House Speaker Mike Johnson’s chief of staff arrested on DUI charge after Trump speech
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 early Wednesday morning 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.
