MAGA Sen. Bernie Moreno has won the backing of Republican colleagues after demanding that his former son-in-law quit Congress over allegations of marital abuse.
Moreno finally broke his silence on the weekend about claims that Rep. Max Miller, a fellow Ohio Republican, abused his ex-wife, Moreno’s daughter Emily, and their 2-year-old daughter.
Miller, 37, was a presidential aide and favorite during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House and won his endorsement when he ran for Congress in Ohio’s 7th District in 2022.
He is up for re-election in November’s midterms, but the allegations of abuse are threatening to end his campaign. His ex-wife, Emily Moreno, alleges in police reports that Miller, 37, threw her against a wall, previously held a gun to her head, and even threw hot water on her. She also claimed he broke their child’s collarbone. Miller denies the claims and is suing his ex-wife for defamation.
“He should not serve in the House of Representatives,” Sen. Moreno wrote in a post on X on Sunday. “I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does.”
This message came after Miller did a 20-minute “Special Announcement” livestream on X, fighting the claims from his ex-wife, as his campaign flounders. Miller accused her of having mental health issues and lying during their custody battle over their daughter.
Until this livestream on Sunday, Moreno had been tight-lipped about the accusations. In fact, last week, a spokeswoman issued a statement saying the senator “will not litigate these matters in the media or respond to baseless public attacks.”
Now, his Republican colleagues are rallying around him. “I don’t know [Miller]. I haven’t read a whole lot about him, but if [Moreno] thinks he ought to resign, I’m supportive of that,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia told Politico.
Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said, “He should resign. He should quit.”
Marshall admitted he doesn’t even know the details. “I don’t know Mr. Miller’s story, but I trust Bernie so much as a good friend, and his family has such high values.
“I couldn’t imagine them wanting this out in public. So to go through with this, it makes me think that they’re telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
“He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter,” Moreno wrote on X.
However, the congressman told the Daily Beast in a statement shared via his lawyer that he won’t be dropping out of the race. “If I dropped out of this race it would mean we as a nation have fallen so far from our American values,” Miller said.
“I will not validate false claims by removing myself just to please the court of public opinion. I am innocent of all of the allegations that have been attributed to me,” he added. “I have done well representing my constituents’ interests. Why would I drop out?”
Miller, a senior White House aide in the first Trump administration, is up against Democratic candidate Brian Poindexter to keep his Cleveland-area House seat. He has until Wednesday to withdraw from the ballot and allow a primary to select a replacement. However, he appears to be digging in.
The Wall Street Journal cited “people familiar with the matter” who said that Miller asked for a lifeline from Trump. The sources said Miller explicitly asked for a public show of support from the president.
Trump expressed his doubts over his candidacy, three sources familiar with the call told Axios.
Miller said he “was supportive of me over the phone.” Publicly, the 80-year-old offered a lukewarm appraisal of Miller.
“I know Max, he’s a good person. I mean, I always thought he was a very good person. And I’m going to let the families figure that out,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Monday. The president added that the charges of abuse were merely “accusations.”
Trump used his first MAGA rally after leaving the White House in 2020 to pitch Miller as a replacement for Ohio Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
After blasting Gonzalez, Trump heaped praise on “great guy” Miller. He even invited Miller on stage to speak.
But despite Trump’s glowing endorsement, Miller’s rap sheet doesn’t exactly point to him being a stand-up guy. While the investigation into possible child abuse was shelved because there was not enough evidence to support a finding of neglect or abuse, and he was never charged with anything regarding the alleged attacks on his wife, he has faced serious claims in the past.
In 2021, Politico did a sprawling piece on Miller, interviewing 60 people who knew him. Sources said that his romantic relationship with former Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham ended when he got physical with her.
The alleged attack reportedly took place in his Washington apartment after she accused him of cheating on her. The sources said he pushed her against a wall and slapped her in the face. Grisham corroborated this version of events in a book she published.
Miller has always denied this.
Additionally, Emily Moreno never filed a police report against her ex-husband for the allegations of harm. She previously told cops that she feared “no one would believe her.”
Sources close to Moreno told CNN that he wanted to speak out previously, but was asked not to by his daughter.
She married Miller in a wedding at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump was there and even gave a celebratory speech.
The marriage lasted two years, with Miller filing for divorce in August 2024. Miller has sued both Moreno and Grisham for defamation.
He settled with Grisham, and the case with Moreno remains ongoing.
The Politico piece, as well as a Mother Jones tell-all, exposed several run-ins with the law and allegations of misconduct. Politico said he was arrested in 2007 after allegedly punching another teenager and fleeing police, later pleading no contest before the case was dismissed and sealed.
He was also cited in 2010 after breaking a glass door during an altercation outside an Ohio hookah bar. Politico further reported that Miller was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after crashing into a light pole in 2011, though his attorney said blood tests showed he was not impaired and the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.
However, Mother Jones, citing toxicology records it obtained, reported that Miller had MDMA and Klonopin in his system at the time of the crash. Politico also cited multiple witnesses who alleged Miller pushed a female classmate down a flight of stairs after she resisted his advances.
Miller categorically denied the allegation, while the woman later told Mother Jones the incident did occur and remained one of the most traumatic nights of her life.
But perhaps the most disturbing allegations come from Emily Moreno, who claims that Miller broke their child’s collarbone. Through public records requests, Mother Jones obtained a complaint Moreno made to the investigating officer.
“She went to pick up [redacted] at home and [redacted] grabbed [redacted] and threw her against the wall, which resulted in an obvious grab mark on her upper arm and bruising to her stomach and side where she hit the wall,” a detective wrote in summarizing what Moreno said.
In that same interview, she repeated claims that she had a bruise on her arm and red marks on her chest from separate incidents where Miller allegedly pushed her against a wall, and also splashed her with hot water.
