RALEIGH, N.C. — Attorney General Josh Stein announced Friday afternoon he won’t seek to charge Mark Meadows or his wife, Debra, with voter fraud.
Meadows, a Republican, served as former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff and previously represented North Carolina’s 11th District in Congress.
“The State Bureau of Investigation conducted an extensive investigation into the fraud allegations against Mr. and Mrs. Meadows concerning their registration and voting in the 2020 elections,” Stein said in a news release. “After a thorough review, my office has concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges against either of them in this matter.”
Both Mark and Debra Meadows refused to be interviewed by the State Bureau of Investigation, according to a report by the N.C. Department of Justice that Stein leads.
They were accused of using an address of a rental property in Scaly Mountain in rural Western North Carolina where they did not live to cast ballots during the 2020 election.
Stein, a Democrat, said Friday that SBI agents could not find proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the couple committed voter fraud.
Among the reasons Stein cited for his decision was that the couple signed a one-year lease at the rental property, that cellphone records indicate Debra Meadows was near Scaly Mountain in October 2022 and that Meadows worked as a public servant in Washington, which qualified him for a residency exception.
The N.C. Department of Justice report says the SBI found no records showing that the couple voted in another state in the 2020 election or attempted to permanently change their address to one outside of North Carolina.
Stein’s statement called out Meadows for making “numerous unfounded, damaging allegations about voter fraud” before and after the 2020 election and noted that the Jan. 6 committee named Meadows as “a likely co-conspirator” in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol where rioters attempted to stop the election certification of President Joe Biden.
“This attempt to disrupt the peaceful transition of power represents one of the most significant assaults on our democracy in the 246-year history of our nation,” Stein said in his release. “The appropriate authorities will now fully vet these referrals. I urge federal prosecutors to hold accountable every single person who engaged in a conspiracy to put our democracy at risk.”
But Stein noted that none of that is relevant to the investigation into whether the couple committed voter fraud, which he was asked to review.
“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. “If further information relevant to the allegations of voter fraud comes to light in any subsequent investigation or prosecution by authorities in other jurisdictions, we reserve the right to reopen this matter.”
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