House Speaker Mike Johnson's chief of staff arrested on DUI charge after Trump speech
Hayden Haynes, the chief of staff to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and one of the most powerful aides on Capitol Hill, was arrested for drunken driving.
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 after President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on suspicion of 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 that he was arrested and released with a citation to appear in court. He was arrested after Trump's speech Tuesday night, when Johnson presided over the House floor and sat just behind the president's left shoulder.
“A driver backed into a parked vehicle last night around 11:40 p.m.," U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. "We responded and arrested them for DUI.”
Haynes is a trusted and longtime aide to Johnson. He has been chief of staff in the speaker's office since Johnson won the top job in the House in October 2023. Before that, Haynes was chief of staff to Johnson in his personal office from 2017 to 2023. He also worked in various roles for former Sen. David Vitter, another Louisiana Republican, from 2009 to 2016.
Asked Wednesday by NBC News whether Johnson was standing by Haynes, he said, "I am. I am."
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