WASHINGTON — Hayden Haynes, the chief of staff to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and one of the most powerful aides on Capitol Hill, was arrested late Tuesday night for drunken driving after his car struck a Capitol vehicle, two law enforcement sources told NBC News. Johnson’s office also confirmed the incident.
One of the sources told NBC News that a police report indicated that Haynes hit a Capitol vehicle around midnight and was arrested and released with a citation to appear in court. The arrest came after President Donald Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday night, when Johnson presided over the House floor and sat just behind Trump’s left shoulder.
“A driver backed into a parked vehicle last night around 11:40 p.m.,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement to NBC News. “We responded and arrested them for DUI.”
Haynes is a trusted and longtime aide to Johnson. He has served as chief of staff in the speaker’s office since Johnson won the top job in the House in October 2023. Before that Haynes served as chief of staff to Johnson in his personal office from 2017 to 2023. He also had worked in various roles for former Sen. David Vitter, another Louisiana Republican, from 2009 to 2016.
“The Speaker is aware of the encounter that occurred last night involving his Chief of Staff and the Capitol Police,” Johnson spokeperson Taylor Haulsee said in a statement 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. 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.”
While most crimes in Washington are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, DUI offenses are prosecuted by the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, an office headed by D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb.
The distinction could be meaningful, because 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 access to Capitol Police footage from Jan. 6, which Martin used to spread conspiracy theories about the Capitol attack. Schwalb’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington sent an arrest warrant for Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., but Martin’s office did not sign off. Mills had been investigated over an alleged assault in an apartment building, and Mills said police had helped “resolve a private matter.”
