▶ Watch Video: Ohio senator says former son-in-law shouldn’t be in Congress amid abuse claims
Washington — GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said on Sunday that his former son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller, shouldn’t serve in Congress amid swirling abuse claims, as Miller vowed to stay in the race for another term and strongly denied all allegations of misconduct.
“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 campaign has been plagued in recent weeks by allegations of abuse against his ex-wife — the senator’s daughter Emily Moreno — and their child that have emerged in legal filings. The second-term Ohio Republican responded to the accusations in a livestream on X earlier Sunday, in which he said allegations that he abused his daughter or his ex-wife were false.
The statements came after Miller’s ex-wife asked a court to issue a restraining order last week blocking the Ohio Republican from contacting her lawyer. Emily Moreno alleged in court filings that Miller has repeatedly had physical and verbal altercations with her attorney amid an ongoing custody fight over their young daughter. Miller and Moreno, who were married between 2022 and 2025, have court-ordered restraining orders against each other.
The restraining order request followed months of allegations leveled by Emily Moreno against Miller. In court papers and police reports, she has accused Miller of throwing her against a wall during a February custody exchange and causing their daughter to suffer a clavicle fracture and handprint-shaped bruise. She also alleged that Miller threw hot water at her in 2024 and pointed a gun at her last year.
Miller has called the allegations untrue and pointed to the fact that he still has joint custody of his daughter, while accusing his ex-wife of defaming him and abusing their child herself. In Sunday’s livestream, he cast doubt on the timing of the allegations against him, suggesting that they were made to sway the custody fight. He argued his ex-wife has engaged in a pattern of reporting “serious and destructive allegations with absolutely no evidence.”
He also released documents that he argued would clear him of allegations that he injured his child or abused his former wife, saying: “These are incredibly serious criminal accusations, and if these accusations were true, I would be in jail.” He pointed to an April letter from county investigators closing a probe into whether he physically abused his daughter in February, calling it “unsubstantiated.”
A spokesman for Emily Moreno, Stefan Mychajliw, called Miller’s livestream “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.”
In his post on X Sunday, shortly after Miller’s video, Sen. Bernie Moreno called the last two years “pure hell” for his family. And while he noted that he hoped to keep the matter private, Moreno said: “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.”