This is a weird little story. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained apology letters from defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, and Scott Hall on Thursday through an open records request. The letters were written as a part of the plea agreements reached in the Fulton County election interference case.

The apologies were one sentence in length and handwritten on lined notebook paper.

“I apologize for my actions in connection with the events in Coffee County,” lawyer Sidney Powell stated in her letter on Oct. 19.

“I apologize to the citizens of the State of Georgia and Fulton County for my involvement in Count 15 of the indictment,” attorney Kenneth Chesebro wrote a day later.

The trio — along with a fourth defendant, Jenna Ellis — were required to pen the letters as part of the terms of their plea agreements with Fulton prosecutors earlier this fall. Chesebro could be seen writing his from the defense table in the minutes before he accepted his deal in front of Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.

But the letters have been stuck in limbo ever since, first sealed by McAfee and then stuck in a bottleneck with other court officials.

Hall is the bail bondsman who was indicted for his role in the Coffee County election data breach. His letter was longer. He told Georgians, “I wish I had never involved myself in the post-election activities that brought me before the court. “Although I certainly did not mean to violate any laws, I now realize that I did and have accepted responsibility for my actions.”

Jenna Ellis tearfully read her apology in court in front of Judge McAfee during her hearing in October. “I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse,” she said.

I did not realize that the apologies were part of the plea agreement. It isn’t unusual for a defendant to apologize for whatever wrong they did in court. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis didn’t comment Thursday when the apologies were made public but earlier this week she explained the use of these apologies in the plea agreements. Willis compared the apologies to a spouse apologizing for actions that upset their partner.

“If you do something wrong that impacts the community… then there needs to be real contrition,” Willis said. “The contrition doesn’t have to be some poetic melody. It doesn’t have to be pages and pages. Sometimes you just need ‘I’m sorry.’ And if you get ‘I’m sorry,’ then we can move on and move past (it) if it’s a sincere apology.”

She continued, “It doesn’t need to be very long. In fact, all I would rather is a sentence. But I think it’s important.”

Ok. Just say you’re sorry and move on. But, in this case, it isn’t just a run-of-the-mill citizen making amends. This is a political case and Willis is exploiting it for all she can because she wants to advance her political career. Reporters and other Democrats were quick to criticize the individual apologies of Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, though they were exactly what was asked for in the plea agreement.

“Bart Simpson-at-the-chalkboard vibes,” wrote Henry Gomez, an NBC reporter.

“These apologies hit you right in the feels,” said Marcus Flowers, a former Democratic U.S. House candidate.

“Looks like a note written by a third grader caught taking extra cookies,” opined Jamie Dupree, the veteran chronicler of the U.S. Capitol and AJC columnist.

Legal analyst Andrew Weissmann said he was shocked by the brisk apologies, particularly since Chesebro and Powell avoided jail time and can continue practicing law despite “engaging in attempted overthrow of the U.S. government.”

Powell and Chesebro did as they agreed to do. The U.S. media continue to work with the Biden administration and other Democrats to try to make Joe Biden’s re-election happen. The two lawyers were asked for these short statements, not flowery mumbo-jumbo. The media inserted itself and made it a no-win situation. The smug self-satisfaction that members of the media show is just another reason Americans don’t trust them.