Trump invokes ‘advice of counsel’ defense in campaign probe

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is invoking something called the “advice-of-counsel” defense in response to accusations he directed his lawyer Michael Cohen to orchestrate hush-money payments to conceal Trump’s alleged affairs.

He says he was following terrible advice from a bad lawyer.

Legal experts say the advice-of-counsel defense is a real thing, but Trump’s use of it if he were ever charged with a crime could be risky.

Courts have held that the defense applies when a person has gone to a lawyer to ask about whether something is legal, has disclosed all material facts, and has then relied in good faith on the attorney’s advice that no laws were being broken.