LAKE CITY, Fla. — An ex-girlfriend of Florida Congressman Cory Mills delivered tearful testimony against him Friday in court, accusing the Republican lawmaker of harassing her and threatening to ruin her reputation by releasing intimate videos after a breakup.

Lindsey Langston, 26, a state GOP committeewoman and the reigning Miss United States beauty queen, is seeking a restraining order against Mills.

The 45-year-old congressman has been dogged by controversies since his election in 2022. The latest required him to appear in an historic courthouse in a small North Florida city to argue why a judge should not issue the restraining order.

The judge heard testimony from Langston and Mills, who denies wrongdoing, but did not make a decision Friday. The hearing exceeded its 90-minute allotment and will be continued at a future date.

Langston said Mills ignored her requests and then pleas — totaling 11 times in May and June — for him to leave her alone and threatened to harm her future romantic interests.

“I thought I could handle this, but I can’t,” she said while sobbing. “I can’t handle it by myself. Please help me. Someone please help me because I don’t know what to do, and I am scared.”

The hearing was held in Columbia County, west of Jacksonville, because that is where Langston lives. She filed a complaint with the local sheriff’s office in July. Her petition for a restraining order included several text messages from Mills. In one, he wrote, “May want to tell every guy you date that if we run into each other at any point. Strap up cowboy.”

Mills painted a different picture in his testimony, saying the two were discussing reconciliation and he even assisted her family with a tax issue. They had split in 2023 but got back together, he said.

“I was checking in with her,” Mills said “She was going through a lot, dealing with certain family issues and also I wanted to make sure that she was being looked out for.”

Langston described her reaction when Mills sent her a message that read, “I can send him a few videos of you as well/ Oh, I still have them.” In another message, Mills wrote, “Thanks again for the videos.”

She said she interpreted that to refer to sexual images of her.

“I’m sick to my stomach. I’m in a fetal position on the floor,” she recalled. “My stepfather had to come and get me off of the floor. … I was beginning to panic because that could ruin my reputation.”

She said Mills threatened to kill anyone she dated in the future.

“He told me to be prepared to fill out a long missing persons request form,” she said.

Mills said he deleted any intimate videos he had of Langston, and his phone was damaged so he could not access them even if he wanted. The videos he referred to were not sexual in nature, he testified. One referred to a social media post in which Langston talked about falling in love with another man, he said.

He testified he hasn’t contacted her in over a month and has no desire to rekindle the relationship. He also noted that Langston sought legal advice from former state representative and current Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, a political rival he defeated in the 2022 GOP primary.

Langston said she started a romantic relationship in November 2021 with Mills, who told her he had been separated from his wife since 2019. She testified that she moved into Mills’ New Smyrna Beach home under the impression his divorce had been finalized. He is still working through his divorce.

The relationship ended in February, she said, when she learned through news reports of a domestic disturbance involving Mills and Sarah Raviani, 27, the co-founder of Iranians for Trump.

Raviani subsequently said no assault occurred at Mills’ D.C. penthouse, and the investigation ended with no arrest.

Langston filed a complaint in July with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, which was forwarded to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for further investigation.

In one of the text messages included in her complaint, Mills wrote, “You want to date or be with someone else. Be my guest. But they need to know well in advance that if we cross paths, I don’t care this week, this month, or this decade. They better damn well know it’s coming every time.”

Mills represents Seminole County and parts of Volusia County. He was reelected in November.

He is facing other controversies. House Democrats introduced a resolution this week to censure Mills, citing the accusations from Langston and others. A censure is a formal reprimand from the House.

The House Ethics Committee is also scrutinizing Mills’ business dealings and financial disclosure statements, including whether Mills benefited from federal contracts while serving in Congress.

Mills, an Army veteran with an estimated net worth of about $24 million, is the co-founder of several defense contracting and security companies.

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