Rep. Max Miller of Ohio is facing serious allegations of physical abuse from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the 32-year-old daughter of Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, in claims that have now spilled into public view through court filings, photographs, and a confirmed police investigation.

Moreno alleges that Miller, 37, struck her during a custody exchange at his home on Feb. 1 of this year and, in a separate incident in June 2024, threw a pot of boiling water at her while their two-year-old daughter was present. The Daily Beast reported that the Bay Village Police Department confirmed it responded to a child-abuse report on Feb. 1 and that the investigation remains open.

Miller has denied the allegations. On Thursday evening, the congressman published a lengthy thread on X rejecting the claims, accusing his ex-wife of extortion, and posting what he described as counter-evidence. His attorney, Adam Brown, also denied the allegations to the Daily Mail and said he would provide evidence responding to Moreno's claims.

Court filings paint a contested picture

The accusations emerged through divorce and custody proceedings that have played out over the past year. Court documents obtained by TMZ in April included Moreno's claims about Miller's conduct. In those filings, Moreno stated that Miller "regularly speaks to me in an inappropriate, aggressive and demeaning manner, which is not in the best interest of our child" and that he "has conducted dangerous physical behavior in the child's presence."

Moreno sought changes to their custody arrangement, telling the court she did not believe it was in their daughter's best interest for her and Miller to jointly make decisions. She alleged his behavior could "cause direct harm."

A filing by Miller's attorney in October 2024 pushed back, accusing Moreno of being more concerned about her father's Senate campaign than the child's welfare. That document stated that Moreno "has displayed more concern about how this case may impact her father's election than about the best interests of [the couple's daughter] and allowing this litigation to proceed expeditiously."

The couple separated in 2024 and finalized their divorce in June 2025. Under the settlement, they agreed to share joint custody, and Miller is required to pay $2,500 per month in child support. Miller subsequently subpoenaed his in-laws, seeking documentation of alleged financial support.

Photographs and an open investigation

The Daily Mail obtained photographs that Moreno's legal team says show injuries from the alleged incidents, including bruises and redness. The New York Post reported that photos of Moreno's alleged injuries surfaced alongside police involvement and an alleged apology note, while Miller released material he says undermines the accusations.

Moreno's attorney, Andrew Zashin, told the Daily Mail that the evidence supports his client's account.

"These images, combined with the documented history in court filings, directly contradict years of Mr. Miller's denial. Any claim that Ms. Moreno fabricated these allegations collapses in the face of contemporaneous physical evidence."

Zashin added that his client had tried to keep the matter private.

"It is unfortunate that these matters have become public when Ms. Moreno has made every effort to keep them private and out of court for the sake of their daughter. But the ongoing pattern of behavior, coupled with the continued denials, has made silence no longer possible."

Zashin declined to comment when contacted separately by the Daily Beast. The Daily Beast also reached out to Sen. Bernie Moreno's office; no response was reported.

Miller's public response

Miller took to X on Thursday evening to reject the allegations in detail. His posted material included an email sent by his lawyers to the Daily Mail, transcripts of audio recordings, and footage he said showed Moreno leaving his home. The congressman is not the first member of the House to face public allegations of personal misconduct in recent months, Rep. Tony Gonzales recently announced plans to leave Congress amid his own scandal.

Miller's post concluded with a pointed accusation of his own. "The moral of the story is this," he wrote. "My ex-wife needs help. She is more focused on hurting me than loving our child."

Brown, Miller's attorney, has not yet publicly released the specific evidence he said would respond to Moreno's claims. What that evidence consists of, and whether it will shift the public record, remains to be seen.

A prior allegation and a familiar pattern

The accusations from Moreno are not the first time Miller has faced claims of physical abuse from a former partner. In 2020, former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who previously dated Miller, alleged that he pushed her against a wall and slapped her after she accused him of cheating. Grisham wrote about the experience in a 2021 Washington Post opinion piece and discussed the reaction, or lack of one, from senior White House officials at the time.

Grisham wrote that she believed the then, first lady took her account seriously. "I felt that Mrs. Trump believed my story," she stated. But she added: "I suspected the president, long invested in the view that women usually make up allegations of assault, didn't want to believe it." She described the broader response as indifferent: "The point is that the president and first lady seemed totally unfazed about whether there was an abuser, another abuser, in their workplace."

Miller pursued legal action against Grisham, seeking a restraining order and filing a defamation suit. A court denied the restraining order application. Miller voluntarily dropped the defamation suit in 2023. Accountability in Congress has been a recurring theme across both parties, Rep. Ilhan Omar recently refused to cooperate with a Minnesota fraud committee investigating her own conduct.

After the Daily Mail published its report on the Moreno allegations, Grisham reshared an older post on X, writing: "Re-upping this. Today I feel broken over what so many men with money & power get away with. Over & over & over. Almost worse is those of you who know & do/say nothing as it happens time & again."

The political backdrop

The allegations land in a politically charged environment for the Miller and Moreno families. Miller was elected to represent Ohio's 7th District in 2022 with President Trump's endorsement. He had previously worked on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, served in the first Trump administration, and worked on the 2020 re-election effort. Trump appeared at a rally in 2021 supporting Miller's congressional bid.

Miller and Moreno married in 2022 at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. Trump was among the wedding guests. Miller's grandfather, Samuel Henry Miller, is described as a multimillionaire Cleveland property tycoon. Republican political dynamics in Ohio have grown more complicated in recent cycles, with intraparty tensions flaring in several key states.

Emily Moreno's father, Bernie Moreno, was born in Colombia and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2024. He has served as Ohio's senator since January 2025. The 59-year-old senator's office has not publicly commented on the allegations against his former son-in-law.

What remains unresolved

Several questions hang over this story. The Bay Village Police Department has confirmed an open investigation tied to the Feb. 1 child-abuse report, but no charges have been filed. Miller's attorney has promised evidence that would counter Moreno's claims but has not made that evidence public in a verifiable form. The court that handled the custody and divorce filings has not been identified in reporting. And the specific nature of the alleged apology note referenced in reporting has not been detailed.

The divorce settlement's joint-custody arrangement means Miller and Moreno will continue to co-parent their daughter regardless of how the public dispute unfolds. Whether the open police investigation leads to formal charges, or quietly closes, will determine whether this matter stays in the realm of competing claims or moves into the justice system.

Allegations are not convictions, and Miller deserves the same presumption of innocence any American is owed. But an open police investigation, court filings with specific claims, and a prior allegation from a separate accuser form a record that demands serious scrutiny, not from partisan media, but from the legal system. Voters in Ohio's 7th District deserve to know whether their representative can meet the basic standard of lawful conduct that public office requires.