Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller sued his former wife Emily Moreno for defamation on Wednesday, alleging she and her legal team waged a coordinated campaign to brand him a domestic abuser through false claims fed to national media outlets. The lawsuit, filed in Cleveland, marks the sharpest escalation yet in a divorce and custody fight that has spilled from family court into the public arena, and now threatens Miller's political future in Ohio's 7th Congressional District.
Miller's complaint names Moreno, her attorney Andrew Zashin, and Zashin's law firm, accusing all three of spreading "knowingly false information" to publications including The Daily Mail and the New York Post. The suit contends the allegations, portraying Miller as "a violent and abusive husband and father", reached audiences with "circulation measured in the tens of millions of print and online readership," damaging his standing with "his political supporters and donors, the media, and the general public."
The two-term congressman is seeking compensatory damages in excess of $25,000, punitive damages, and attorney's fees, the Associated Press reported.
Miller married Emily Moreno in 2022. They had a daughter in 2023. By August 2024, their second wedding anniversary, Miller filed for divorce. The timing was politically loaded: Emily's father, Bernie Moreno, was in the middle of a successful, Trump-backed run for the U.S. Senate.
The split grew bitter. Miller sought a restraining order against his ex-wife during the custody battle. He also subpoenaed Sen. Bernie Moreno to testify. The divorce was finalized last June, but the hostilities did not end there.
Emily Moreno most recently accused Miller of throwing boiling water at her. Miller's side has pushed back hard. Documentation provided by his spokesperson said the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services investigated several allegations that Miller abused his daughter and deemed them unsubstantiated.
The Washington Examiner noted the complaint also cited abuse allegations publicized in outlets including TMZ and the Daily Beast, in addition to the Daily Mail, broadening the scope of media coverage Miller says harmed his reputation and career.
Moreno's spokesperson, Stefan Mychajliw, did not back down. In a statement Thursday, he framed the lawsuit as an attempt to intimidate a woman who refuses to stay quiet.
"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."
Mychajliw accused Miller of "running the same playbook against a woman with photographs of her bruises and burns." He added bluntly: "Mr. Miller will not silence Ms. Moreno."
The reference to Stephanie Grisham, the one-time White House press secretary and Miller's former girlfriend, is pointed. Grisham raised allegations in her book and in a Washington Post op-ed that a former White House staffer, later identified as Miller, had physically abused her while they were dating. Miller responded by filing a defamation lawsuit against Grisham. But he voluntarily dismissed that suit with prejudice in August 2023, just before the case was set to go to trial.
That abandoned lawsuit now hangs over the new one. Mychajliw clearly intends to use it as a cudgel, suggesting Miller has a pattern of threatening legal action against women who accuse him and then backing off when the moment of proof arrives. Miller's camp, for its part, has not publicly explained why the Grisham suit was dropped.
Miller's own attorneys have faced scrutiny in the broader domestic dispute. In a related development, his attorneys previously conceded he fabricated a witness claim in the domestic violence case against his ex-wife, a fact that complicates the credibility narrative Miller is now trying to build in court.
A Miller spokesperson told the New York Post that the lawsuit is about more than personal vindication.
"Congressman Max Miller has filed this lawsuit to defend his reputation against false and malicious allegations made by his ex-wife and her attorneys. 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."
The complaint itself ties the alleged defamation directly to Miller's political survival, contending the damage to his reputation "undermines his chances of reelection." That concern is not abstract. Democrat Brian Poindexter, a five-term local councilman and union ironworker, is looking to oust Miller and flip Ohio's 7th Congressional District in November.
For a congressman who first won office as a former White House aide to President Donald Trump, the prospect of losing a seat over allegations he insists are fabricated adds urgency to the legal fight. The New York Post reported that the divorce and custody battle has already involved domestic violence filings, public allegations of abuse, and a judge issuing a protection order for Miller against Moreno, while declining to issue one for their daughter at that time.
Miller is hardly the first member of Congress whose private life has collided with his public career. Mark Sanford's congressional comeback ended amid the weight of personal and political strain, and the pattern repeats across party lines when personal chaos becomes public spectacle.
Filing a defamation suit is one thing. Winning it, especially as a public figure, is another. Under established law, Miller will likely need to show not just that the statements were false, but that they were made with actual malice: knowledge of their falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. That is a high bar, and Miller's camp knows it. The complaint's emphasis on a coordinated media strategy and "knowingly false" claims signals an attempt to clear that hurdle.
Andrew Zashin, the attorney named in the suit, declined to comment. His silence leaves open the question of how the defense will approach the case, whether they will argue the statements were substantially true, protected opinion, or made in good faith based on available evidence.
Miller has also faced unrelated threats to his safety. The congressman received an antisemitic death threat in a separate incident, a reminder that the pressures on public officials extend well beyond courtroom disputes.
Several questions remain unanswered. What specific statements does Miller allege were false? What exact evidence does Moreno's side possess, the "photographs of her bruises and burns" Mychajliw referenced? And will Miller follow through to trial this time, or will the case meet the same fate as the Grisham suit?
The political calendar adds pressure. With a Democratic challenger actively campaigning to flip his seat, Miller cannot afford a protracted legal saga that keeps abuse allegations in the headlines through November. But dropping the case would invite the same criticism that followed the Grisham dismissal.
Meanwhile, the broader spectacle of congressional figures consumed by personal drama, from Kennedy heirs stumbling through campaigns to incumbents battling their own families in open court, does nothing to inspire confidence in the people voters send to Washington.
Max Miller says he was defamed. Emily Moreno says she was abused. One of them is lying, and the courts will eventually have to sort it out. But the voters of Ohio's 7th District are the ones stuck watching the wreckage, and deciding whether any of it still matters less than the job their congressman was elected to do.
Lawsuits can vindicate. They can also backfire. Miller chose this fight. Now he has to finish it.
