President Trump's New Personal Lawyer Very Familiar To Arizonans

President Donald Trump has hired big name attorney John Dowd to join his personal legal team as he battles various investigations focusing on possible ties to Russia, obstruction of justice, and related issues. Dowd is well-known to Arizonans, as he previously served as counsel for Senator John McCain and former Governor Fife Symington in the 1990's.

Dowd, now 76, joins Trump's longtime personal attorney Marc Kasowitz and Jay Sekulow as the most senior members of the growing legal team. He has been both prosecutor and defense attorney over the years.

He represented Sen. John McCain in the Arizona-centric Keating Five scandal in the early 1990's. Of the five Senators, McCain was personally closest  to the land developer/S&L CEO, Charles Keating, Jr. However, after a lengthy Senate Ethics Committee, McCain was cleared, with only official criticism of his poor judgment for intervening for the large campaign contributor (and personal vacation-sharer).

Former Arizona  Governor J. Fife Symington was not quite as fortunate. Dowd defended him in the trial for extortion and bank fraud. He was convicted on several counts of the latter, and resigned from office. The conviction was then reversed on appeal and he was pardoned by President Bill Clinton before any retrial could occur.

Arizona's Politics has asked the Senator for comment on Trump's hiring of his former counsel, and will update as warranted. McCain has fretted publicly about the President's comments and actions concerning the investigations and fiercely criticized any friendliness toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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