When John Dowd represented Donald Trump in the Mueller investigation and loudly discussed the case in restaurants in front of journalists, folks were all too willing to write it off as an uncharacteristic flub from an otherwise competent attorney. When Dowd tried to explain that presidents can’t obstruct justice, people wrote it off as a zealous advocate saying whatever he needed to to help his client — except, of course, his counterpart on Trump’s defense team who thought it was nuts. But now we can finally, finally go ahead and admit that John Dowd may just be a clown.
Dowd, who now represents some of Rudy Giuliani’s toadies in the Ukraine story, informed the House Intelligence Committee that his clients would not be showing up to testify. It’s a pretty standard move for an attorney representing people this deeply embroiled in what could well turn out to be criminal activity. Indeed, it’s generally a bad idea to talk to Congress if you have any concerns that you might end up dealing with prosecutors. But how Dowd chose to communicate with the House was… curious. Observe!
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Yes, that’s Comic Sans. And you never want to use Comic Sans. Seriously, no matter what.
Yet this isn’t even Dowd’s first brush with Comic Sans. During the Mueller investigation, Dowd sent a letter with a Comic Sans letterhead begging to spare Trump the obstruction charge that Mueller would eventually admit he’d have leveled had he been allowed to. Mueller got another message in Comic Sans from Ty Cobb, probably the result of the high-stakes restaurant strategy session the two had.
Is this intentional? Is Dowd trying to troll the entities investigating his clients by intentionally writing them in joke lettering? It’s an interesting conspiracy theory, but one that seems to give Dowd far more credit than he’s built up over the course of these investigations. Occam’s razor suggests he’s just embracing his inner child. It may not be the most professional — or even a marginally professional — look, but if it sparks joy for him, so be it.
After all, Jay Sekulow’s legal reasoning may as well be written in Wingdings, so let’s cut Dowd some slack.
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Trump’s old lawyers really, really love Comic Sans [Fast Company]
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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.