TALLAHASSEE, Florida — A north Florida judge has issued a restraining order against Rep. Cory Mills after the central Florida Republican was accused by a former girlfriend of threatening to circulate sexually explicit videos of her.

Circuit Judge Fred Koberlein ordered Mills to refrain from trying to contact Lindsay Langston, Miss United States 2024 and a Republican state committee woman from Columbia County.

In his Tuesday order, the judge said the evidence supported Langston’s assertion that Mills had caused her “substantial emotional distress” and that Mills offered “no credible rebuttal” to her testimony. He found that Langston has a “reasonable cause to believe she is in imminent danger of becoming the victim of another act of dating violence” without the restraining order being put in place.

Koberlein said Mills was not allowed to go to Langston’ home or place of employment and that he was not allowed to directly refer to Langston on social media. The injunction is in place for the state of Florida. Mills did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In his order, which is to remain in place until January 2026, Koberlein also refuted Mills’ attempts to explain away his actions.

“The court, considering the totality of the testimony and the circumstances, does not find [Mills’] testimony concerning the intimate videos to be truthful,” Koberlein wrote. “Even had the respondent’s testimony been truthful, his response is irrelevant because there was no evidence presented suggesting [Langston] knew the respondent no longer had possession of their intimate videos.”

The restraining order follows two lengthy court hearings held in Lake City, where both Mills and Langston testified and answered questions about their relationship — and the meaning of a flurry of text messages, phone calls and direct messages between them.

The restraining order against Mills comes amid a swirl of controversies this year for the second-term Republican, including a since-withdrawn allegation of assault and an ethics investigation into whether he’s benefited from contracts from the federal government while serving as a member of Congress. Mills has denied any wrongdoing in both matters.

During the first hearing in early September, Langston spent extensive time on the stand explaining how scared she was of the 45-year-old Mills. She described him as a “powerful” and “wealthy” member of Congress who she first became involved with in late 2021.

The second hearing focused on testimony from Mills, with particular focus on whether Mills had a sex video that he planned to release. He maintained that while Langston had sent him intimate videos, he no longer had access to them because his phone was damaged and had to be replaced.

Mills maintained the videos he mentioned to Langston were those of her baking and wanted to show any potential boyfriend of hers that the two of them had an ongoing relationship.

“You’re talking about giving up my entire career — for what?” Mills said about the prospect of releasing the intimate videos.

Mills also contended another message he sent where he suggested a future boyfriend would need to “strap up cowboy” was not a potential threat of violence but instead was a rodeo term meant to suggest that a “wild ride” was about to happen.

Mills’ relationship with Langston unraveled in the aftermath of a February incident where police in Washington were called to investigate an alleged assault by the lawmaker against a woman. Both Mills and the woman denied that any assault took place, and Mills was not charged in the incident.

Mills first won his seat in 2022 after post-Census redistricting created new GOP-friendly lines for the 7th District, stretching from Orlando’s north suburbs to the Atlantic coast. His campaigns in both 2022 and 2024 were run with the aid of James Blair, a GOP consultant who now works as a deputy chief of staff for President Donald Trump and plays a key role in pushing the president’s agenda on Capitol Hill.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes threatened legal action against House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday for failing to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva.

In a letter to Johnson, Mayes accused the House GOP leader of violating the Constitution by unnecessarily delaying the Democrat’s swearing-in ceremony.

“Arizona’s right to a full delegation, and the right of the residents of CD 7 to representation from the person they recently voted for, are not up for debate and may not be delayed or used as leverage in negotiations about unrelated legislation,” Mayes, who is also a Democrat, wrote in the letter.

Grivalja won a special election in Arizona’s deep-blue 7th Congressional District to replace her late father, former Rep. Raúl Grijalva, last month. Johnson has maintained Grijalva would be sworn in when the House is back in session — once Congress reaches an agreement to reopen the government — despite at one point telling reporters she would be sworn in “as soon as she wants.”

In the letter, Mayes said that amounted to “trying to use Arizona’s constitutional right to representation in the House as a bargaining chip.”

Democrats have accused Johnson and Republicans of stalling to prevent Grijalva from being the final signatory needed on an effort to force a vote on legislation related to releasing files about the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mayes said her office was keeping “every option open to us, including litigation,” to hold Johnson accountable and ensure Grijalva was sworn in promptly.

Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Thanksgiving travel season could be put at risk by an extended government shutdown, Republican leaders warned Tuesday on Capitol Hill, ratcheting up warnings about flight cancellations and airport chaos amid the ongoing standoff with congressional Democrats.

Leaders in both parties are starting to look to the Thanksgiving holiday as a looming pressure point after President Donald Trump acted over the weekend to ensure active-duty military paychecks arrive on time Wednesday by shifting Pentagon funds. Many congressional leaders saw that deadline as a forcing mechanism. Now it appears ready to pass without major political consequences — raising the possibility the shutdown could drag on for weeks more.

“As TSA agents and air traffic controllers show up without pay, Democrats brag they won’t budge until planes fall out of the sky,” said Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the GOP conference chair. “Really? Seriously?”

The current shutdown, which began Oct. 1, would have to blow past the record of 35 days set in 2019 to threaten Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 27. Air traffic controllers and airport security personnel are working during the shutdown but going unpaid, and personnel have reported sick at higher rates or otherwise not shown up to work under similar circumstances in the past.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and other leaders said Tuesday those impacts had already started and would escalate as time goes on and on.

“Airports will be flooded with flight cancellations and delays amid the busiest time time to travel all year, and the list goes on and on,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said alongside Speaker Mike Johnson at a news conference Tuesday, calling on Democrats to “reopen our government.”