WASHINGTON — Ohio Rep. Max Miller has slapped a defamation lawsuit in opposition to his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, and her lawyer over the abuse accusations she made which have since develop into public.
The Buckeye State Republican, who’s recent off his GOP major victory final week, alleged that Moreno and her lawyer, Andrew Zashin, sought to “malign his character, undermine his odds at re-election to Congress, and falsely painting him as a violent and abusive father and husband.”
Miller (R-Ohio), who filed the go well with on Wednesday, is searching for at the very least $25,000 in damages.
The accusations in opposition to Miller publicly emerged attributable to a nasty custody battle ongoing between him and Moreno over their 2-year-old daughter.
Because the authorized battle performed out, Miller filed a separate home violence case in opposition to Moreno in February as a part of an obvious bid to dam her from seeing their younger daughter.
To date, that effort hasn’t been profitable, as a decide discovered there wasn’t sufficient proof “to concern an order to guard the minor baby at the moment,” however agreed to concern a safety order for Miller in opposition to Moreno.
Final week, the Each day Mail printed photos of the alleged abuse Moreno suffered at her husband’s palms, together with accusations that Miller threw boiling water at her, claims that the congressman disputed.
His defamation go well with zeroes in on extremely publicized claims — together with these made to The Publish — from Moreno’s lawyer. “If Mr. Miller is searching for a person with abusive conduct, he ought to look within the mirror and previous the veneers,” Zashin, her lawyer, mentioned in a single accusation.
“Congressman Max Miller has filed this lawsuit to defend his fame in opposition to false and malicious allegations made by his ex-wife and her attorneys,” a Miller spokesperson instructed The Publish.
“The grievance states that they knowingly unfold unfaithful claims of abuse to nationwide media shops in an effort to break Congressman Miller’s fame and standing as a public official.”
Zashin wouldn’t remark as a result of he’s named within the defamation go well with. The Publish contacted his lawyer for remark, who didn’t reply by publication.
Notably, beneath litigation immunity, attorneys are granted sweeping legal responsibility protections for feedback made in authorized proceedings. Zashin’s group is predicted to file a movement to dismiss the defamation go well with.
Miller, a former aide to the primary Trump administration, had additionally filed a defamation go well with in opposition to former White Home press secretary Stephanie Grisham in 2021, after she opened up in a public op-ed about being in an abusive relationship.
She didn’t identify the person. He voluntarily dropped the go well with about two years later.
“Mr. Miller is upset as a result of he’s tried to silence Emily Moreno the identical means he silenced Stephanie Grisham — and Emily gained’t let him. He sued Grisham in 2021 on materially equivalent information, quietly dropped it in 2023, then put a million-dollar chokehold on her,” Moreno’s spokesperson Stefan Mychajliw instructed The Publish.
“Now he’s operating the identical playbook in opposition to a lady with images of her bruises and burns, a letter in his personal handwriting calling himself ‘nugatory’ with guilt ‘consuming me alive,’ and a sworn declaration his attorneys had been pressured to retract after admitting the witness was by no means there.”
“Mr. Miller is not going to silence Ms. Moreno.”
The Publish first reported final week that Miller’s authorized group admitted that he erroneously claimed in a courtroom listening to and in a sworn assertion that his girlfriend was current throughout a Feb. 1 custody alternate when he was accused of shoving Moreno.
Miller had additionally attested throughout a courtroom listening to that video surveillance proved his girlfriend had arrived on the dwelling earlier than their alternate.
Nevertheless, his attorneys contacted Moreno’s attorneys about two weeks through e-mail and knowledgeable them that “we realized that [the girlfriend] was in actual fact unlikely current at Max’s dwelling throughout the time of the kid alternate.” The Publish beforehand requested Miller’s lawyer how that mistake was made.
Moreno’s attorneys demanded Miller’s authorized group drop or amend the request for a safety order in response.
