Two terse apologies from Donald Trump lawyers who pleaded guilty to Georgia election interference charges served as a sly wink to conspiracy theorists who refuse to believe Joe Biden won the 2020 election, experts say.
Democratic strategist Fred Hicks told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday he was stunned by the cold, one-line apologies submitted to the Fulton County court by Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.
“To me, these serve to further entrench beliefs of a mass conspiracy,” Hicks reportedly said of the letters, which he dubbed “a wink and a nod to the election deniers.”
The sincerity of Powell’s slim sorry — “I apologize for my actions in connection with the events in Coffee County” — is belied by the message her nonprofit group “Defending the Republic” sent just four days after the apology was filed, the Atlantic Journal-Constitution argues.
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The nonprofit published a blog post — which included links to former President Donald Trump accusing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of corruption — that ended with the words, “SHARE the truth.”
Powell and Chesebro were among 19 people charged with RICO offenses in Willis’ sprawling indictment linked to attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
The pair, as well as attorney Jenna Ellis and bail bondsman Scott Hall, have since pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for testimony.
While Georgia State University professor Anthony Michael Kreis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that short apologies were just a smart legal move — he’d never let a client admit more than she had to — Atlanta’s state. Sen. Jason Esteves (D) said the seriousness of the charges rose above legal liability.
“You’d expect a lawyer who tried to overturn an election to take it more seriously,” Esteves told the news outlet.
“My eight-year-old has written better apologies for talking during class.”
