The Factor began Wednesday's show with the news that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes says he has evidence that intelligence agencies under President Obama picked up electronic surveillance on the Trump transition team. That may well be illegal and it gives President Trump some rational for his widely-ridiculed claim that he was wiretapped in Trump Tower. Republican Congressman Peter King, a member of the Intelligence Committee, opined on the story. "This is extremely significant," he said. "It is not that the Trump people were being wiretapped, this was surveillance of foreign individuals talking to one another. There were references to conversations they may have had with President-elect Trump and people close to him, and any time an American's name comes up it is supposed to be 'masked.' But in this case reports were written that listed the names of these people and what they were doing. President Trump overplayed his hand by saying that President Obama ordered wiretapping, but he had a very legitimate case to make." The Factor added, "This is against the law, you cannot tap and disseminate information on people for whom you don't have a warrant."

The Factor asked veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward for his take on the new surveillance allegations. "If this is true it is a gross violation," Woodward declared. "Apparently what happened is that a couple of diplomats who could legitimately be wiretapped were talking about meeting with Trump or people on his transition team, and you can learn all sorts of things from diplomats gossiping. But under the rules, you don't name the American person who is being discussed. The idea that there was intelligence value here is really thin and this could be criminal on the part of people who named Americans. There is a real problem with people in the Obama administration possibly passing around this highly classified gossip."

An Islamic terrorist killed at least four people in London Wednesday when he drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians and then stabbed a policeman. British-born terror expert Nile Gardiner analyzed the attack. "London is the front line in Europe in the war against Islamist terrorism," he theorized. "Over the last three years British authorities have thwarted no less than 13 major terror attacks. We are reaping the whirlwind in the U.K. of mass immigration policies and it was almost inevitable that we would see this kind of attack in London. ISIS, Al Qaeda, and a whole array of Islamic terrorist organizations have sought to recruit young men in the United Kingdom and Europe. But the British government is determined to defeat the terror threat."

On the eve of the major healthcare vote in the House, The Factor asked Karl Rove to predict the likely outcome. "We're now seeing reports that there are at least 25 members of the Republican Freedom Caucus who will not vote for the bill," Rove reported, "and if that's true the measure will go down by three or four votes. On the other hand, some members have come out in favor of the bill who were previously opposed. If I were a betting man, my gut tells me that the bill's supporters will come up with a narrow victory." The Factor agreed, saying, "I predict that it will pass by a few votes."

"As we reported extensively last night, a 14-year-old girl in Rockville, Maryland was raped in a high school bathroom by two men allegedly in this country illegally. The incident is beyond shocking - an 18-year-old from Guatemala and a 17-year-old from El Salvador were freshmen at the school. Neither ABC, NBC, nor CBS covered the story on their nightly news broadcasts Tuesday night, nor did they cover it this morning when they had hours of air time. CNN did not cover the story in prime time last night; ditto, MSNBC. That is beyond anything I have ever seen in my 40-plus years of journalism, to have a story of that magnitude ignored by the national media. We all know why - illegal immigration is a political issue and President Trump has made the apprehension of undocumented criminals a top priority. The Democratic Party is resisting that, saying all illegal aliens are being demonized. Every fair-minded American knows the immigration system is broken, that we don't know who is here or what they are doing. Even after this poor 14-year-old girl was brutalized, the Maryland House of Delegates voted to make Maryland a 'sanctuary state.' Thankfully, Governor Larry Hogan has said he will veto the measure, but how on earth can members of that body do that? It's incomprehensible. Many illegal immigrants contribute to our society, but the fact remains that the federal government has lost control of the immigration process and many states and cities will not obey the law."

The Factor invited reaction from FNC's Eric Bolling and Spanish-language TV anchor Elvira Salazar. "If a 14-year-old child is raped and sodomized," Salazar declared, "you may burn them at the stake whether they are legal or illegal. Those two monsters are from Central America. But I should also say that we do not want to stigmatize millions of illegals who are contributing to our community." Bolling opined on the media's decision to essentially ignore this disturbing story. "The media are liberal and liberals have always been on the side of the illegal immigrants. That's because if you are the party that brings illegals into the mainstream and gives them citizenship, you will never lose another election."

Finally, Charles Krauthammer analyzed the breaking news that House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes has implied that the Trump team was indeed surveilled by someone in the Obama administration. "There have always been two stories," Dr. K said. "One was Trump's tweet that Obama ordered a wiretap, which we know is false. The auxiliary story is that of the improper unmasking of Americans who were caught up in the tapping of other people. What we didn't know until today is that that incidental wiretapping involved more people than just Michael Flynn. But I don't know that it's a given that President Obama was briefed on this."

Tom Peters, Mendham, NJ: "Bill, you were incorrect in your discussion with Judith Miller. Freedom of the press is sacrosanct. The harm to the nation was at the hands of the leaker."

Dan Everette, Mercer Island, WA: "Senator Feinstein is correct. The Constitution is a living document and can change."

George Leyva, Hialeah, FL: "O'Reilly, sorry that Colin Kaepernick is too politically incorrect for your taste. Shows how much of a snowflake you are."

Starbucks says it will hire 10,000 vets and nearly 40,000 young Americans who don't have jobs. That's an economic plan that is both patriotic and good for business.