Mark Randall Meadows is an American politician who served as the U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 11th congressional district from 2013 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party and a prominent Tea Party conservative, Meadows was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, which he chaired from 2017 to 2019. During his tenure in Congress, he established himself as one of the legislature's most conservative members, playing a significant role in the 2013 federal government shutdown and leading an effort to remove John Boehner as Speaker of the House.\n\nIn March 2020, Meadows resigned from Congress to become the 29th White House Chief of Staff under President Donald Trump. In this role, he heavily influenced the administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included pressuring the Food and Drug Administration regarding vaccine trials and urging White House infectious disease experts to align with the president's messaging. Meadows also faced scrutiny for attempting to conceal coronavirus cases within the White House, including his own diagnosis, and for stating that controlling the pandemic was futile.\n\nFollowing the 2020 presidential election, Meadows participated in efforts to overturn the election results. This involvement led to significant legal and congressional scrutiny. In December 2021, he became the first former member of Congress and the first White House Chief of Staff since the Watergate scandal to be held in criminal contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with the January 6 Select Committee. He was later indicted by grand juries in Georgia (2023) and Arizona (2024) for his alleged roles in attempting to subvert the 2020 election results. In November 2025, Trump issued a pardon to Meadows, which did not affect his state-level charges.
