GOP Rep Max Miller pushes back against abuse allegations: ‘I have nothing to hide’

Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, went live on X on Sunday morning, denying allegations from his ex-wife that he abused her and their daughter.

"I'm not getting out of this race, and I'm winning in November," Miller said at the end of a roughly 17-minute X livestream statement with pictures of his family in the background.

Miller claimed his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has documented mental health circumstances that might have led to her allegations after their public divorce.

"They frame me as an abuser," Miller said, adding there is "no evidence" against him.

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Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, is still facing calls to resign, including from his former father-in-law Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, on Sunday.

"No court or agency has even substantiated any allegation against me," he added. "Every single one of these allegations were already investigated. No criminal charge has ever been filed against me."

Miller released troves of evidence via Dropbox that he says undermines the allegations against him.

"I have nothing to hide," he said.

Faced with a narrow path to winning control of the U.S. House, Democrats are seeing fresh opportunity in a northeast Ohio congressional seat where the Republican incumbent is facing mounting pressure over allegations that he abused his ex-wife and daughter in a bitter and drawn-out dispute with his former spouse.

Allegations against Miller, a White House advisor during President Donald Trump's first term, have been public for years but have recently drawn increased media scrutiny amid an escalating legal back-and-forth with his ex-wife. That has Democrats sensing Miller could be vulnerable in a district he won two years ago with just over 51% of the vote.

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Over the past week, they have called for Miller to resign, requested a congressional ethics investigation and suggested more help could be directed in the fall toward his Democratic opponent, union ironworker Brian Poindexter. Miller has denied the abuse allegations and filed defamation lawsuits against his ex-wife and a second accuser.

After Miller's X livestream, Sen. Bernie Moreno stood by his daughter's allegations and called for Miller to resign and get "serious psychological help."

"Out of concern for the safety of my family, I hoped to keep this matter private but Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible," Moreno wrote. "As he has admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious psychological help. He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.

"If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them.

"He should not serve in the House of Representatives. 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."

The deadline to resign and be replaced on the November ballot is Wednesday.

Miller addressed the accusations directly Sunday after concluding that traditional media interviews would not allow him to present his full account. He accused reporters of accepting allegations as fact without adequately examining court records, child welfare findings and communications between him and his former wife, Emily Moreno.

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Sen. Bernie Moreno stood by his daughter and called for Rep. Max Miller, his former son-in-law, to resign from Congress and get "serious psychological help." (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Moreno alleged that Miller threw her against a wall, held a gun to her head and threw hot water on her.

Miller's livestream addressed each of those allegations directly, rebutting each.

"She didn't call the police after that," Miller said of the assault allegation. "She didn't go to the hospital. Ladies and gentlemen, do you want to know what she did? She went straight to a child's birthday party."

On the holding a gun to her head, Miller rejected it on the basis that no criminal account has been made of that serious crime.

"She has also claimed I held a gun to her head while standing over our child because a light wasn't turned off: That never happened," Miller said. "It is absolutely outrageous. And two days after that allegedly occurred, ladies and gentlemen, she asked me to come over for dinner and to stay the night."

Miller added the Dropbox documents — paid for by Miller and produced by his lawyers, he wrote on X after their release — provide that evidence.

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Emily Moreno and Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, are now divorced and exchanging public accusations of abuse and mental health issues. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP)

"I can literally walk you all through this," he continued in the livestream. "These are incredibly serious criminal accusations. And if these accusations were true, I would be in jail.

"My former wife would not have been offering to cook me dinner and inviting me to playgrounds. Think about that."

The hot water incident reported in the media was just "horseplay," according to Miller.

"Now, the boiling water story the media has run with: That story is about an incident in June of 2024 while we were still married, and here's the truth — and this is the absolute truth: It was horseplay in our kitchen," he said "I sprayed water at her from the sprayer attached to our kitchen sink. Tap water, which does not reach boiling temperature or scalding.

"From that day, you could even see my text messages from that day show she was laughing during it. She never sought or received any medical attention ever. And it was two months after this incident, that Oct. 7 recording that she told me I was a very kind person who she didn't think would ever hurt her physically.

"I mean, ladies and gentlemen, this doesn't add up. Our court-appointed parent coordinator testified under oath that the single photo she was shown of this supposed industrial injury looked a little red, and that there was no physician's report. None."

Miller has not been charged with a crime, and records released through court proceedings showed that child welfare authorities did not substantiate several allegations that he abused his daughter.

"Let me begin with the most painful accusation of all: I have never abused our daughter," he began. "Before I go through the facts with you today, understand one thing: Every one of these allegations traces back to a single source, my former wife.

"I filed for divorce in August of 2024. That October, she admitted under oath that I had never harmed our daughter. Every accusation has come since.

"So ask yourself, what is continuing to change?

"Not the facts. There's never been evidence of any kind. What changed, ladies and gentlemen, were the stakes."

Miller said a January 2025 report accusing him of physically abusing his daughter was closed as unsubstantiated that March. He said investigators instead substantiated findings involving two workers at a daycare the child attended.

He also addressed a February 2026 report concerning his daughter’s broken collarbone. Miller said the injury was discovered after he had returned the child to Moreno and that he canceled a planned trip to Florida after learning she had been hurt. According to Miller, authorities closed that investigation in April without substantiating abuse by him.

Miller further described a recent emergency-room visit prompted by what Moreno believed was a bruise on the child’s neck. Miller said the mark was left during finger painting. He also recounted an occasion when Moreno called police over concerns about his daughter’s car seat, saying responding officers determined that the seat had been installed properly.

The Associated Press reported that Miller’s representatives previously provided documentation showing that several allegations involving his daughter had been investigated by the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services and deemed unsubstantiated.

Emily Moreno has offered a sharply different account in court and to police. Her allegations include claims that Miller scalded, hit and threatened her during their marriage.

"It is shameful that Max Miller decided to go on a bizarre and lie-filled rant about his ex-wife to desperately try to save his political career," Emily Moreno spokesman Stefan Mychajliw wrote in a statement Sunday.

"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. 

"It is despicable and abhorrent that Miller lied on an unhinged and humiliating video for their daughter to watch one day. 

"No loving parent would have ever used their daughter as a PR pawn to save their own political career. 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."

The former couple finalized their divorce last year but remain engaged in litigation involving custody and defamation claims. Last week, Moreno’s lawyers asked a judge for an order restricting Miller’s contact with one of her attorneys, alleging that Miller had shouted at and physically grabbed the lawyer. Miller’s attorney did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on that filing.

Miller has sued Moreno for defamation, contending that she has engaged in a pattern of false accusations intended to hurt his reputation and gain leverage in their legal dispute.

He also faces renewed litigation involving former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, a former girlfriend who previously accused him of physical abuse. Miller denied those allegations and sued Grisham for defamation before the two sides reached a confidential settlement. Grisham filed a new lawsuit in July accusing Miller of violating the settlement’s terms.

The controversy has increasingly spilled into Miller’s race for Ohio’s 7th Congressional District. Democrats have called for a House Ethics Committee investigation, and Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, has said Miller should resign. Poindexter said the allegations should receive the attention of law enforcement.

"No one credibly accused of holding a gun to his wife's head and breaking their 2-year-old daughter's collarbone belongs in the halls of power," Poindexter wrote in a statement after the X livestream.

The district remains Republican-leaning, but Miller won it with just over 51% of the vote in 2024. Democratic campaign organizations have said they are monitoring the race as they search for opportunities to expand the battleground in their effort to win control of the House.

Miller used the final portion of his address to attack what he described as reckless coverage and urged reporters to review documents and evidence.

"What has been especially disappointing is the role much of the media has played: Too many reporters accepted accusations as fact before examining the evidence, too many stories were written with a predetermined conclusion," Miller said.

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"Journalism is supposed to ask difficult questions of everybody. Journalism is supposed to examine the evidence, challenge assumptions, and tell the whole story, not just the parts that generate the most clicks for all of you to reinforce a preferred narrative that only benefits you and destroys others throughout our country.

"And make no mistake whatsoever, that at the end of the day, we will continue to hold strong, clear our name."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.