Former Trump aide Meadows facing probe into allegation of voter fraud

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is looking into allegations that former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows engaged in voter fraud.

The office of state Attorney General Josh Stein on Thursday confirmed the probe with the News & Observer newspaper, after The New Yorker magazine reported that Meadows, also a former North Carolina GOP congressman, registered to vote in September 2020 using an address he allegedly had never visited.

A spokesperson for the office said it received a request from Macon County District Attorney Ashley Welch asking that the Justice Department's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section assume her role in the matter and that the federal agency had agreed. 

The state Attorney General Office has also requested the North Carolina Board of Elections join in the probe.

The office will review the findings of the probe at its conclusion.

The allegation against Meadows surfaced after the weekly magazine spoke with the former property owner where Meadows claimed to have lived. 

The owner said she rented the mountain residence to Meadows' wife for two months. Neighbors reportedly said the wife spent only a few nights there and that Meadows never visited the property.

As of Thursday, Meadows' remained registered to vote at that address, the News & Observer also reports. 

In December 2021, the Democrat-led House found Meadows in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena to cooperate with its Jan. 6 committee.

The newspaper could not reach Meadows for comment Thursday, and no charges have been filed against him.