Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks at a press convention with different members of Home Republican management in Washington, DC on March 4, 2025.
Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Pictures
WASHINGTON — Hayden Haynes, the chief of workers to Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and some of the highly effective aides on Capitol Hill, was arrested after President Donald Trump’s joint deal with to Congress on suspicion of drunken driving after his automobile struck a Capitol car, two legislation enforcement sources advised NBC Information. Johnson’s workplace additionally confirmed the incident.
One of many sources advised NBC Information {that a} police report indicated that Haynes hit a Capitol car round midnight and that he was arrested and launched with a quotation to seem in courtroom. He was arrested after Trump’s speech Tuesday evening, when Johnson presided over the Home ground and sat simply behind the president’s left shoulder.
“A driver backed right into a parked car final evening round 11:40 p.m.,” U.S. Capitol Police mentioned in an announcement. “We responded and arrested them for DUI.”
Haynes is a trusted and longtime aide to Johnson. He has been chief of workers within the speaker’s workplace since Johnson received the highest job within the Home in October 2023. Earlier than that, Haynes was chief of workers to Johnson in his private workplace from 2017 to 2023. He additionally labored in numerous roles for former Sen. David Vitter, one other Louisiana Republican, from 2009 to 2016.
Requested Wednesday by NBC Information whether or not Johnson was standing by Haynes, he mentioned, “I’m. I’m.”
Johnson spokesperson Taylor Haulsee mentioned in an announcement: “The Speaker is conscious of the encounter that occurred final evening involving his Chief of Employees and the Capitol Police. The Speaker has identified and labored carefully with Hayden for almost a decade and trusted him to function his Chief of Employees for his whole tenure in Congress. Due to this and Hayden’s esteemed status amongst Members and workers alike, the Speaker has full religion and confidence in Hayden’s skill to steer the Speaker’s workplace.”
Whereas most crimes in Washington are prosecuted by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Columbia, DUI offenses are prosecuted by the D.C. Workplace of the Lawyer Normal, an workplace headed by D.C. Lawyer Normal Brian L. Schwalb.
The excellence might be significant, as a result of the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, is a conservative activist with ties to Republicans on Capitol Hill. Martin, whom Trump wants to be the city’s chief federal prosecutor on a permanent basis, was granted entry to Capitol Police video from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol, which Martin used to unfold conspiracy theories concerning the assault. Schwalb’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Final month, Washington police despatched an arrest warrant for Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., however Martin’s office did not sign off on it. Mills had been investigated over allegations of an assault in an condo constructing, and he mentioned police had helped “resolve a non-public matter.”
