Judge sets hearing but denies immediate restraining order against GOP Rep. Cory Mills

A court on Thursday declined to issue an immediate restraining order against Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) requested by a woman who accused him of harassing and threatening her after their break-up, according to a court document reviewed by The Hill, but ordered both Mills and the woman to appear at a hearing later in the month to consider the matter further.

Lindsey Langston, a Florida Republican state committee official who was crowned Miss United States 2024, filed the petition for an injunction earlier this week, according to lawyer Anthony Sabatini who has consulted with her.

She separately told law enforcement last month that Mills had threatened to release explicit photos and videos of her, according to a sheriff’s country incident report revealed on Wednesday.

Sabatini told The Hill that Langston has spoken not only to the Columbia County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office as detailed in the incident report, but that she also sat for an interview with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE confirmed it had received the incident report from the county but said it “does not comment on any active inquiries or investigations."

Mills has said that those claims “are false and misrepresent the nature of my interactions,” and in a Thursday statement about the court decision said the “accusations are baseless.”

“As a general rule, when you’re able to prepare an ex parte injunction— a one-sided attack— you’re going to lead with your absolute best evidence. In this case, the judge fully rejected the accusations and found them insufficient to support any of the allegations,” Mills said in a statement Thursday.

The circuit court of the third judicial district in Columbia County, Fla., declined to grant the emergency petition for a no-contact order — a decision, Sabatini said in a post on social media, made because Mills had stopped allegedly harassing Langston last month.

The court did, however, order Mills and Langston to appear at another hearing to consider the injunction request. Sabatini said the hearing date is Aug. 21.

“The Court finds that based upon the facts, as stated in the Petition alone and without a hearing on the matter, there is no appearance of an immediate and present danger of domestic violence; repeat, dating or sexual violence, or stalking, or that stalking exists. Therefore, there is not a sufficient factual basis upon which the court can enter a Temporary Injunction for Protection Against Domestic, Repeat, Dating, or Sexual Violence, or Stalking, prior to a hearing,” said the court document on the restraining order petition shared with The Hill.

Langston has not commented on the matter since her allegations, first reported by Drop Site News and Blaze News, were made public this week, and has not returned The Hill’s requests for comment.

Langston, 25, told police that she ended her relationship with Mills, 45, following reports that police were investigating a physical altercation between Mills and another woman in his Washington, D.C. residence (which both Mills and the alleged victim later denied).

After the break-up, “Cory has contacted Lindsey numerous times on numerous different accounts threatening to release nude images and videos of her, to include recorded videos of her and Cory engaging in sexual acts,” the incident report said.

Mills has taken aim at Langston consulting with Sabatini, a former Florida state representative who ran in the Republican primary against Mills for his congressional seat in 2022. Sabatini has called for Mills to resign in the wake of the allegations.

“Once again, Anthony Sabatini, who was my primary opponent in 2022, should be fighting at the ballot box— which he lost to me— but instead, he appears more interested in weaponizing his judicial system against a former political opponent,” Mills said as part of a lengthy statement on the court order.

“It is tragic the way he continues to use people to serve his political agenda of attacking me. And once again, he has turned up empty-handed, with nothing more than fake news in his latest round of baseless attacks.”

Mills compared his situation to President Trump being “relentlessly targeted by political opponents with baseless accusations,” adding that Sabatini was “borrowing tactics from the radical left’s playbook.” Mills also compared Sabatini to the convicted fraudster Michael Avenatti, the former lawyer for the adult film star Stormy Daniels who was at the center of a hush money scandal with Trump.  

“While the accusations are baseless, I sincerely hope he is not using his client as a sacrifice at the altar for his own political ambitions,” Mills said. “Breakups happen, but it’s truly tragic when a washed‑up politician drags someone else into his vendetta. I wish Ms. Langston well and genuine happiness.”