Ohio Republican Max Miller faces growing calls to resign over domestic abuse allegations

Miller calls women accusing him liars as Republican senator Bernie Moreno says former son-in-law unfit for Congress

Max Miller, the beleaguered US Republican representative from Ohio, has vowed to defy a rising groundswell of resignation calls from his own party over domestic abuse allegations after his ex-father-in-law, Bernie Moreno, a GOP senator, said he was unfit to serve in Congress.

In a combative interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Miller turned the tables by attacking Moreno, accused three women – including his ex-wife – of lying by saying he had been violent towards them, and invoked Donald Trump in insisting that he would not resign.

As a deadline loomed for party leaders to choose a potential replacement, Miller, a former White House aide, took an unapologetic stand a day after Trump himself brought pressure to bear by calling him and reportedly telling him “things aren’t looking good” for his re-election campaign against his Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter.

The congressional ethics committee launched an investigation into allegations that Miller “may have engaged in domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use in violation of the code of official conduct or any other applicable standard of conduct”, it said on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Miller said he would request an ethics investigation into himself “to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family”, adding: “I have absolutely nothing to hide.”

Pleas for Miller to step down intensified after Moreno – the father of Miller’s former wife, Emily Moreno – broke his silence after months of refraining from comment on allegations concerning the alleged abuse of his daughter.

“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno, an ally of Trump, posted on Sunday. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Addressing reporters on Tuesday, Moreno described the dispute between his daughter and Miller as “truly the seventh level of hell”, adding: “This has been a horrific experience for my entire family.

“This has been brutal beyond comprehension, and if there’s any minimum standard for being an elected official, as I said, he fails to meet that minimum basic standard.”

Moreno said he had to handle the pickup of his granddaughter at a police station this weekend because he didn’t “want my daughter interacting with this man”. “I don’t know what this guy’s capable of,” he said.

Moreno’s comments came after Miller posted a livestream video defending himself against the abuse accusations and saying his former wife had “significant mental-health challenges”.

The senator also accused Miller of withholding a blue bunny from his small daughter that he said helped the toddler go to sleep – an allegation that drew a belligerent response from Miller when Tapper asked on The Lead if he had been guilty of “emotionally abusive behavior”.

“I would agree that if that were true, that would be incredibly disturbing, and that the senator would be right,” Miller said. “However, he has taken two years to publicly acknowledge for me to resign from my seat. Why is that?”

After a prolonged back-and-forth, Miller gave an unambiguous response when asked if Emily Moreno and two other women – including Stephanie Grisham, a former White House spokesperson in Trump’s first presidency – had lied in accusing him of treating them violently.

“Yes, it’s very easy … Every single time, and people have asked me, what are you going to do? Are you going to drop out of this race? Are you going to resign? Are you going to get out before the deadline? And my answer to you, Jake, is no, and I can tell you why.

“In 2016, when President Donald J Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the world that hit him day after day after day, and people in the media, very much like yourself and others, said that he would have no shot at winning, that he should not be the president of the United States. But guess what? He stayed in, and he was resilient.

“So for no second am I going to sit here and continue to be debased by false and baseless allegations, and be pushed out of the seat I have worked so hard to represent and done a terrific job for our community.”

Yet a series of public statements from Moreno’s fellow Republican senators indicate that their sympathies are with him.

“[Miller] should resign. He should quit,” Roger Marshall, a senator from Kansas, told Politico. “I don’t know Mr Miller’s story, but I trust Bernie [Moreno] so much as a good friend, and his family has such high values.”

The West Virginia senator Shelley Moore Capito said: “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.”

Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator from Alaska, said: “The accusations are very serious, and if there is truth to them, I am one who says that our elected officials need to be held to high standards.

“And certainly, when it comes to allegations of domestic abuse, child abuse, that’s not what we want in our lawmakers.”

Three other senators, Rick Scott of Florida, West Virginia’s Jim Justice and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, also gave public backing to Moreno against Miller.

“I don’t know enough about the allegations, but like Bernie said, it sounds like he thinks he needs psychological help,” said Scott. “I trust Bernie.”

Miller – who married Emily Moreno at Trump’s club in Bedminster, New Jersey, in 2022 – has been accused of holding a gun to her head and scalding her with boiling water. Their toddler daughter, who was born in 2023, is also said to have suffered a broken collarbone due to his actions.

Miller denies allegations of abuse and has filed a defamation case against his wife over the claims. The couple divorced in 2025.

Axios reported that Trump called Miller on Monday amid concerns that the situation threatened Republican chances of holding the congressional seat in November’s midterms , when the party already faces an uphill challenge to keep its wafer-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

But the president avoided taking sides when asked about the issue by reporters in the White House. “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,” he said .

Miller has resisted calls for him to withdraw from the race and told the Wall Street Journal that Trump “was supportive of me over the phone” on Monday’s call.

“He said he had a poll with no detail, and I pushed back with our poll that has us winning by 9 with our message out there,” Miller told the newspaper. “He kept on reiterating it’s going to be tough, and it’s going to be a really hard one for you.”

If Miller were to remove his name from the ballot before the close of business on Tuesday, a special Republican primary would be held to replace him.

If he were to withdraw after that, the party would still need to replace him by 10 August, but would need to give two days’ notice beforehand to hold a meeting to choose a substitute candidate.

In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.