Matt Hall, the pro-Trump House Minority Leader in the Michigan legislature, previously faced a police investigation over a domestic violence complaint, The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday — although the woman who made the complaint now disavows it.
"Police records reveal that State House Republican Leader Matt Hall was accused in 2019 of domestic assault and interfering in a 911 call. He was never charged," reported Kate Briquelet. "Hall and his office did not return messages left by The Daily Beast. The woman who filed the report told us that negative reports about Hall aren’t true and that she 'wouldn’t be in a relationship with him if this was the type of person he was.'" She added that, “I think members of the public should know Matt Hall is a committed public servant who wants to do what’s best for his family, constituents and the people of Michigan.”
A complaint filed with the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office says that while Hall's girlfriend was driving to Indiana to gamble on sports, they pulled over at a truck stop, and he became enraged when he couldn't find the betting money, after which they tried to drive home.
Hall reportedly was furious that they might not make it in time, started driving aggressively, and when his girlfriend became frightened and tried to record him, he smashed her phone screen. She then tried to call 911 on his phone, but he shut it off.
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According to The Beast, the woman says that she reacted the way she did to Hall's aggressive driving because she had been in a car crash that killed her son, but that she doesn't blame him and later decided she didn't want the police pressing charges.
“Matt and I were able to work through this together and I am thankful for Matt's love, calm demeanor, patience and understanding," she said.
Hall, who previously voted against legislation to prohibit convicted domestic violence offenders from owning firearms for eight years, has previously attracted controversy after it emerged he sent threats in college to a classmate of his girlfriend, in which he made a death threat and proclaimed "the South will rise again."
Michigan Republicans have already been roiled by a string of scandals and internal fighting over Kristina Karamo, the state GOP chair, who has a long history of pushing QAnon and election denial conspiracy theories and has presided over what her internal critics call the mismanagement of state funds. Party officials voted to oust her this month, but she does not recognize the legitimacy of the vote.
