WASHINGTON — Ohio Rep. Max Miller has slapped a defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, and her attorney over the abuse accusations she made that have since become public.
The Buckeye State Republican, who is fresh off his GOP primary victory last week, alleged that Moreno and her attorney, Andrew Zashin, sought to “malign his character, undermine his odds at re-election to Congress, and falsely portray him as a violent and abusive father and husband.”
Miller (R-Ohio), who filed the suit on Wednesday, is seeking at least $25,000 in damages.
The accusations against Miller publicly emerged due to a nasty custody battle ongoing between him and Moreno over their 2-year-old daughter.
As the legal battle played out, Miller filed a separate domestic violence case against Moreno in February as part of an apparent bid to block her from seeing their young daughter.
Thus far, that effort hasn’t been successful, as a judge found there wasn’t enough evidence “to issue an order to protect the minor child at this time,” but agreed to issue a protection order for Miller against Moreno.
Last week, the Daily Mail published images of the alleged abuse Moreno suffered at her husband’s hands, including accusations that Miller threw boiling water at her, claims that the congressman disputed.
His defamation suit zeroes in on highly publicized claims — including those made to The Post — from Moreno’s attorney. “If Mr. Miller is looking for an individual with abusive behavior, he should look in the mirror and past the veneers,” Zashin, her lawyer, said in one accusation.
“Congressman Max Miller has filed this lawsuit to defend his reputation against false and malicious allegations made by his ex-wife and her attorneys,” a Miller spokesperson told The Post.
“The complaint states that they knowingly spread untrue claims of abuse to national media outlets in an effort to damage Congressman Miller’s reputation and standing as a public official.”
Zashin wouldn’t comment because he is named in the defamation suit. The Post contacted his lawyer for comment, who did not respond by publication.
Notably, under litigation immunity, attorneys are granted sweeping liability protections for comments made in legal proceedings. Zashin’s team is expected to file a motion to dismiss the defamation suit.
Miller, a former aide to the first Trump administration, had also filed a defamation suit against former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham in 2021, after she opened up in a public op-ed about being in an abusive relationship.
She didn’t name the individual. He voluntarily dropped the suit about two years later.
“Mr. Miller is upset because he’s tried to silence Emily Moreno the same way he silenced Stephanie Grisham — and Emily won’t let him. He sued Grisham in 2021 on materially identical facts, quietly dropped it in 2023, then put a million-dollar chokehold on her,” Moreno’s spokesperson Stefan Mychajliw told The Post.
“Now he’s running the same playbook against a woman with photographs of her bruises and burns, a letter in his own handwriting calling himself ‘worthless’ with guilt ‘eating me alive,’ and a sworn declaration his lawyers were forced to retract after admitting the witness was never there.”
“Mr. Miller will not silence Ms. Moreno.”
The Post first reported last week that Miller’s legal team admitted that he erroneously claimed in a court hearing and in a sworn statement that his girlfriend was present during a Feb. 1 custody exchange when he was accused of shoving Moreno.
Miller had also attested during a court hearing that video surveillance proved his girlfriend had arrived at the home before their exchange.
However, his attorneys contacted Moreno’s lawyers about two weeks via email and informed them that “we learned that [the girlfriend] was in fact not likely present at Max’s home during the time of the child exchange.” The Post previously asked Miller’s attorney how that mistake was made.
Moreno’s lawyers demanded Miller’s legal team drop or amend the request for a protection order in response.
