Washington — Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said Sunday that Rep. Max Miller, his former son-in-law, should not remain in Congress as the Ohio lawmaker faces escalating abuse allegations. Miller, a fellow Republican, has rejected the accusations and said he intends to continue seeking another term.
“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno said in a post on X. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”
Miller’s reelection bid has been overshadowed in recent weeks by claims detailed in legal filings involving his ex-wife, Emily Moreno — the senator’s daughter — and their young child. In a livestream posted to X earlier Sunday, the second-term congressman forcefully denied allegations that he abused either his daughter or his former wife.
The latest exchange followed Emily Moreno’s request last week for a court to issue a restraining order barring Miller from contacting her attorney. In court filings, she alleged that Miller has repeatedly engaged in physical and verbal confrontations with the lawyer during an ongoing custody dispute over the former couple’s daughter. Miller and Moreno, who were married from 2022 to 2025, are already subject to court-ordered restraining orders against one another.
That request came after months of accusations by Emily Moreno in court records and police reports. She has alleged that Miller threw her against a wall during a February custody exchange and caused their daughter to suffer a fractured clavicle and a bruise shaped like a handprint. She has also accused him of throwing hot water at her in 2024 and pointing a gun at her last year.
Miller has denied the allegations, emphasizing that he continues to share custody of his daughter. He has also accused his ex-wife of defaming him and of abusing their child. During Sunday’s livestream, Miller questioned the timing of the claims, suggesting they were intended to influence the custody proceedings. He said Emily Moreno has shown a pattern of making “serious and destructive allegations with absolutely no evidence.”
The congressman also released documents that he said refuted claims that he harmed his child or abused his former wife. “These are incredibly serious criminal accusations, and if these accusations were true, I would be in jail,” Miller said. He pointed in particular to an April letter from county investigators closing an inquiry into whether he physically abused his daughter in February, with the finding labeled “unsubstantiated.”
Stefan Mychajliw, a spokesman for Emily Moreno, dismissed Miller’s livestream as “shameful” and “lie-filled.”
“There is a documented trove of evidence that Miller has a history of violent and dangerous behavior and no amount of victim shaming will change that,” Mychajliw said in a statement. “Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law. We are confident that justice will prevail in court.”
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Soon after Miller’s video appeared on X, Sen. Bernie Moreno posted his own statement, describing the past two years as “pure hell” for his family. Although he said he had hoped to keep the dispute private, Moreno wrote that “Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”
Moreno claimed that Miller “needs serious psychological help” and called him a “danger to my daughter.”
“I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake,” Moreno posted. “I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does.”
Miller responded to his former father-in-law on X, saying: “If my daughter said the same thing to me, I personally wouldn’t wait two years before holding him accountable.”
“You know this isn’t true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus,” Miller said. “This is all political.”
