I’m skeptical — of the moving-in part, not the “plotting against Trump” part. But I’m less skeptical than I’d be if this story were about any other politician and his top advisor.

Obama is being aided in his political crusade by his longtime consigliere, Valerie Jarrett, who has moved into the 8,200-square-foot, $5.3-million Kaloroma mansion with the former president and Michelle Obama, long time best friends…

According to the family source, Obama was at first reluctant to assume the role of leader of the opposition…

‘He was weary and burned out after eight years in office. But Valerie convinced him that he didn’t have any choice if he wanted to save his legacy. And, as usual, he bowed to Valerie’s political wisdom and advice.’…

‘There was never any doubt that Valerie would have a suite of rooms in the house that the Obama’s are renting,’ said the source. ‘Obama trusts her judgment more than any other person on the planet, as does Michelle.

The goal, allegedly, is to force Trump’s impeachment or resignation. Impeachment would be a neat trick given that the House is likely to stay red through the end of Trump’s term. Resignation is negligibly more plausible: There may be enough Obama loyalists in the guts of the federal bureaucracy to dig up a truly devastating leak about Trump, but even then it’s hard to imagine something so bad that Trump would capitulate to his critics rather than try to fight them off. The guy didn’t drop out after the “Access Hollywood” tape. Unless there’s video of him personally accepting a fat envelope from Vladimir Putin himself, he’s going to hang in there. Whatever it might mean for his party.

But back to the idea of Jarrett moving in with the Obamas. Is it likely that Barack and Michelle value Jarrett’s friendship so much that they’re willing to let her actually live in their home? No. Is it possible? Oh yeah. Here’s how a 2014 TNR story about Jarrett began: “Even at this late date in the Obama presidency, there is no surer way to elicit paranoid whispers or armchair psychoanalysis from Democrats than to mention the name Valerie Jarrett. Party operatives, administration officials—they are shocked by her sheer longevity and marvel at her influence. When I asked a longtime source who left the Obama White House years ago for his impressions of Jarrett, he confessed that he was too fearful to speak with me, even off the record.” She was described there as “the Obama whisperer.” Others have referred her to as Obama’s “liberal id” given that she was known for pushing him left on policy during his presidency. She was, by all accounts, easily his most influential aide, outranking even his own chiefs of staff in access to him. She had a staff of three dozen working for her in the White House at one point and even got her own Secret Service detail. She was his svengali and he was her conduit to enormous political influence. That being so, why wouldn’t O want her working out of or even living in his new home, and why wouldn’t she want to do that?

There’s another term sometimes used to describe Jarrett — not by Obama’s critics but by his own aides: “The Night Stalker.” If you doubt that the Daily Mail scoop about her moving into Chez Obama might be true, read this NYT piece from 2012 and have your doubts eased:

“She is the single most influential person in the Obama White House,” said one former senior White House official, who like many would speak candidly only on condition of anonymity…

“He’s got a real mess in the West Wing,” said one close presidential adviser. “Valerie is effectively the chief of staff, and he knows, but he doesn’t know. She’s almost like Nancy Reagan was with President Reagan, but more powerful.”…

[F]ew have had the stature — and the ability to step outside traditional White House protocol — of Ms. Jarrett. She is the only staff member who regularly follows the president home from the West Wing to the residence, a practice that has earned her the nickname “the Night Stalker.” By day, Mr. Obama is “Mr. President” to her, but in social settings, he is just “Barack.” When the Obamas take an out-of-town break, she often goes along.

Ed Klein claimed two years ago in his book “Blood Feud” that Jarrett had her own room in the White House residence. Was that the germ of the idea for today’s hard-to-believe Daily Mail story or is it actually corroborating evidence that the story’s true? It seems far more likely that Jarrett has her own office in the Obama house, so that they can work together, than that she has her own bedroom, but it may be that the Obamas are simply generous in inviting relatives or quasi-relatives to share their living quarters. Michelle Obama’s mother lived in the White House during his presidency, remember. If you’re willing to invite grandma to live under the same roof as you, why wouldn’t you also invite your, um, wealthy, politically powerful former advisor, who could surely afford her own mansion?

Here’s Trump a few days ago suggesting that Obama is behind the left-wing protests against him and possibly some of the leaks from within the federal government over the past six weeks. Whether O bears any responsibility personally, there’s certainly reason to think people who used to work for him do.

Update: Too weird even for Obama and Jarrett, says Obama advisor Eric Schultz:

don't worry. not happening. don't believe everything you read in the free beacon.

— Eric Schultz (@EricSchultz) March 2, 2017