TRENTON -- Fox News has suspended indefinitely its senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano after he repeated the so-far baseless claim that British intelligence operatives wiretapped President Donald Trump while he was still a candidate at the request of President Obama.

On March 4, President Trump first tweeted the accusation that Obama ordered his "'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before his victory in the presidential election, but offered no proof.

Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

On March 14, Napolitano, a former state Superior Court judge from Bergen County, appeared on "Fox and Friends," claiming to have spoken to three "intelligence sources" who said Obama "went outside the chain of command" and used Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, to ensure there were "no American fingerprints on this."

On March 16, Napolitano made the claim again in an online column for Fox News, writing that the British foreign surveillance service "most likely provided Obama with transcripts of Trump's calls," but did not offer any proof.

However both the FBI director, James Comey, and the head of the National Security Agency, Mike Rogers, testified before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee Hearing on Russian Active Measures Investigation that they had no information that would support the president's claims of being wiretapped by the Obama administration.

The British intelligence agency also took the unusual step of denying Napolitano's claims, calling them "utterly ridiculous."

Fox News last week disavowed Napolitano's on-air remarks and column.

"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," said Fox News anchor Shep Smith.

What do you think? Did Fox News make the right call in benching Napolitano?

Vote in our unscientific, informal reader poll below and tell us why you voted that way in the comments.

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.