House Speaker Mike Johnson’s chief of staff was arrested after allegedly hitting a Capitol vehicle while driving drunk on Tuesday night after President Donald Trump’s big speech to a joint session of Congress.
A police report indicated that Hayden Haynes struck a U.S. Capitol Police vehicle around midnight on Tuesday, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke to NBC News. He was arrested and released with a citation to appear in court.
“A driver backed into a parked vehicle last night around 11:40 p.m.,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement to the Daily Beast. “We responded and arrested them for DUI.”
Haynes is a trusted aide to Johnson, having worked with the Louisiana representative for nearly a decade. Haynes served as Johnson’s campaign manager in 2016 and has been the congressman’s chief of staff since he became House Speaker in 2023.
“The Speaker is aware of the encounter that occurred last night involving his Chief of Staff and the Capitol Police,” Johnson spokesperson Taylor Haulsee said in a statement first given to NBC News.
“The Speaker has known and worked closely with Hayden for nearly a decade and trusted him to serve as his Chief of Staff for his entire tenure in Congress,” Haulsee added. “Because of this and Hayden’s esteemed reputation among Members and staff alike, the Speaker has full faith and confidence in Hayden’s ability to lead the Speaker’s office.”
Johnson sat right behind Trump as the president addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday night.
Early into Trump’s speech, Johnson called in the House Sergeant of Arms to kick out Texas Rep. Al Green for yelling and refusing to sit down in protest of the president’s comments on Medicaid.
“He couldn’t behave himself, it’s quite shameful,” Johnson later said of the incident.
“It was really quite a spectacle,” he added. “If they’re gonna use a 77-year-old heckling congressman as the face of their resistance, then bring it on, but we’re not gonna tolerate that on the House floor.”
Several other Democrats protested Trump’s speech in different ways, from donning pink outfits in solidarity with women to holding up placards that read “Musk Steals,” “Save Medicaid,” and “Protect Veterans.”
The stunts appeared to fall short, even within the Democratic base. One Democratic strategist told the Daily Beast that the optics were “amateurish” and “pitiful.”
