Obama ethics chief: Comey could sue Trump for libel and might win

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Hill

The top White House ethics lawyer under President Obama said he believes former FBI director James Comey could sue President Trump for libel.

The comments come as Trump continues to lash out at Comey after the former FBI director denounced Trump during a scathing interview with ABC News.

"This false, malicious accusation of criminal conduct is libel per se by Trump. @Comey could sue—& might win," Norm Eisen tweeted Monday.

"Despite absolute official immunity, open legal question whether defamation using personal Twitter may be outside its scope. See Nixon v Fitzgerald."

-snip-

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/383349-obama-ethics-chief-comey-could-sue-trump-for-libel-and-might-win

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Link to tweet

[Me.]

1. Wouldn't He First Have To Prove He's Not Morally Unfit

[Freelancer]

2. Lol. Drumph lawyers would have to prove a positive, me thinks. -nt

[Me.]

3. I'll Tell You What's Funny

I read the OP Backwards...Comrade Trump suing Comey

[Virtual Burlesque]

8. Person making statements has to prove verasity of his statement in a libel suit

Trump has claimed Comey is guilty of criminal conduct. Trump would have to prove that criminal conduct in a court of law or get bitten in the wallet

OMG! I want to see that, A Republican forced to prove his accusations or pay a penalty.

[duforsure]

4. I thought about that too

And with many others he's attacked using lies to defame them with. I'm surprised dozens if not more haven't also gotten Stormy's lawyer, or other lawyers like him to go after trump also. I think its only a matter of time many, many more will come out and expose even worse things about trump, and cohen could prove them right from his information on things . Many other lawsuits will prove really , really bad for trump. trump has no respect for the rule of law, so this is going to get really nasty before its over. Nobody is above the rule of law, every law enforcement person should know and understand that, especially giving a criminal absolute power .

[marybourg]

5. He could make it a class action suit.

[notdarkyet]

6. Amazon should sue

HIM for loss of stock value due to his restless tweets. Also anyone else whom trump has attacked and tried to destroy by tweet. Sue.

[djg21]

7. Comey has more of a chance with a Section 1983 Stigma-Plus Due Process Claim.

but that’s a tough sell too.

When an individual is defamed by a public official it will constitute a deprivation of "liberty" or "property" without due process of law, actionable under section 1983, if a State statute protects that individual against such defamation. In the alternative, an individual, whose reputation is injured by the remarks of a public official and additionally suffers a resultant `tangible' injury such as loss of employment as a result of the defamation, is also deprived of a liberty or property interest protected by the due process clause. Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 699-710, 96 S. Ct. 1155, 1159-64, 47 L. Ed. 2d 405; see Zemsky v. City of New York, 821 F.2d 148, 151 (2nd Cir.1987).