Emily Moreno, the ex-wife of two-term Ohio Rep. Max Miller, has filed court documents seeking a restraining order to stop the congressman from contacting her attorney, the latest move in a bitter legal battle shadowed by allegations of domestic abuse.
Moreno filed the petition Thursday, alleging in an affidavit that Miller physically grabbed her lawyer, Andrew Zashin, and another attorney after a court hearing earlier in the week. She also alleged Miller insulted Zashin's fiancée in front of witnesses at an Ohio courthouse following a separate hearing in May. The filing asks a court to bar Miller from any direct contact with her legal counsel.
The restraining order request lands in the middle of a custody fight and a cascade of legal proceedings between the two that now include dueling accusations of abuse, a defamation lawsuit, and a domestic violence case Miller himself filed, then dropped. Miller, who represents a Republican-leaning district in the Cleveland area and is running for a third term, denies every allegation against him. But the court record tells a more complicated story, and the congressman's own claims have not held up cleanly under judicial scrutiny.
In the affidavit filed Thursday, Moreno stated that Miller "will continue to harass, threaten, and communicate with my counsel directly" unless the court intervenes. She added that Miller has "harassed, threatened, and communicated directly" with her previous legal teams as well, a claim that, if credited by the court, would suggest the behavior toward Zashin is not an isolated episode.
The alleged physical confrontation with Zashin came after a hearing this week. CBS News reported that Moreno accused Miller of grabbing Zashin and a second attorney. The identity of the second attorney was not disclosed. A separate allegation placed Miller at an Ohio courthouse after a May hearing, where he allegedly insulted Zashin's fiancée in front of witnesses.
Miller's campaign spokeswoman, Abigail Angelos, pushed back firmly. She pointed to the congressman's continued joint custody of the couple's young daughter as evidence that the courts have not found the allegations credible.
"The facts speak for themselves: the court has continued to permit him joint custody of his child. If there were credible evidence supporting these outrageous accusations, that simply would not be the case."
Angelos added that Miller "will continue to vigorously defend his reputation against false and reckless allegations designed to inflame public opinion rather than reflect reality."
The restraining order petition arrives just days after a Cuyahoga County judge formally dismissed a domestic violence protection order that Miller himself had filed against Moreno in February. Miller moved to drop the case roughly three months after filing it. The judge who signed off on the dismissal did not simply rubber-stamp the withdrawal, she found that Miller "was not under any apparent infirmity and did not appear to have been threatened by or in fear of" Moreno.
That finding undercuts the premise of Miller's own petition. He filed the case, pursued it for months, then abandoned it, and the court concluded he was never actually in danger. The New York Post reported that Miller's legal team admitted during a hearing that he had lied about having doorbell camera footage to support his claims, a significant concession that further damaged his credibility in the proceedings.
Miller had filed a separate defamation suit against Moreno, citing what he called "considerable reputational and financial harm" caused by allegations that he was a "violent and abusive husband and father." That case remains part of the broader legal tangle between the two.
The abuse allegations against Miller stretch back well before the current restraining order fight. A police report from February detailed Moreno's account of a custody exchange at Miller's residence in Bay Village, Ohio, on Feb. 1. Moreno alleged Miller threw her against a wall, leaving what the report described as "an obvious grab mark on her upper arm and bruising to her stomach and side where she hit the wall."
The same report documented a conversation with a county child protection specialist about an incident roughly two weeks after Feb. 1. The couple's daughter was diagnosed with a mid-right clavicle fracture. A bruise accompanying the injury "appears to be a handprint and appears to have been inflicted," the report stated.
Moreno also told police that Miller "previously held a gun to her head." The report noted that the child had said to Moreno: "Daddy kill you." Miller denied causing the child's collarbone injury, telling a magistrate judge "absolutely not" when asked. He gave the same answer when asked whether he threw Moreno against a wall and grabbed her arm during the Feb. 1 exchange.
Court filings in the defamation case added another allegation: that in 2024, Miller "threw onto Ms. Moreno hot water from a pan of eggs he'd just cooked" after she told him she planned to leave him. The couple married in 2022 and divorced in June 2025.
In a May hearing, Moreno gave sworn testimony that Miller had admitted to being abusive, both verbally and in writing. Court transcripts also reference Moreno's claim that Miller made threatening statements against her father, Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, though specifics were not detailed.
Miller has mounted an aggressive defense, accusing Moreno of fabricating allegations and of harming their daughter herself. In court transcripts from a hearing after the alleged February incidents, Miller told the judge that Moreno "is making allegations against me to not only abuse to our daughter, but she is making allegations against me to her that never happened."
"I have video and text message evidence showing the contrary of that. And she's not mentally well, Your Honor."
Miller told the court he was informed by "two separate doctors" that Moreno had been diagnosed as bipolar. He also stated: "I also believe that my ex-wife is purposefully hurting my daughter." When asked about the child's reported statement about a gun, Miller denied his daughter "would have heard anything like that from him."
One claim Miller made to the court did not survive scrutiny. He told an Ohio magistrate judge that his current girlfriend was present at his Bay Village home during the first alleged February incident. An attorney for Miller later retracted that statement, a reversal that raises questions about the reliability of the congressman's account of that day.
The dispute has dragged in Emily Moreno's father, first-term Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, who won his Ohio seat in 2024. Miller posted on X in May, calling it "unfortunate" that the senator "continues to fund and enable his daughter's malicious campaign to ruin my life despite his knowledge of her mental health issues."
Sen. Moreno's office responded Friday with a measured statement: his "top priority is the safety and well-being of his daughter and granddaughter. While he does not litigate these matters in the media or respond to baseless public attacks, he will do whatever it takes to ensure a just outcome for his family."
The congressman's legal conflicts extend beyond his ex-wife. Former White House aide Stephanie Grisham, who served during President Trump's first term, accused Miller of physical abuse in a book and a Washington Post op-ed. Miller filed a defamation suit against Grisham as well, then moved to dismiss it with prejudice, meaning he gave up the right to refile. The reason for that decision was not explained in court records reviewed by CBS News.
Mutual restraining orders between Miller and Moreno are already in place. Miller has previously faced contempt threats from Moreno's legal team over alleged violations of those orders. Whether the new petition, seeking to extend protections to Moreno's attorney, will be granted remains an open question.
Miller is seeking a third term in a district that leans Republican, which ordinarily would make his path to reelection straightforward. But the accumulating court filings, the collapsed domestic violence case he initiated, the retracted claims, and the steady drumbeat of abuse allegations from multiple sources have created a problem that partisan advantage alone cannot solve.
CBS News reviewed months of court documents and public reports in assembling its account of the dispute. Miller's House office was contacted for comment; any response was not included in the reporting. His campaign's defense has rested on the fact that he retains joint custody, a point Angelos emphasized, and on blanket denials of every allegation.
The court record, however, does not read like a clean bill of health. A judge found Miller was never in fear of his ex-wife. His own legal team admitted he lied about doorbell camera evidence. A statement he made under oath about a witness's presence at a key incident was retracted by his own attorney. And the allegations from Moreno, backed by police reports, sworn testimony, and an affidavit, continue to pile up.
Voters in Ohio's Cleveland-area district will eventually weigh all of this. When a sitting congressman's own filings keep falling apart in court, the defense that "the facts speak for themselves" starts cutting the wrong way.
