This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
At a time when the president of the United States is quoting a nutty Fox News personality, clearly this isn't obvious to everyone: Just because you're on TV doesn't make you an expert on anything.
Andrew Napolitano has been offering his crazy opinions as facts on the Fox News Channel since 1998 — until he was suspended a few days ago.
His latest unfounded assertion — that President Barack Obama used British intelligence to spy on Trump Tower — has caused blowback against Fox News and against Donald Trump (who repeated the hogwash) and caused an international incident.
On "Fox and Friends," Napolitano asserted, "Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama … used GCHQ (British intelligence)."
American law enforcement and intelligence officials have testified that's not true. And FNC has repudiated Napolitano's story. Fox's Shepard Smith said, "Fox News cannot confirm Judge Napolitano's commentary" and "knows of no evidence of any kind" supporting his charges.
Napolitano lied. Fake news!
But then White House press secretary Sean Spicer quoted Napolitano's lie. Trump actually said, "All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. And so you shouldn't be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox."
You could ask yourself why the president — who has access to intelligence information — turned to a loose cannon on Fox News, but that's a whole 'nother question.
The British government is unhappy about Napolitano's fake news and Trump spreading it. The GCHQ issued a statement calling Napolitano's ravings "nonsense" and "utterly ridiculous," adding they "should be ignored."
Well, obviously.
The real question is — why didn't Fox fire Napolitano years ago? He has:
• Promoted conspiracy theories that the U.S. government was behind the collapse of the World Trade Towers after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• Promoted a conspiracy theory that Osama bin Laden isn't really dead.
• Blamed Abraham Lincoln for the death and destruction of the Civil War.
• Asserted that it wasn't the Russians who hacked the DNC, it was the NSA.
He had no proof of any of this, but Fox was just fine with Napolitano spreading this garbage on its "news" channel. So what's different this time?
Did Fox take him off the air because he embarrassed the news division in addition to the president? Or is it something more than a coincidence that Fox chieftain Rupert Murdoch is currently trying to win approval from the British government to buy the 62 percent of satellite TV company Sky that he doesn't already own?
The last time he made such an attempt, it was torpedoed by a scandal involving Murdoch's British newspapers phone-hacking members of the royal family, politicians, police officials, celebrities and crime victims.
Fox News isn't the only TV outlet that foists unqualified, perhaps even unbalanced "experts" on cable news viewers, and there's no business excuse for CNN to continue to punish its viewers with appearances by Jeffrey Lord. But at least he hasn't caused an international incident.
While it's been widely reported that Napolitano has been suspended indefinitely, there's no word that he's been fired. This nutty conspiracy theorist could be lying again on Fox News at any moment.
Well, maybe not until the Sky takeover is finalized or rejected by the British government.
Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.