CAMPAIGN FINANCE/LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “President Donald Trump offered a simple defense Thursday [12-13-18] to accusations he broke campaign finance law by directing attorney Michael Cohen to orchestrate hush-money payments to conceal Trump’s alleged affairs: He was following terrible advice from a bad lawyer…The advice-of-counsel defense is a real thing. But Trump’s ability to use it, if he were ever formally accused of a crime, is far from certain. And it 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, disclosed all material facts, and then relied in good faith on the professional’s advice that no laws were being broken. The illegal act in this case involves payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal to keep them from talking about sexual encounters they say they had with Trump while he was married.”
–The Associated Press, “Trump Invokes ‘Advice-Of-Counsel’ Defense in Campaign Probe,” The New York Times online, December 13, 2018