Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th congressional district from 2013 to 2020. During his legislative tenure, Meadows chaired the Freedom Caucus from 2017 to 2019. He was considered one of Donald Trump's closest allies in the House of Representatives before his appointment as chief of staff.[1]
For other people named Mark Meadows, see Mark Meadows (disambiguation).
Mark Meadows
A Tea Party Republican, Meadows was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus. During his time in Congress, he was one of the most conservative Republican lawmakers and played an important part of the United States federal government shutdown of 2013. He also sought to remove John Boehner as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Meadows resigned from Congress on March 31, 2020, to become White House chief of staff. As chief of staff, he played an influential role in the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pressured the Food and Drug Administration to adopt less strict guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine trials,[2] and admonished the White House's own infectious disease experts for not "staying on message" with Trump's rhetoric.[3] In October 2020, Meadows said it was futile to try "to control the pandemic", emphasizing instead a plan to contain it with vaccines and therapeutics. As the virus spread among White House staff in the fall of 2020, he reportedly sought to conceal the cases, including his own.[4][5] After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Meadows participated in Trump's failed effort to overturn the election results and remain in power.[6][7][8]
On December 14, 2021, Meadows was held in criminal contempt of Congress[9] for refusing to cooperate with the January 6 Select Committee. He is the first White House chief of staff since the Watergate scandal and first former member of Congress to have been held in contempt of Congress.[10][11] The contempt charge was referred to the Justice Department, which declined to prosecute him.[12]
On October 26, 2022, a South Carolina circuit judge ordered Meadows to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating Republican efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The grand jury was empaneled by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who said the inquiry is examining "the multistate, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere."[13] On August 14, 2023, he was indicted along with 18 other people in the prosecution related to the 2020 election in Georgia; Meadows is the second White House Chief of Staff to face criminal charges, after H. R. Haldeman.[14]
Early life and education[edit]
Meadows's mother was from Sevierville, Tennessee, and his father from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was born at a United States Army hospital in Verdun, France, where his father was serving in the Army and his mother worked as a civilian nurse.[15]
Meadows grew up in Brandon, Florida, and described his upbringing as "poor".[16] He has said he was a "fat nerd" who went on a diet after a classmate rejected him for a date.[16] Meadows attended Florida State University for one year in 1977–78.[16] It was reported that Meadows held a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Florida for many years in his official biography maintained by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives. In actuality, he graduated from the University of South Florida with an Associate of Arts.[16]
Early career[edit]
In 1987, Meadows started "Aunt D's", a small restaurant in Highlands, North Carolina, with building space provided by members of the Community Bible Church in Highlands. He later sold the sandwich shop, and used the proceeds to start a real estate development company in the Tampa, Florida, area.[17] After a stint working in a local hardware store, Meadows received support from Ginger Burnett Glasson: she provided a tract of land for a house; a joint business operating as Randall Burnett Investments, and work at a pizzeria she bought "to have something to do during the day and to help [Meadows] out."[18]
While living in Highlands, Meadows served as chairman of the Republican Party in Macon County, and was a delegate to several state and national Republican conventions.[19] Meadows was on North Carolina's Board for Economic Development in Western North Carolina.[20]
In 2011, he moved to Glenville, North Carolina. In 2016, he sold his house and moved into an apartment in Biltmore Park, a mixed-use community in Asheville, North Carolina, while deciding where to buy next in either Henderson or Buncombe counties.[21] He is the owner of Highlands Properties, which specializes in construction and land development.[22] In 2014, Meadows sold 134 acres (54 hectares) of land in Dinosaur, Colorado, to a young earth creationist group. He appeared in the controversial creationist film Raising the Allosaur: The True Story of a Rare Dinosaur and the Home Schoolers Who Found It (2002), which was debunked by experts.[23]
Career after White House[edit]
Meadows became a principal at the controversial Conservative Partnership Institute in January 2021 as Biden took office. The group has aimed to elect conservatives, particularly using dark money,[96] and changing voting rules.[97][98][99]
Political positions[edit]
Women's rights[edit]
Meadows is opposed to abortion and has called abortion a tragedy. He opposes federal funding for abortion and believes parents should be notified of underage abortion procedures. He also opposes requiring churches and other religious sites to provide birth control options to employees.[100]
In February 2013 Meadows voted against renewing the Violence Against Women Act. Meadows has said he casts his votes based not on his personal feelings but on what the majority of his constituents in "God's Country" tell him to do.[101]
Economics[edit]
While in Congress, Meadows advocated for a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. He supports a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget has been balanced. Meadows opposes any cuts to military spending levels.[100]
Meadows opposed the federal stimulus spending during the Obama administration;[100] as Trump's White House chief of staff, he supported Trump's fiscal stimulus proposals, and was Trump's lead negotiator on stimulus legislation, pushing for $1.8 trillion in federal stimulus spending, a number some Senate Republicans resisted.[102][103] Meadows has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, and he opposes raising any taxes, including the income tax. He supports a flat-rate income tax for all earners and a repeal of the raise in the capital gains tax. He also supports eliminating the estate tax.[100]
In 2016 Meadows wrote Trump a letter demanding the repeal of the federal "prevailing wage" requirement, which requires that laborers and mechanics on public works projects be paid the locally prevailing wages. The rule was initially made to protect traveling black workers in the South from being paid far less than local workers. It evolved into a protection for union workers, ensuring that non-unionized competitors would have to pay the same rate, making it difficult to underbid for work. The letter also demanded the repeal of the overtime rule from the Obama administration, which said people making less than $47,000 a year must be paid extra for overtime hours, compared to the previous requirement that those making over $23,000 a year could be denied overtime pay if the worker's duties could be considered "managerial". The letter also demanded the end of regulations requiring federal contractors to be paid for sick leave.[104]
COVID-19[edit]
As chief of staff, Meadows played an influential role in the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pressured the Food and Drug Administration to adopt less strict guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine trials[2] and admonished the White House's own infectious disease experts for not "staying on message" with Trump's rhetoric.[3] In October 2020, Meadows said it was futile to try "to control the pandemic", emphasizing instead a plan to contain it with vaccines and therapeutics. On November 4, 2020, Meadows tested positive for COVID-19, but only disclosed it to a small group of people who were asked to keep it quiet, thus preventing others who had interacted with Meadows from taking take proper precautions and hindering contact tracing.[5] Within the administration, Meadows advised Trump not to openly embrace mask-wearing, saying, "The base will revolt."[105] He admonished Anthony Fauci, one of the administration's leading experts in guiding the response, for not "staying on message". He impressed upon Fauci, Deborah Birx and other government public health experts not to comment on restrictive measures for dealing with the virus.[3] While interacting with reporters, Meadows refused to wear a mask.[106]
In October 2020, when asked about the lack of face mask usage at Trump rallies, Meadows said it was futile to try "to control the pandemic" and that the focus would be on getting a vaccine.[107] Public health experts, including those in the White House, have pointed to face masks as one of the most basic precautions that have been proven to halt the spread of COVID-19.[108]
While chief of staff, Meadows pressured the Food and Drug Administration to adopt less strict guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine trials.[2] He criticized FDA commissioner Stephen M. Hahn as too heavily influenced by the FDA's scientist staff.[2] During coronavirus relief negotiations, Meadows argued against giving additional funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).[109]
On November 6, 2020, it was reported that Meadows had tested positive for COVID-19; per the Trump administration, he tested positive on November 4.[110] Meadows did not issue a statement after he tested positive and did not make it widely known to administration staff.[111] A small group of people were informed and told to keep it quiet.[111] This caused consternation among other administration staff, as it hindered contact tracing efforts and endangered staff.[111]
Environment and energy[edit]
In December 2016 Meadows gave Trump a wish list of regulations to be repealed. It included a demand to get rid of federal funding to study climate change. He also requested Trump repeal several environmental regulations, including the Renewable Fuel Standard, end the prohibition of drilling oil on federal lands, and pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.[104]
Meadows opposes cap-and-trade emission policies and supported off-shore oil and gas extraction.[100]
LGBT rights[edit]
Meadows opposes same-sex marriage. In March 2013, he said that if the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage bans unconstitutional, it would be a "huge invasion into states' rights" and cause a constitutional crisis.[112]
Regulations[edit]
Meadows opposes any restrictions on gun purchases and opposes a national gun registry that would list detailed information about firearm ownership.[100]
Meadows opposes regulations that require all internet providers provide internet at equal speeds to all parties. In 2016 he gave Trump a list of regulations to repeal that included net neutrality regulations by the Federal Communications Commission.[104]
Health care[edit]
Meadows opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and has said that it should be replaced by private enterprise.[100]
Less than a year after entering Congress, Meadows wrote the letter that initially urged House Speaker John Boehner to shut down the government unless the ACA was defunded. Some constituents have criticized him as responsible for the 2013 government shutdown; The Washington Post called him its "chief architect". His district lost up to $1 million per day during the shutdown because the national parks were closed.[113]
In January 2017, Meadows voted for a budget resolution that initiated the process of repealing Obamacare.[114] On May 4, 2017, Meadows voted for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would partially repeal and replace Obamacare.[115]
After the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released numbers about the AHCA's effects on Americans in 2017, there were several reports that Meadows became emotional after reading about the AHCA's likely effects on those with preexisting conditions.[116] Others reported he cried only after bringing up his family members who had dealt with preexisting conditions, including his sister who had died of breast cancer, and his father who had died of lung cancer. Meadows said he wouldn't "make a political decision today that affects somebody's sister or father because I wouldn't do it to myself."[117] When asked about the CBO numbers, Meadows said Trump was "committed to making sure preexisting conditions are covered in principle and in practice, which means that funding has to be there to make it work."[118]
Foreign policy[edit]
Meadows is a strong supporter of Israel.[119] He said that the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai and Gaza did not bring peace, but rather "In many ways, ... made [the situation] more difficult."[120] Meadows has opposed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.[121]
Meadows was among 60 Republicans to oppose condemning Trump's action of withdrawing forces from Syria.[122] Along with Matt Gaetz and a handful of Republicans, Meadows broke with his party and voted to end Saudi assistance to the War in Yemen.[123]
On December 8, 2019, Meadows claimed that Trump never asked a foreign leader to investigate a political rival,[124][125] despite a transcript of the July 25, 2019, phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky where Trump asks Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden[124] and in spite of Trump's October 3, 2019, public calling upon China to investigate Hunter Biden's business activities there while his father was vice president.[126][127] Meadows said he would be "OK" with a Democratic president doing what Trump did: "We have Democrat Senators who have done just that."[128]
Russia investigation[edit]
Meadows, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been a harsh critic of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. During Trump's presidency, Meadows regularly conferred with Trump about Mueller's probe.[129][130] Meadows has been described as a "Trump ally".[131] In May 2018, Meadows called for a financial audit of the Mueller investigation.[132]
In July 2018, along with Jim Jordan, Meadows called on the Department of Justice to "review allegations that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to subpoena phone records and documents from a House Intelligence Committee staffer". An aide termed the deputy AG's threats "downright chilling". In their written request, they wrote that in his use of investigative powers, Rosenstein retaliated "against rank-and-file staff members", therefore abusing his authority.[133] Furthermore, during a Fox News interview by Laura Ingraham that same month, he "threatened to force a vote on the GOP resolution" that would impeach the deputy AG. Arguing he could force the resolution to the floor as a "privileged motion", he elaborated: "we hope it doesn't have to come to that". He filed articles of impeachment against Rosenstein on July 25, although the measure cannot be "brought straight to the House floor".[134] Meadows's Democratic opponent in the 2018 election, Phillip Price, condemned the impeachment resolution as an attempt to shut down the Justice Department's investigation of Russian meddling into the 2016 election through "obstruction of justice."[135]