North Carolina DOJ won’t bring voter fraud charges against Mark Meadows

North Carolina’s Department of Justice announced on Friday that it will not bring voter fraud charges against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows or his wife Debra Meadows.

The State Bureau of Investigation launched a probe into Meadows after allegations emerged earlier this year that he had registered to vote at a mobile home in North Carolina before the 2020 election, despite not residing there.

“After a thorough review, my office has concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges against either of them in this matter,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) said in a statement.

The North Carolina Department of Justice noted that Meadows qualified for a residency exception given his role as a public servant in Washington, D.C. Meadows served as former President Trump’s chief of staff from March 2020 through the end of his presidency.

Meadows and his wife also signed a yearlong lease for the residence in Scaly Mountain, N.C., and cell records showed that Debra Meadows was “in and around” Scaly Mountain in October 2020, according to the department.

Despite not facing voter fraud charges over the allegations, Mark Meadows was removed from North Carolina’s voter rolls in April, after the Macon County Board of Elections found that he lived and last voted in Virginia in 2021.

Meadows was a key proponent of voter fraud allegations in the wake of the 2020 election and has been heavily implicated in the events that resulted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, a fact that Stein noted in his statement on Friday.

“Mr. Meadows has made numerous unfounded, damaging allegations about voter fraud both before and after the 2020 election,” Stein said. “In addition, in its referral to the United States Department of Justice, the bipartisan January 6th congressional committee named Mr. Meadows as a likely co-conspirator over his central role in the January 6th insurrection.”

While Stein urged federal prosecutors to “hold accountable every single person who engaged in a conspiracy to put our democracy at risk,” he acknowledged Jan. 6 was irrelevant to the issue at hand.

“None of the matters involving January 6th, however, are relevant to the specific allegations of voter fraud concerning Mr. and Mrs. Meadows that were referred to my office for review,” Stein added.