Posted on 03/06/2017 5:28:26 AM PST by Pinkbell
President Donald Trump's newest pivot might be his way to divert attention from his own Russia troubles by leveling a Watergate-level conspiracy allegation at former President Barack Obama.
But this latest assertion that Obama ordered illegal surveillance of Trump Tower during the 2016 election — tweeted without evidence — could build and get the president into some legal hot water.
Although the law provides a great deal of leeway for political speech, that protection is not all encompassing. And because of the way Trump has leveled unsubstantiated accusations at Obama, he may have libeled his predecessor.
"He's basically stating that Mr. Obama committed crimes, and to state that somebody has committed a crime when it's false is clearly defamatory," said Benjamin Zipursky, who teaches defamation law at Fordham University Law School in New York.
"The question is: Is there enough evidence of serious reckless disregard to send that case to a jury?" Zipursky added. "I don't know what a court would decide on that, but there is some evidence of recklessness."
It's difficult for public figures to win libel cases.
Most courts rule against them because the assumption is that they have chosen to make their lives an open book, which means people will talk about them. But past Supreme Court cases have created a basic standard that seeks to answer two legal questions:
Was the statement false?
Did the person know it was false or was he or she reckless about whether it was false?
The answer to both questions must be yes, and that could be a difficult conclusion to draw.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Obama will not expose himself to discovery. Ain’t gonna happen.
The more that comes out about this, the more it looks as though Obama was very busy sabotaging the in-coming president. It appears that Sessions was set up from the very beginning and was marked for resignation, thus leaving an Obama hack in charge of the DOJ and any ensuing investigations. Trump’s people spotted that trap and shuffled the order at DOJ so that at least a more non-political career lawyer would be in charge.
The surveillance of Pres. Trump was to be covered by the bogus Russia story, giving it legitimacy. This should all be brought to the public ASAP. The corrupt Obama/Clinton machine must be exposed.
Said of Trump......”tweeted without evidence”.......
Thus far, from what I have heard or read about Trump statements, he does NOT “suggest” something as sinister as wire tapping, etc. without pretty solid information or fact. He has to be extra careful how he presents such information and to whom, particularly until he drains the swamp and gets his people in place to handle such information and charges appropriately. He will act!
ROFL
Does anyone watch The Americans? This is all pretty much on script. There was even an episode several years ago, where the office of Casper Weinberger was bugged by a long term trusted cleaning lady, blackmailed by the Russians.
CNN has polling that Americans are concerned about Trump’s ties to Russia and thinks his policies will lead us down the wrong track. That’s their news this morning.
What grade are these NBC journalists in? I would guess about 7th or 8th grade.
I’d love to see Obama sue for this.
Discovery would be just ooooooooooh so much fun.
Does Trump have grounds to throw the Kenyan interloper in jail yet?
It’s still early...
Bring it on.
Discovery would be very revealing.
Let’s depose everyone.
MSM morons.
All the President’s Men — what we are seeing now is basically Woodward and Bernstein (and hundreds of their co-workers) jumping in to defend Richard Nixon and slamming the McGovern Democrats as dangerous people who threaten our great nation.
I suppose if Nixon had been a Democrat, the original Watergate story would have played out this way. Certainly Round 2, with Obama the Democrat in the lead role, is playing like this.
Why does NBC not ask the same about Trump and the Russian crap?
BUMP!
I'd fir him, I'd firk him, and I'd ferret him.
CNN fake polls and CNN fake news.
You gotta marvel at the audacity of it all.
If there is one thing I have learned from the liberal media over the years, is that if anyone in any of Executive Branch’s Departments make any kind of error(if Republican) or does something fantastic(if Democrat), it belongs to the President.
I saw that. Can anyone get internals on that poll?
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