talking to me. You should be talking to Fox." 
 
 Fox's Shepard Smith, on the air Friday afternoon, quickly stepped the network away from Napolitano's claim. 
 
 "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," Smith said. 
 
 Napolitano is a senior judicial analyst who has worked at Fox News Channel since 1998, and frequently comments on the Fox Business Network. He was a New Jersey Superior Court judge from 1987 to 1995. 
 
 Napolitano's removal from the air was first reported in the Los Angeles Times. ||||| FILE- In this April 11, 2011, file photo, Andrew Napolitano appears on the "Varney & Co." program on the Fox Business Network, in New York. Fox News Channel legal analyst Napolitano returned to the air... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE- In this April 11, 2011, file photo, Andrew Napolitano appears on the "Varney & Co." program on the Fox Business Network, in New York. Fox News Channel legal analyst Napolitano returned to the air on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, saying he stood by his claim about spying on President Donald Trump... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE- In this April 11, 2011, file photo, Andrew Napolitano appears on the "Varney & Co." program on the Fox Business Network, in New York. Fox News Channel legal analyst Napolitano returned to the air on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, saying he stood by his claim about spying on President Donald Trump... (Associated Press) FILE- In this April 11, 2011, file photo, Andrew Napolitano appears on the "Varney & Co." program on the Fox Business Network, in New York. Fox News Channel legal analyst Napolitano returned to the air... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel legal analyst Andrew Napolitano returned to the air Wednesday, saying he stood by his claim about spying on President Donald Trump that got him benched by the network for more than a week. 
 
 Napolitano had reported on Fox that British intelligence officials had helped former President Barack Obama spy on Trump, a story that quickly attracted notice because the president cited it in a news conference. Britain denied that it had done any such thing, and Fox news anchors Shepard Smith and Bret Baier distanced the network from the report, saying its reporters had found no evidence that Trump had been under surveillance. 
 
 Fox said on March 21 that it was taking Napolitano off the air for an indefinite period. The former New Jersey judge has worked at Fox News and Fox Business Network as an analyst since 1998. 
 
 In his return Wednesday, Napolitano told anchor Bill Hemmer that he stood by his story — and Hemmer didn't mention that others at Fox had been unable to verify it. 
 
 "You've had a few quiet days," Hemmer told him. "You likely needed them." 
 
 Napolitano said he and his sources stand by the story, although he offered no new details. 
 
 "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," he said. "And the more the American public knows about this, the more informed their and Congress' decisions will be." 
 
 Hemmer and Napolitano then moved on to another topic. Fox didn't explain to its viewers Wednesday why Napolitano had been off the air. ||||| Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano is standing by his claim, still without evidence, that former President Obama worked with British intelligence officials to spy on Donald Trump. 
 
 Napolitano returned to Fox News airwaves on Wednesday morning after a week-long absence and said he stood by his claim that Obama "went outside the chain of command" and used the UK's GCHQ service to surveil then-President-elect Trump. 
 
 GCHQ has categorically denied Napolitano's allegation, calling it "utterly ridiculous." Fox News has also said it has no evidence to back up Napolitano's claims. However, Fox News host Bill Hemmer did not clarify that when interviewing Napolitano on Wednesday morning. 
 
 Related: Reporting or commentary? Napolitano claim shows Fox's blurry line 
 
 Fox had pulled Napolitano off the air on March 21 after Trump and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer cited Napolitano's report in an effort to bolster the president's claim that Obama had spied on him. 
 
 Fox News spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Given that Napolitano is still making his claim on Fox programming, it is unclear why he was benched from the airwaves in the first place. 
 
 In his appearance Wednesday morning, Napolitano said "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." 
 
 "The more the American public knows the more informed there and Congress's decisions will be," he said. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The White House press secretary pointed to Fox News sources 
 
 The US has agreed not to repeat claims the UK's communications intelligence agency wiretapped Donald Trump during the presidential election campaign. 
 
 GCHQ rejected allegations made by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, that it spied on Mr Trump, as "nonsense". 
 
 No. 10 has been assured by Mr Spicer he would not repeat the claims, which he cited from US TV channel Fox News. 
 
 The White House has said that Mr Spicer was "simply pointing to public reports, not endorsing any specific story". 
 
 A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said it had been made clear to US authorities the claims were "ridiculous and should have been ignored". 
 
 Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said it was not enough to promise not to repeat the allegation. 
 
 "That's not the same as saying it was rubbish in the first place," he told the BBC. 
 
 GCHQ rejected the allegations as "utterly ridiculous". The unusual move by the agency to comment on the news came after Mr Spicer cited claims first made on Fox News earlier this week. 
 
 Mr Trump said Trump Tower in New York was under surveillance, but has provided no evidence for the claim. 
 
 The allegations of GCHQ involvement were initially made by former judge Andrew Napolitano. 
 
 Mr Spicer quoted Mr Napolitano as saying: "Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command." 
 
 He said Mr Obama "didn't use the NSA, he didn't use the CIA, he didn't use the FBI and he didn't use the Department of Justice, he used GCHQ. 
 
 "What the heck is GCHQ? That's the initials for the British spying agency. They have 24/7 access to the NSA database." 
 
 A GCHQ spokesman said: "Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wiretapping' against the then president-elect are nonsense. 
 
 "They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored." 
 
 Analysis: A rare response from GCHQ 
 
 By Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent: 
 
 Image copyright PA Image caption British intelligence relocated GCHQ from Bletchley Park to a new site in Cheltenham 
 
 It's a bad day for the transatlantic intelligence community when Britain's largest and best funded spy agency - GCHQ - has to come out and publicly contradict a claim made by its closest ally. 
 
 GCHQ, MI6 and MI5 rarely, if ever, comment on ongoing intelligence stories in the news. 
 
 But the allegation made by Mr Spicer was seen as so potentially damaging - as well as being untrue - that it was decided to make an exception. 
 
 The BBC understands that a discussion was held earlier this week in No 10 on whether and how to respond. 
 
 When Mr Spicer repeated his claim of GCHQ collusion on Thursday the strongly-worded denial was written and published. 
 
 Career intelligence officers on both sides of the Atlantic will now be at pains to protect their historically-close relationship from any further perceived gaffes coming out of the White House. 
 
 Sir Malcolm, speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One, said the allegations were "foolish and very dangerous" as they implied UK government involvement. 
 
 "It's not just about GCHQ", he said. "The inference is that the British government - either directly or indirectly - were involved." 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "What is needed is a clear unambiguous statement from the White House" Sir Malcom Rifkind tells The World at One 
 
 Former MI5 intelligence officer Ben Owen said he would be "shocked" if the claims turned out to be true. 
 
 "It's not something GCHQ would do", he told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. "They have to stick to the letter of the law." 
 
 He said leaks by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA, had eroded public trust in intelligence agencies. 
 
 "These stories have more credence with the public," he said. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Trump's wiretap saga explained in two minutes 
 
 The allegations relate to Mr Trump's earlier claim that his phones were tapped by predecessor Barack Obama during the presidential race. 
 
 He tweeted on March 4: "Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found." 
 
 A Senate committee on Thursday concluded that there were "no indications" Trump Tower was under surveillance by the US government before or after the election. 
 
 Image copyright Twitter 
 
 Michael Clarke, the former director of the defence think tank Rusi, said that relations between President Trump and US agencies had "got worse". 
 
 He told BBC Radio 4: "After the election, it was hoped that the relationship between President Trump and the American agencies would settle down and it hasn't." 
 
 Mr Spicer said Mr Trump stood by his allegations. 
 
 GCHQ is one of three UK intelligence and security agencies, along with MI5 and MI6. It delivers signals intelligence - the intercepting of communication between people or electronic devices - to the prime minister and foreign secretary. 
 
 The agency credits its "particularly strong" relationship with its US equivalent, the National Security Agency, to the collaboration it began at Bletchley Park during World War Two.
– The Fox legal analyst who claimed that a British intelligence agency helped former President Barack Obama wiretap Trump Tower won't be analyzing anything else for the network in the near future: Insiders tell the AP and the Los Angeles Times that Andrew Napolitano has been "benched" by Fox News following the controversial remarks, which were denounced as "utterly ridiculous" in a rare statement from Britain's Government Communication Headquarters intelligence agency. Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, claimed on air and in a Fox News column that multiple sources told him GCHQ "most likely provided Obama with transcripts of Trump's calls." Fox anchor Shepard Smith said Friday that the network didn't have any proof for Napolitano's claims, the New York Daily News reports. "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," he said. President Trump described Napolitano as a "very talented legal mind" when asked about the claims during a Friday news conference. "That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox, and so you shouldn't be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox," he said. On Sunday, Napolitano defended his remarks in a statement to Fox's MediaBuzz, saying he still believes what his sources told him.