The ex-wife of Rep. Max Miller has filed a restraining order against the Ohio Republican in Cuyahoga County court, alleging he physically grabbed her lawyer without consent, the latest escalation in a sprawling legal and personal dispute that now threatens his political career.
Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), filed the order Thursday, claiming Miller put his hands on her domestic-relations attorney, Andrew Zashin, during a court-related encounter. In the filing, she stated she told Miller directly: "Get your hands off of him."
The restraining order is one piece of a widening legal conflict between the former spouses that now includes a defamation lawsuit, a dismissed domestic violence case, abuse allegations reported by national outlets, and calls from congressional Democrats for a House Ethics Committee investigation. Miller denies the domestic abuse allegations and has accused his ex-wife of waging what he called a "malicious campaign" to destroy him.
Two days before the restraining order landed, Miller's criminal defense attorney, Larry Zukerman, made a striking admission during a Tuesday court hearing. Zukerman told the court his client "just can't control himself." That concession, from Miller's own legal team, gave Emily Moreno's filing an unusual degree of corroboration before any judge ruled on the merits.
In the restraining order, Moreno wrote that "Plaintiff physically touched my counsel without consent" and warned that "unless restrained, Plaintiff will continue to harass, threaten, and communicate with my counsel directly." The filing did not specify whether the alleged physical contact occurred inside a courtroom, a hallway, or another location. No ruling on the restraining order has been reported.
The same week, a Cuyahoga County judge dismissed a separate domestic violence case that Miller himself had filed against Emily Moreno. The New York Post reported that Judge Debra Boros found Miller "was not under any apparent infirmity and did not appear to have been threatened by or in fear of" his ex-wife. The judge's finding cut directly against Miller's claim that he was the victim in the relationship.
Miller's team also admitted during that hearing that he had lied about possessing doorbell camera footage to support his claims, according to the Post's reporting. A campaign spokesperson, Abigail Angelos, said Miller "will continue to vigorously defend his reputation against false and reckless allegations designed to inflame public opinion rather than reflect reality."
Miller's legal troubles did not begin with his ex-wife. Before he married Emily Moreno, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who previously dated Miller, leveled abuse accusations against him. Miller sued Grisham for defamation, and the two settled in 2023. But the settlement did not end the matter. Grisham has since sued Miller again, alleging he broke the confidential nondisclosure agreement from that settlement by publicly claiming she fabricated the abuse allegations.
Emily Moreno's allegations, reported by the New York Times and cited in court proceedings, are far more detailed and severe. She has accused Miller of scalding her with hot water, holding a gun to her head, and pushing her against a wall. Their two-year-old daughter was found to have a broken collarbone and a bruise that Just The News noted appeared to be a handprint on her shoulder, according to court records referenced in multiple reports.
Miller denies all of the domestic abuse allegations. He filed a defamation lawsuit against Emily Moreno and Zashin, alleging the two "disseminated domestic abuse allegations that were then published by national and regional news outlets." Emily Moreno and Zashin moved to dismiss that lawsuit under a new Ohio law designed to protect citizens from lawsuits meant to silence free speech on matters of public concern. No ruling on that motion has been reported.
When elected officials face serious misconduct allegations, the political fallout often moves faster than the courts. That pattern has played out repeatedly in recent months, from Georgia Republicans moving to impeach a federal judge over sexual misconduct to local officials entangled in harassment probes across the country.
On Thursday, three members of the Democratic Women's Caucus, Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM), Emilia Sykes (D-OH), and Hillary Scholten (D-MI), issued a joint statement calling on the House Committee on Ethics to open a formal investigation into Miller.
"The recent reports of domestic violence and child abuse against Representative Max Miller are deeply disturbing and Congress can't ignore them. Allegations of violence against women and children have to be met with the utmost seriousness."
The three lawmakers added that they "call on the House Committee on Ethics to swiftly and thoroughly investigate these allegations." Whether the Republican-controlled committee acts on that request remains an open question. The Ethics Committee has not publicly responded.
House Speaker Mike Johnson reiterated earlier this month that Miller should be allowed to go through the ethics committee process rather than be expelled from the House GOP caucus. That position gives Miller breathing room inside the conference, but it does not address the growing pile of court filings and judicial findings stacking up against him in Ohio.
Political misconduct scandals have consumed members of both parties in the current Congress. Senate leadership has faced its own pressure to respond to misconduct allegations involving staffers and elected officials alike.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, Miller's former father-in-law, has largely avoided public comment on the dispute. His office released a statement saying the senator's "top priority is the safety and well-being of his daughter and granddaughter" over politics. That measured tone stands in contrast to Miller's approach. Miller once accused the senator on his official X account of "funding and enabling his daughter's 'malicious campaign' to ruin his life."
The family dimension makes the situation unusual even by Washington standards. Miller is a sitting Republican congressman publicly attacking the father of his child and the father-in-law who is also a sitting Republican senator. The intraparty tension has not yet produced any formal rebuke from GOP leadership, but it has drawn commentary from unexpected corners.
Former Rep. George Santos, in an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner, called on Miller to "step aside and go deal with this in private." Santos, who was himself expelled from Congress, is not a figure most lawmakers would welcome as a moral authority, but his willingness to speak publicly when few other Republicans have underscores the silence from the rest of the caucus.
The political stakes extend well beyond Capitol Hill hallways. Miller is running for a third term in Ohio's 7th Congressional District this November against Democratic candidate Brian Poindexter. Voters in that district will decide whether the mounting legal record, a dismissed case where a judge found Miller was not credibly in fear, an admission from his own lawyer that he cannot control himself, and a restraining order alleging he grabbed opposing counsel, matters at the ballot box.
Accountability standards for elected officials have become a recurring flashpoint in both parties. Republicans have weighed pulling endorsements over misconduct allegations in other races, and the question of when personal conduct disqualifies someone from public office is one neither party has answered consistently.
The factual record in this case is building in one direction. A judge found Miller was not credibly in fear of his ex-wife. His own attorney told a court he cannot control himself. His ex-wife says he grabbed her lawyer. A former girlfriend is suing him for breaking a settlement agreement. And the only institutional response from House Republican leadership so far has been to suggest the ethics committee, a body that moves slowly by design, should handle it.
Sen. Moreno's family situation is not the only case where a political figure's relatives have found themselves in the spotlight. Family connections in Senate politics have drawn attention across the aisle in recent months, though few cases carry the personal severity of the Miller-Moreno dispute.
Miller denies the abuse allegations and frames the legal battle as a smear campaign. But the people making the case against him now include a county judge, his own defense attorney, and the mother of his two-year-old daughter, all speaking on the record, in court filings and open hearings.
When the facts are in the filings and your own lawyer says you cannot control yourself, the voters deserve more than silence from the people who could do something about it.
