Sen. Bernie Moreno publicly demanded Rep. Max Miller step down and seek psychological help after Miller livestreamed denials of abuse allegations, escalating a family and political drama that has drawn sharp statements from relatives, rivals, and a spokesman for the accuser. Moreno called Miller a danger to his family and said the fallout has been devastating, while Miller insists he has done nothing wrong and will remain the Republican nominee. The dispute has thrown a northeast Ohio House race into uncertainty ahead of a party deadline to decide the ballot. Voices on both sides are entrenched and the controversy is playing out in public as the campaign clock ticks.
Moreno did not hold back after Miller’s livestream rebuttal, pressing the congressman to resign and to get help. “If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno wrote in a lengthy statement on X. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”
The call for removal was echoed by Miller’s Democratic challenger in the district, who framed the allegations as disqualifying for a lawmaker. “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,” Brian Poindexter, the union ironworker and Brook Park city councilman, wrote in a statement Sunday. That blunt charge piled public pressure on Miller at a sensitive moment for the campaign.
Moreno’s rebuke intensified about an hour after Miller went live with broad denials of the accusations. “As he has admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious psychological help,” Moreno wrote. “He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”
He framed the public fight as a painful family crisis that has become impossible to keep quiet. “As a father and husband, I can tell you the last two years have been pure hell for my wife Bridget, our daughter Emily, me, and our entire family in the aftermath of Emily’s divorce,” Moreno wrote. “It has been horrific to watch this play out in full public view, all while knowing an innocent two-year-old girl is caught in the middle. Our priority has always been protecting our daughter and our granddaughter.
“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.”
Miller has categorically denied the abuse claims and rejected any criminal wrongdoing. He maintained on the livestream that no court or agency had substantiated allegations against him and that he had never been criminally charged related to the claims, saying child welfare inquiries closed without findings against him. He also insisted the allegations surfaced amid a custody fight and accused his former wife of weaponizing them in that dispute.
Public reports say Emily Moreno accused Miller of assaults and threats during the marriage, including an allegation he once held a gun to her head, and questions have been raised about how the couple’s daughter suffered a broken collarbone. Miller denies causing the injury and says the child was not in his care at the time it was found. He also rejected claims he threw boiling water on his former wife, saying he only sprayed water from a kitchen sink during horseplay.
“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 senator’s intervention raises the stakes as party officials face a near-term deadline to decide whether to replace Miller on the November ballot, and Democrats are watching the district as a possible pickup. Miller, a former adviser in the Trump administration who had the former president’s endorsement, says he will not bow out of the race. “I’m not dropping out of this race,” Miller said. “And I’ll win in November.”
