Embattled Rep. Max Miller, whose more and more sophisticated reelection is important to the GOP holding the Home, shared secret recordings he captured of his ex-wife to The Put up as he tries to fend off allegations that he abused her and that he’s an unfit mother or father for his or her two-year-old.
In his first main printed interview since spousal abuse allegations emerged of their nasty custody battle, Miller (R-Ohio) teased how his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, “doesn’t know we’ve got that audio” and expressed confidence he shall be vindicated.
The deeply private revelations involving two highly effective GOP households in Ohio have spilled out into the open by a bitter custody battle that’s enjoying out in a made-for-TV drama forward of November’s election.
Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), accused her ex of bodily abuse, together with scalding her with sizzling water. He’s sued her for defamation for making such accusations. And now each are ordered to restrain feedback because the courtroom is worried with the welfare of their toddler daughter, who suffered a damaged collarbone in an unexplained incident.
The audio clip appeared to lend credence to no less than one among Moreno’s accusations a couple of sizzling water incident, which underpins his defamation case in opposition to her.
“The audio is vital,” Miller instructed The Put up. “She doesn’t know we’ve got that audio. She doesn’t know that we’ve got her admitting to her being bipolar.”
Though Miller’s seat in Ohio’s seventh Congressional District is rated as “stable Republican” within the Prepare dinner Political Report, the abuse accusations have given Democrats some hope that they will make the race aggressive this cycle.
The audio tape, which was supposedly captured on Aug. 22, 2024, whereas she was unaware, featured Emily Moreno acknowledging as soon as having a bipolar analysis, however claimed it was a misdiagnosis.
“Okay, Max, and it’s,” Emily Moreno instructed Miller whereas unknowingly being recorded after he stated her bipolar analysis was on her medical document. “But in addition I’ve a present therapist who says that’s not correct.”
Miller, who’s up for reelection in November in opposition to a Bernie Sanders-backed foe, claims he surreptitiously recorded Moreno to guard himself. The audio was recorded in Ohio, which is a one-party consent state, in response to his group.
Miller additionally raised Moreno’s analysis within the defamation proceedings.
Attorneys for Moreno beforehand sought “all paperwork, together with however not restricted to, videotapes” that Miller’s group “would possibly or probably use as reveals.” Miller’s group stated it can “complement” the courtroom document by offering the audio if crucial.
“A sitting congressman exhibiting this sort of dangerously irrational habits needs to be extremely regarding to anybody watching.”
“Max Miller’s public meltdown has grown so erratic that he’s now admitting to creating personal recordings of his closest members of the family with out their data and is laundering them to any reporter who will pay attention,” Emily Moreno’s spokesperson Stefan Mychajliw instructed The Put up in response to the Miller interview.
Audio sheds mild on sizzling water incident
Critically, the key August audio sheds mild on Moreno’s accusations that Miller tossed sizzling water on her on June 9, 2024, whereas the 2 have been arguing, one thing the Day by day Mail first reported and the congressman strongly disputes.
Within the secret audio Miller captured two months later, his ex-wife claimed she “actually went into the closet and began crying” after getting hit with the recent water. Miller instructed her, “I by no means thought that — that damage you” and “it wasn’t completed with intent.”
“You poured steaming sizzling water on me, and also you’ve additionally been… emotionally abusive, and I’ve images of me that my mother took at my home with me with scars on my neck, and also you’ve really seen these images,” she stated, claiming he poured sizzling water from the tap on her throughout the incident weeks prior.
“You went into the room the place I used to be crying and also you began crying saying, ‘I didn’t imply to harm you, I didn’t imply to harm you. Why are you frightened of me?’”
Miller instructed The Put up that the pink marks on Moreno’s chest and stomach within the images proven within the report weren’t burns from boiling water however got here from a sunburn.
“That image has an ideal, by some means, line the place a bikini would go, or a bra. It’s completely round, like it will go as much as your shoulders in a bikini strap, and I simply wish to as soon as once more reiterate that [if it was] boiling water [or] something like that, she must go to the hospital,” he claimed.
The Buckeye State Republican additionally insisted that nothing nefarious occurred with sizzling water, and that they “have been simply within the kitchen messing round,” and that he sprayed her with water after “she began throwing like little issues at me, like gummy fruits or no matter.”
Current courtroom data present a blue-inked handwritten word from Miller apologizing to her, saying “I’m sorry I failed you and [our daughter]” and that “I’m only a f— up and nugatory.” Miller’s courtroom submissions point out that letter got here in response to the recent water incident.
Miller denies that the letter was tied to the recent water ordeal, and insists it was in response to a separate “argument I bought into along with her father a couple of political challenge, and that she bought wedged within the center.”
‘The subsequent Amber Heard’
Miller’s interview with The Put up on Monday got here simply after the decide overseeing their custody case partly granted Moreno’s movement for a short lived restraining order, however made it mutual. The congressman beforehand sat down with The Plain Supplier, which declined to publish that interview.
The restraining order restricts each of them from “disparaging the opposite in entrance of the minor little one and utilizing social media/digital units or third events to threaten, harass, or annoy the opposite.”
Miller touted that order as a victory for him, telling The Put up that “all the things that she had type of requested for, she didn’t get.”
“It actually shocks me that, and it pains me too, that the mom of my little one needs to be referred to as the subsequent Amber Heard,” Miller stated in a surprising public broadside in opposition to his ex-wife.
“That’s one thing that we’re going to need to work by as our daughter will get older, and other people want to understand that it’s not simply two adults at stake — one who’s a little bit bit extra chemically unbalanced than the opposite,” he added, earlier than pivoting to their two-year-old. “There’s a little bit woman right here that nobody’s eager about.”
“That’s the reason I’m preventing.”
Amber Heard had lodged abuse accusations in opposition to her ex-husband Johnny Depp. Public sentiment had largely turned in opposition to Heard after he sued her for defamation and as extra particulars concerning the case emerged.
A number of accusations in opposition to him
Looming over his ex-wife’s allegations is the truth that she’s not the primary to accuse him of violence. Former White Home press secretary Stephanie Grisham publicly claimed to have been in a relationship with an unnamed fellow staffer that “turned abusive.”
Though she didn’t identify the person, Politico reported that Miller “pushed her in opposition to a wall and slapped her within the face in his Washington condo after she accused him of dishonest on her.”
Miller filed a defamation swimsuit in opposition to Grisham in 2021 however voluntarily dismissed it two years later. The congressman implied that authorized causes preclude him from discussing the deserves of the case, although he did provide audio of Moreno discussing Grisham, a portion of which he has already shared publicly.
The total context of what got here earlier than that dialogue was not clear within the audio offered.
There are additionally accusations circulating that he pushed somebody down the steps at Shaker Heights Excessive College throughout his youth, an allegation he firmly denied.
“I’m fairly positive somebody’s father would have gotten concerned, and motion would have been taken,” he stated. “That’s a wildly ridiculous accusation by a person who additionally isn’t totally there.”
Miller additionally has a rap sheet, with a number of arrests. In 2007, the long run congressman pleaded no contest to assault, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. He additionally pleaded no contest to underage consuming in 2009 and later pleaded responsible to a misdemeanor associated to working a automobile with out affordable management, in response to courtroom data.
“The incidents in query occurred a long time in the past throughout his highschool and faculty years and are totally disconnected from his document as an grownup,” his spokesperson Chris Vlasto instructed The Put up.
Daughter’s damaged collarbone
Miller’s custody battle along with his ex-wife drew nationwide consideration after a TMZ report detailed how the congressman and Moreno had conflicting accounts about their two-year-old daughter’s damaged collarbone and bruised shoulder from February, one thing that triggered a Bay Village Police investigation.
Shortly after an preliminary physician’s go to with their daughter on Feb.16, Moreno took her to get X-rays, and medical doctors recognized the damaged collarbone and “what seemed to be a handprint bruise” on her shoulder, in response to a police report.
“That is extremely upsetting, however 9 out of the 11 days that the collarbone challenge occurred, she was in Miss Moreno’s care; she was not in my care, and she or he didn’t invite me to the hospital go to, which I’m entitled to as dad,” Miller stated.
Home violence case
On Feb. 27, shortly after their daughter’s damaged collarbone was recognized, Miller determined to pursue a home violence case in opposition to Moreno — one thing completed in tandem with their custody battle.
However shockingly, his authorized group moved to dismiss it simply final week, elevating eyebrows.
“The decide in our earlier listening to checked out each Emily and myself and stated, ‘You two want to chop it out.’ She stated, ‘You’re adults, you want to develop up,’” Miller defined. “In the most effective curiosity of our daughter, whereas I’m sacrificing my very own security, we thought that it was an excellent displaying to the courtroom of fine religion.”
Notably, within the home violence case, Miller initially claimed in a sworn assertion that his girlfriend was current throughout a Feb. 1 custody alternate wherein Moreno accused him of shoving her. He additionally claimed in a courtroom listening to that there was doorbell footage proving it.
Shortly afterward, his authorized group knowledgeable Moreno’s legal professionals that wasn’t the case. Miller claimed the error was made as a result of his girlfriend was there at totally different instances that day, so he was confused.
“When you find yourself hit with an allegation like that, you’re making an attempt to piece the puzzle collectively and to guard your self as quick as you’ll be able to,” he stated when pressed about why his authorized group didn’t vet a key witness cited within the opening salvo for the home violence case.
The case was geared toward getting a civil safety order to chop off Moreno from her daughter. A decide awarded Miller a civil safety order in opposition to his ex — one thing that isn’t atypical in messy divorce circumstances — however declined to take action for the daughter.
Miller denies placing a gun to Moreno’s head
Though the names have been redacted, a Bay Village police report from February seems to counsel Moreno alleged that Miller “has beforehand held a gun to her head as nicely.” The congressman denies that.
“Determined individuals do determined issues, and, like I stated earlier, she continues to return out with new wild allegations,” he stated. “If this all occurred, she is the kind of one that would have known as the police and had full custody of my daughter.”
The Put up additionally pressed Miller a couple of query his authorized group dodged in courtroom paperwork about whether or not he was ever expelled from faculty over an “incident involving violence with a feminine scholar.” His group had objected to the query in courtroom, citing scope and relevance issues.
“That’s completely ridiculous. I can show to you that I’ve by no means been expelled from any faculty,” Miller stated. “The one motive why we didn’t reply the query is as a result of we don’t need to reply any query earlier than December 18 of 2025 in courtroom.”
Miller had taken programs at Pima Neighborhood School and attended the College of Arizona earlier than transferring to Cleveland State College. He had been arrested in faculty.
In the meanwhile, each Miller and Moreno are preventing for custody of their daughter. The present divorce settlement from June of final 12 months consists of joint custody of the two-year-old, with Miller shelling out $2,500 a month in little one help.
Miller and Moreno had gotten married in 2022 at Trump Nationwide Golf Membership in New Jersey. The congressman filed for divorce in August 2024, on their second marriage ceremony anniversary.
