Top Trump aide won’t be charged with voter fraud

Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff in the Trump White House, will not face voter fraud charges after officials determined that he did not fraudulently register to vote and cast a ballot in North Carolina during the 2020 presidential election.

State Attorney General Josh Stein said Friday there was “not sufficient evidence” to bring charges against Meadows or his wife, Debra Meadows.

The State Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation and found that because Mark Meadows was “engaged in public service” in Washington, he was qualified for a residency exception, officials said. Under North Carolina law, if a person moves to Washington or other federal territories for government service, then the individual will not lose residency status in the state.

The couple also signed a yearlong lease for a Scaly Mountain, N.C., residence listed on their voting registration, prosecutors said, and cell phone records showed Debra Meadows was in the area in October 2020.

Mark Meadows was a North Carolina member of Congress until March 2020, when he went to work in the White House. Then, six weeks before the 2020 election, the couple registered to vote using the address of a modest, threebedroom mobile home with a rusted roof in Scaly Mountain.

Law enforcement officials in Macon County became aware of questions surrounding Mark Meadows’ voter registration in early March after the New Yorker revealed that he had registered to vote at a residence where he did not live. The North Carolina Department of Justice then asked the state Bureau of Investigation to investigate if any laws were broken.

“My office has concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt against either Mr. or Mrs. Meadows, so my office will not prosecute this case,” Stein said in a statement.

Despite cases of voter fraud being rare, Mark Meadows has been one of the primary speakers boosting former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud both before and after the 2020 election.