Mark Meadows

Mark Meadows served as a Republican congressman from North Carolina's 11th district from 2013 to 2020, including a stint as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. On March 30, 2020, Trump appointed him as his fourth — and final — White House Chief of Staff, a post he held through Inauguration Day 2021. In the weeks following the November 2020 election, Meadows became a central figure in efforts to overturn the result. According to the Arizona indictment, he privately told a White House staff member in early November 2020 that Trump had lost. Nonetheless, Meadows coordinated and facilitated numerous schemes to reverse Biden's victory. His role in the January 2, 2021 phone call in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" — the exact margin needed to flip the state — was among the most consequential. During the call, Raffensperger's aide repeatedly texted Meadows urging him to end it. In August 2023, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Meadows on two counts under the Georgia RICO Act: violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. The indictment named him as a co-defendant alongside Trump and 17 others, listing his role in the Raffensperger call as a key overt act in the broader conspiracy to subvert Georgia's election. Meadows pleaded not guilty. In April 2024, a Maricopa County, Arizona grand jury indicted 18 individuals — including Meadows — for their alleged roles in the fake electors scheme. Meadows faces nine felony counts for his alleged coordination of efforts to submit fraudulent certificates naming Trump supporters as Arizona's Electoral College electors, despite Biden having won the state by more than 10,000 votes. Meadows pleaded not guilty in June 2024 and also sought to have the Arizona case removed to federal court, arguing his actions fell within his duties as a federal official. Meadows made parallel removal arguments in Georgia. He contended the federal officer removal statute gave him the right to move his state prosecution to federal court. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones rejected that argument in September 2023, and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial in December 2023, ruling that the statute did not apply to former federal officers and that the conduct alleged fell outside any official duties. The Supreme Court declined to hear Meadows's appeal in November 2024. Meadows was also held in contempt of Congress. After initially providing limited cooperation to the House Select Committee, he defied a subpoena, refusing to testify or produce documents. The House voted 222 to 208 in December 2021 to hold him in criminal contempt and referred the matter to the Department of Justice. The committee's investigation also surfaced damaging testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, Meadows's own top aide, who described him as having warned her on January 2, 2021 that things might get "real, real bad" on the 6th. Hutchinson testified that Meadows burned documents in his White House fireplace after meeting with Representative Scott Perry, and that Meadows relayed Trump's apparent approval of chants calling for Vice President Pence to be hanged.