John Dowd, a retired Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld lawyer who is now part of President Donald Trump’s outside legal team, cannot evade allegations that he defamed former professional baseball player Pete Rose, a Philadelphia federal judge ruled.
Dowd is part of the legal team representing Trump in the investigations of possible collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia, including the criminal probe being led by special counsel Robert Mueller III. But the onetime Akin Gump lawyer is also known for his work in 1989 on the so-called Dowd Report, which found that Rose bet on baseball during his affiliation with the Cincinnati Reds and which paved the way for Rose’s lifetime ban from Major League Baseball.
