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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 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:

The answer to both questions must be yes, and that could be a difficult conclusion to draw.

"What the plaintiff has to show is that the defendant has said, written or tweeted something that is a false statement of fact that harms the reputation of the defendant, and because Obama is a public official, you have to show that it was done with some sort of intent to harm," said Jay Wexler, a professor of constitutional law at Boston University Law School.

Related: What Does It Take to Get a Legal Wiretap?

Despite that high threshold, a fair amount of evidence is beginning to build that Trump might have crossed the legal line.

A senior U.S. official told NBC News that FBI Director James Comey asked the Justice Department over the weekend to publicly reject Trump's claims because they were untrue.

A spokesman for Obama said Sunday that Trump's tweets were "unequivocally false," and James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, flatly denied any wiretap of Trump Tower on NBC's "Meet the Press."

In addition, it seems that Trump did not try to ask his own administration whether the scenario was true. A senior U.S. official in a position to know told NBC News that Trump "did not consult with the people inside the U.S. government who might know before making this claim."

Then, on Sunday, the White House called for a congressional investigation into illegal wiretapping of the Trump campaign.

"President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said.

As the evidence that Trump's charge is false piles on top of the proof that he did not try to fact-check it, experts say he is treading on troubling ground.

"I think the plaintiff would claim that it's untrue and the burden would be on Trump, the defendant, to prove truth," Wexler said.

Trump himself has threatened lawsuits against many people and publications since he entered the public eye, but he brought only seven of those cases to court, according to USA Today. Of those seven, he won only one.

Despite the possible case, it is unlikely that Obama would sue Trump for libel. Predecessors tend to give the succeeding president a fair amount of room, and the president is provided some protections from civil suits. The Supreme Court's 1982 decision Nixon v. Fitzgerald found that a president is provided absolute immunity from civil damages and liability while conducting presidential acts.

"President Trump has official immunity from liability and damages," Zipursky confirmed, but it is not clear that judges would view tweeting a defamatory conspiracy theory, without evidence, as a president carrying out his official duties.

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Analysis: Does Obama Have Grounds to Sue Trump for Libel? - NBCNews.com

Barack Obamas aim is to avoid engaging with Trump or doing much politically in the years ahead. | Getty

Barack Obama is continuing to staff his post-presidency with top aides from his presidency, adding Yohannes Abraham as a senior adviser to the Obama Foundation.

Hes coming on for whats expected to be an at least six-month stint as the top deputy to foundation chief executive officer David Simas, Obamas former White House political director.

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According to a foundation official, Abraham will help run day-to-day operations, focusing on building the structure and then recruiting and managing the staff. He'll also work closely with foundation executive director Robbin Cohen, who previously worked for former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzkers private real estate interests.

Abraham was chief of staff to top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett running the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. He also served as a senior adviser to the National Economic Council.

We always asked Yohannes to take on our toughest, most important projects, and he always always exceeded our expectations, said Jarrett. That's why it's no surprise that President Obama asked him to help lay the groundwork for his foundation. I have no doubt Yohannes will tackle this with his characteristic intellect, work ethic, sound judgment, and commitment to excellence."

Abrahams time with Obama goes back to the 2008 campaign.

Since returning from his post-White House vacation last month, Obamas spent most of his time at his new office about a mile from the White House, deciding what his foundation will start out working on and preparing to write a book for which he and his wife signed a $30 million contract last weekall while attempting to stay out of the fray, despite President Donald Trump drawing him in over unsupported accusations on Twitter over the weekend.

Obamas aim, though, is to avoid engaging with Trump or doing much politically in the years ahead, with the aspirations of building a decades-long post-presidency that will compete with his presidency for significance.

I have seen few people who combine exceptional talent, ability to manage people and process to get things done, and fundamental decency like Yohannes, said Jeff Zients, Obamas last director of the National Economic Council.

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Obama adds former WH staffer Abraham as foundation adviser - Politico

Rep. Trey GowdyTrey GowdyRepublicans shrug off Trump wiretap claims Gowdy: No evidence that Obama wiretapped Trump A guide to the committees: House MORE (R-S.C.) said Monday hes seen no evidence to support President Trumps claim that former President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaRepublicans shrug off Trump wiretap claims FBI head incredulous at Trump wiretapping tweets: report Dem party boss rips Trumps religious discrimination of Muslims MORE wiretapped his office during the presidential race.

I don't think the FBI is the Obama team, and I don't think the men and women who are career prosecutors at [the Department of Justice] belong to any team other than a blindfolded woman holding a pair of scales, Gowdy told Fox News, referencing the Greek goddess Themis, who represents justice and trust.

Trump accused the Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower while he was still a candidate, calling it a "Nixon/Watergate" scandal on Twitter.

We have the tools to keep us safe and it's prudent for those tools to be used lawfully and appropriately, Gowdy said on Fox.

If they're not used lawfully and appropriately, there's a paper trail and we'll be able to find it out, he added.

Gowdy, a former prosecutor who led the House select committee investigation into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks, said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant the Obama administration reportedly used would be available for Trump and his team to review.

The Obama team is no longer in charge, so any information the current Department of Justice has that suggests the previous Department of Justice acted inappropriately, they are welcome to release it, Gowdy said.

--This report was updated at 3:13 p.m.

Excerpt from:
Gowdy: No evidence that Obama wiretapped Trump - The Hill

The Atlantic

The Rand Paul Bill: Obamacare Plus? Forbes By Doug Badger and Grace-Marie Turner. House Republicans are expected to roll out their highly anticipated bill to repeal and replace Obamacare this week, but a more obscure measure introduced by Rand Paul (R-KY) is gaining attention and should not ... Will 'Denounce-and-Preserve' Beat 'Repeal-and-Replace'?The Atlantic Rand Paul: Obamacare Champion?Care2.com Rand Paul can save health care reformRare.us American Spectator -NBCNews.com -Fox News all 252 news articles »

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The Rand Paul Bill: Obamacare Plus? - Forbes

As Kirralie Smith sits at a sidewalk table in Taree for an interview this week, there is a palpable tension. Sheis mistrustful of what she calls the mainstream media, particularly those elements she believes are biased towards the left.

But Smithhas agreed to talk because she will, she says, use any platform to express her view that Islam is an ideology of violence, intolerance and sexism.

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Kirralie Smith is a well-known anti-Islamic politician and activist, and she is being tapped as Australia's newest libertarian leader.

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The former head of the NSW gaming authority has said it was a mistake for the former NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell to grant a licence to James Packer to build a high rollers casino in Sydney without a public inquiry. ABC TV's Four Corners

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Violence has increased in suburbs surrounding the lockout precincts in the Sydney CBD and Kings Cross, according to a report from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

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Revenue from car parking is a major earner across Australia's four largest airport with Melbourne at the top of the list.

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The CSIRO Marine Debris team spent three years surveying the plastic pollution affecting Australias beaches and oceans.

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Fairfax's Nick Moir went down to Dee Why beach to look at the increased swell

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Police are investigating the death of a 55-year-old woman after her body was found in an apartment building in Sydney's west on Sunday night.

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The experienced pilot is recovering in hospital after he crashed his single engine plane into a paddock at Tumut, west of Canberra.

Kirralie Smith is a well-known anti-Islamic politician and activist, and she is being tapped as Australia's newest libertarian leader.

Smith received relatively little attention during the last federal election as a NSW Senate candidate for the Australian Liberty Alliance, the political offshoot of the Q Society, which describes itself as "Australia's leading Islam-critical movement".

("Q Society supports an integrated multi-ethnic Australia and rejects racism, which the Oxford dictionary defines as: 'Belief in the superiority of a particular race.' Since Islam is not a race or ethnicity, being critical of Islam is not racist," its website explains.)

But she is likely to receive far more press in the coming weeks as the co-defendant in a defamation action being brought by the businessman Mohammed El-Mouelhy, who was the subject of a critical video produced by the Q Society and presented by Smith.

Already Smith and the Q Society, also named in the suit, have rallied an impressive line-up of public supporters, including Coalition right-wingersCory Bernardi, George Christensen and the former MP Ross Cameron, who are among a handful of public figures set to address fundraisers to be held in Sydney and Melbourne on February 9 and 10.

We sit and both reach for our phones to turn on recording apps. Smith has already explained that she wants her own record of our conversation. The tension dissipates a little when a sky-blue ute throbs past us and Smith laughs and points out the personalised number plate, "TRUMP1". Later she will tell me that she rejects the suggestion she is right wing, rather, she says she a part of the silent majority of mainstream conservatives whose voices are now being heard due to victories of Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign.

Smith says she never intended to pursue politics. She has always been happiest as a wife and mother. "I love being my husband's wife," she says to emphasise the point.

As it was, a confluence of events brought her to her mission. In 2000 Smith and her husband Greg, a tradesman, sought out volunteer work in Mali and there met the Assemblies of God missionary Faouzi Arzouni, whom she describes as a Muslim apostate who became a friend and mentor.

Two years later the couple went on another trip, a 10-day visit to refugee camps ofthe displaced of what is now known as the Maluku sectarian conflict in Indonesia, during which Christian and Muslim communities fell into violent political and ethnic conflict. Smith recalls sitting in refugee camps hearing terrible stories of violence perpetrated by Muslims.

In 2009 Smith's husband took her to a talk being given by Mark Durie, an Anglican vicar. During that lecture Durie expressed concern about buying certain supermarket products because they had been certified as halal.

Smith was intrigued and began her own investigations on the internet, learning that many brands are halal-certified, and that a portion of the fees paid for such certification is donated to Muslim charities. In other countries, Smith contends, those charities have directed funds towards groups with terrorist links. Her online investigation became a website, Halal Choices, a campaign and, with the support of Bernardi and Christensen, a parliamentary inquiry into "third party" food certification. Finally it became a political ambit, with Smith running for the ALA in a campaign launched by the anti-Islamic immigration Dutch MP Geert Wilders.

"There is no question of our country being Islamified. Now, this reply constituted a historical error as soon as it was uttered," Wilders once told Dutch parliament.

"I can report that they have had enough of burkas, headscarves, the ritual slaughter of animals, socalled honour revenge, blaring minarets, female circumcision, hymen restoration operations, abuse of homosexuals, Turkish and Arabic on the buses and trains as well as on town hall leaflets, halal meat at grocery shops and department stores, Sharia exams, the Finance Minister's Sharia mortgages, and the enormous over-representation of Muslims in the area of crime, including Moroccan street terrorists," Wilders said.

Smith says she does not believe there is an imminent threat of adopting Sharia law, but is concerned about what she calls "creeping Sharia".

"We are being encouraged very strongly to tolerate Sharia finance, halal certification, the hijab," she says.

"Sharia is definitely present in Australia I believe there are honour killings and it is all reported under domestic violence or another name," she says. As evidence she says she has close friends who are pastors who work in churches who have provided sanctuary to victims.

But Smith's concerns are broader than creeping sharia. During the US election she was horrified by Hillary Clinton's support for abortion rights. She opposes political correctness, Safe Schools andbig government regulations imposed upon farmers by distant bureaucrats.

"I pretty much oppose everything the Greens stand for," she says.

She was also appalled by the Liberal Party's abandonment of Tony Abbott for Malcolm Turnbull.

This broader political outlook, and Smith's articulate direct manner, has led some observers to speculate that she is a potential leader for a new conservative movement, one energised by the international populist surge.

She is, says John Adams, a former Coalition adviser who has written about the need for more intellectual depth in the new conservative movement, a more capable and charismatic messenger than, say, Pauline Hanson. ("I think Pauline has a lot of good sentiment, I am not sure about the ability," says Smith of Hanson.)

In the months since the campaign Smith has kept in touch with supporters via videos on her Facebook page. In them she is relentlessly bright and articulate, upbeat about Christmas and Australia Day, though scandalised by the recent billboard that showed a pair of little girls celebrating in a hijab andcheerily opposed to the "threat" of multiculturalism. She denies ever having had media training, though confesses that she is constantly asked if she has.

Asked if she plans to run for office again Smith says she cannot answer the question as her entire focus is directed towards the defamation action and her family.

"People say this is sexist, well I am sexist, I love being a wife and mother, that is the best I have ever done in my life I love being my husband's wife."

In the next breath she adds that sheand her husband have made the decision to use any platform to put forward their message.

"I want to be able to look my children in the eye and say I did everything I could to stand for what is right."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the Reverend Mark Durie's relationship to the Q Society. He is in fact an occasional speaker for the Q Society.

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Islam-critical Kirralie Smith seen as potential ...