Two of the lawyers who helped Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election and pleaded guilty in Georgia's RICO case have written an apology as part of their plea deal – with the weak letters being just one sentence long.
The letters from Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro were obtained Thursday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request.
Neither letter acknowledges the legitimacy of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election in Georgia, nor denounces the baseless conspiracy theories that claimed Trump was cheated out of the victory.
“I apologize for my actions related to the events in Coffee County,” Powell wrote in a letter dated Oct. 19 — the same day she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors and accused her of conspiring to commit the crime to intentionally interfere with the exercise of their electoral duties.
Chesebro wrote, “I apologize to the citizens of the State of Georgia and Fulton County for my involvement in Count 15 of the Indictment.”
He wrote the letter on Oct. 20 when he appeared in court to plead guilty to a felony: conspiracy to file false documents.
Sidney Powell (pictured left in December 2020) was one of the most passionate supporters of Donald Trump's unproven claim of election fraud. Kenneth Chesebro (right) was one of the masterminds of the strategy
Sidney Powell's one-sentence letter, written as part of her plea
Powell's mugshot from her August 23 booking in Fulton County, Georgia
Chesebro's letter was just as succinct as Powell's and was also handwritten on the day he entered his guilty plea
Chesebro's mugshot taken on August 23 when he turned himself in in Fulton County, Georgia
A spokesman for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who filed the election interference case, declined Thursday to comment on the contents of the letters.
Powell and Chesebro were among four defendants who pleaded guilty in the case after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
They were indicted in August along with Trump and others, accused of taking part in a wide-ranging plot to illegally keep the Republican in power.
The remaining 15 defendants – including Trump, lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – have all pleaded not guilty.
Each of the four who agreed with prosecutors received a sentence that included probation rather than prison time. Under Georgia's first-offender law, they were also allowed to plead guilty, meaning their records would be expunged if they complete their probation without violating the conditions or committing another crime.
The letters from the other two defendants pleading guilty – Trump's lawyer Jenna Ellis and bail bondsman Scott Hall – were longer and more specific.
Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, pleaded guilty to helping Trump allies in their scheme
Scott Hall's letter was much more comprehensive than Chesebro's or Powell's
Ellis read her letter in open court on Oct. 24 and tearfully told the judge that she looked back with “deep remorse” on her involvement in challenging the election results.
“What I didn't do, but should have done, your honor, was make sure that the facts that the other lawyers thought were true were actually true,” she said.
“At the frantic pace at which I attempted to challenge the election in multiple states, including Georgia, I failed to do my due diligence.”
Hall, who pleaded guilty on September 29, wrote in his five-paragraph letter to the citizens of Georgia: “I owe you an apology.”
“I wish I had never participated in the post-election activities that landed me in court,” he wrote, explaining that he got involved after observing what he believed were some irregularities.
Powell was initially charged with felony racketeering and six other felonies.
A tearful Jenna Ellis speaks in court in Fulton County, Georgia, on October 24, reading her letter of apology
Jenna Ellis cries in a Georgia courtroom after reading her letter aloud
Ellis hugs her attorney, Franklin Hogue, after pleading guilty
Jenna Ellis with Trump in 2020
Ellis speaks at a press conference with other members of President Donald Trump's legal team, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (left) and Powell (center), at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC, on November 19, 2020
Prosecutors say she conspired with Hall and others to access voting equipment without authorization and hired the computer forensics firm SullivanStrickler to send a team to Coffee County in south Georgia to copy software and data from voting machines and computers there.
The indictment says an unnamed person sent an email to a top executive at SullivanStrickler, instructing him to send all data copied from Dominion Voting Systems machines in Coffee County to an unidentified attorney associated with Powell and the Trump campaign.
Chesebro was initially charged with felony racketeering and six other felonies.
Prosecutors say he unlawfully conspired with Trump and lawyers connected to his campaign to get the group of Georgia Republicans to sign the false voter certification and submit it to various federal agencies. He also communicated with Trump campaign lawyers and Republican leaders in other swing states won by Biden to get those states to also submit false voter rolls, prosecutors alleged.
Ellis pleaded guilty to one felony: aiding and abetting false statements and writings.
She was charged with violating the state anti-crime law and soliciting a public officer to violate oath, both felonies.
The indictment in the wide-ranging case details a number of allegations against Ellis, including that she plotted to prevent and delay the US on January 6, 2021, the day a mob of Trump supporters finally overran the United States Congress supported certification of the 2020 election results.
And she is accused of pressuring state lawmakers in several states to support fake, pro-Trump voters.
Hall pleaded guilty to five counts for his role in accessing Coffee County's voting equipment.