President Donald Trump's accusations that his predecessor had Trump Tower wiretapped could hand the former president a successful libel case, according to George W. Bush's ex-ethics lawyer.
Richard Painter, along with fellow former White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen, is suing Trump over alleged violation of the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution.
Libel law currently requires the plaintiff, in this case Obama, to show that Trump knew his claims of wiretapping were false, or made the claims "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not," according to the U.S. Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
During his campaign, Trump vowed to "open up our libel laws," specifically targeting journalists for their coverage of him.
"We can sue them and win instead of having no chance of winning because they are totally protected," he said at a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, The Independent reports.
"You see, with me, they're not protected, because I'm not like other people but I'm not taking money. I'm not taking their money .. We're going to open up libel laws, and we're going to have people sue you like you've never got sued before."
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