John Dowd—onetime lawyer to President Donald Trump and a former partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld—is back in the news as counsel to Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

Last week, Dowd informed House Intelligence Committee Investigation Counsel Nicolas Mitchell that the committee's request for information from his clients in connection with the Ukraine matter is "overly broad and unduly burdensome," that seven days isn't enough time to produce the materials, and that the information may be covered by attorney-client privilege.

 As far as responses to this investigation go, it's not especially surprising. But what really got Twitter talking is Dowd's choice of font: Comic Sans. 

Personally, it's the font I use when I type a letter to a relative rather than writing a note by hand. I think it's got just the right fun, informal look to thank my aunt for sending me wreath of dried fruit.  

Dowd apparently likes it too—he used Comic Sans at least once before in a letter to Robert Mueller in 2018. 

Jenna GreeneThe denizens of Twitter did not approve one bit. A sampling: 

One wit said, "It really is impressive that John Dowd has built up such a solid career that he can write official letters in comic sans and not lose all of his clients."

Another opined, "Hey John Dowd, 1992 called and wants it's 5th grade classroom font back. WTF?!? Respected lawyers at top firms do not use ridiculous fonts such as that one."

And another: "I don't think I'm being too extreme when I say John Dowd should be disbarred for his use of Comic Sans here."

Or this: "Can someone tell John Dowd that we don't send important correspondences in Comic Sans? Or don't, because it's hilarious."

And this:  "Maybe John Dowd thinks Comic Sans means without (sans) comic, as in this is suppose to be a font for serious matters!"

Someone called Covfefe Jones- King Of Shade put it in perspective. "Can't believe we're down to FONT SHAMING John Dowd (Trump's Mueller atty until the heat got too hot, so is now reppin' Giuliani's trashy Ukraine grift-cronies) using COMIC SANS for letters like we all did in '94 when it first came out. Maybe his dot matrix printer only sees that."

Perhaps the problem is that Dowd is on his own, no longer in the protective Big Law cocoon–where surely someone would have tactfully suggested Times New Roman. 

In other impeachment-related news, my colleague David Thomas reports that Paul Hastings partners Robert Luskin and Kwame Manley are representing Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. 

On Tuesday morning, Luskin informed the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees that his client would not be available for a deposition after all because the State Department was blocking his testimony.

Luskin in a statement said "Ambassador Sondland is profoundly disappointed that he will not be able to testify today.""

"Profoundly disappointed?" Right. Because it's so fun to testify before Congress about your involvement in matters that stand to get your boss impeached. It's like going all the way to Disney World only to find it's been closed for maintenance. 

But no worries. Sondland may still get his chance now that the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight committees said they plan to subpoena him for both his testimony and documents.

Multiple media outlets also reported on Tuesday that the White House has reached out to outside counsel for help with the impeachment inquiry, talking with former Representative Trey Gowdy, now a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.

Bloomberg reported that Gowdy is not formally joining the White House staff, but has agreed to assist the president in the impeachment inquiry.

A former federal prosecutor in South Carolina, Gowdy is best-known for leading the House Select Committee on Benghazi. 

Of course, the internet was quick to dig up some of his past comments that don't jibe so well with the current White House line, a la White House Counsel (and former Kirkland & Ellis partner) Pat Cipollone, who fired off an 8-page letter to House Democratic leaders announcing that "President Trump cannot permit his Administration to participate in this partisan inquiry under these circumstances."

By contrast, Gowdy in 2012 responded to a bid by President Obama to assert executive privilege by saying, "The notion that you can withhold information and documents from Congress no matter whether you are the party in power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean something, irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles."

Nice words. It'll be interesting to see if Gowdy thinks they also apply to President Trump.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Robert Luskin and Kwame Manley were partners at Paul Weiss. They are partners at Paul Hastings.