GOP Rep Max Miller Accused Of Abuse, Urged To Resign

Ways and Means Treasury Priorities — Source: Tom Williams / Getty

Welp, the party of family values is, once again, grappling with a scandal that suggests many in the party don’t value their families.

I’m looking at you, Rep. Max Miller.

For those who aren’t familiar, Miller, an Ohio Republican who is seeking a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been accused of horrific domestic violence by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, who, according to police reports obtained by ABC News, claims the GOP congressman committed multiple acts of physical violence against her during their two-year marriage and subsequent divorce proceedings. Specifically, Moreno claims her ex-husband “threw her against the wall, which resulted in an obvious grab mark on her upper arm” and had previously “held a gun to her head” and threw hot water on her. Police reports also show Moreno recalled that the ex-couple’s 2-year-old daughter told her, “Daddy kill you,” which, according to Miller, she wasn’t capable of saying.

Of course, in a recent interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Miller also said his daughter articulated that she was afraid to go to her mother’s home — implying that Moreno is the actual abuser, not him — a contradiction that Tapper was quick to point out.

Miller also suggested his wife was at fault for injuries their daughter sustained during an interview with Newsmax host Rob Finnerty.

“Your daughter fractured her collarbone and there was a handprint on her upper chest, and it left a bruise. How did that happen?” Finnerty asked.

“What I can tell you is I didn’t do that,” Miller responded. “Nine of the 11 previous days was my ex-wife’s care. What’s so troubling about child protective services, Rob, is that my daughter was never seen personally by a doctor from CPS. What they did is they looked at a photo, and what I can tell you is that two separate individuals — one, our parent coordinator, and another doctor, who helps us…to manage these issues — they both attributed this injury to our daughter falling out of the crib in Emily’s care, and that’s why she took her to the emergency room without telling me…”

So, in response to allegations that his daughter was physically abused, Miller’s best explanation is — she fell. Well, I’m sure no one has ever heard that one before.

Also, here’s Miller explaining that he couldn’t have possibly abused his wife, because she continued to cook for him.

“My former wife has claimed that during a custody exchange at my home that day, I assaulted her…If I had assaulted her, would she have offered to cook me dinner six days later?” he said.

Sir, have you ever heard any story from any domestic violence survivor ever? Because they tend to continue performing their “wife-ly duties” while suffering abuse. Also, how the hell would we know she offered to cook for you six days after you allegedly abused her just because you told us it happened?

Anyway, to emphasize his innocence, Miller has touted his relationship with the man absolutely no one has ever accused of being an abuser — *wink, wink* — President Donald Trump.

From ABC:

President Donald Trump called Miller on Monday and raised concerns about his reelection bid following domestic abuse allegations, two sources tell ABC News.

During his phone conversation with Trump, Miller denied the allegations to the president and showed no interest in leaving the race, sources said.

In his interview Tuesday, Miller said Trump told him, “‘Maxie, it’s going to be a tough race,’ and, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to be able to pull this one out.'”

Miller said he reminded Trump of “the same resilience that he had when people told him that he was going to struggle in 2016 when he became the 45th president of the United States.”

First of all, why does Miller’s recollection of his conversation with Trump sound so similar to Trump’s recollection of his conversation with AI Theodore Roosevelt?

Secondly, I mean, is it really a great idea for a politician who has been accused of horrific abuse to be out here hitching his proverbial wagon to an adjudicated rapist, who can’t even get the Republican-controlled Supreme Court to reverse his victim’s judgments against him, and is consistently accused of being a pedophile, largely due to the number of times he’s named in files related to Jeffrey Epstein, including allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenager?

Meanwhile, all Trump really has to say about Miller, a former Trump White House aide, is “I feel bad for him.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Moreno, a fellow Republican, has much more to say about his ex-son-in-law.

“As a father and husband, I can tell you the last two years have been pure hell for my wife Bridget, our daughter Emily, me, and our entire family in the aftermath of Emily’s divorce,” the senator said in a lengthy tweet on Sunday. “It has been horrific to watch this play out in full public view, all while knowing an innocent two-year-old girl is caught in the middle. Our priority has always been protecting our daughter and our granddaughter. Out of concern for the safety of my family, I hoped to keep this matter private, but Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”

According to NPR, the House Ethics Committee has announced it is opening an investigation into Miller, who requested the committee himself “to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family.”

Meanwhile, some of Miller’s fellow Republicans have already made up their minds about him, albeit they seem to be going off of the word of Sen. Moreno.

From Politico:

“I don’t know [Miller]. I haven’t read a whole lot about him, but if [Moreno] thinks he ought to resign, I’m supportive of that,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said in an interview.

Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas condemned Miller, adding, “He should resign. He should quit.”

“I don’t know Mr. Miller’s story, but I trust Bernie so much as a good friend, and his family has such high values,” Marshall said in an interview. “I couldn’t imagine them wanting this out in public. So to go through with this, it makes me think that they’re telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

The surge of support from Bernie Moreno’s Senate colleagues marks the first significant crack in a wall of GOP silence regarding the allegations against Miller. The skepticism from Miller’s own party will almost certainly weigh down the congressman’s already floundering campaign as he battles Democratic candidate Brian Poindexter to keep his Cleveland-area House seat.

“The accusations are very serious, and if there is truth to them, I am one who says that our elected officials need to be held to high standards,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said. “And certainly, when it comes to allegations of domestic abuse, child abuse, that’s not what we want in our lawmakers.”

Well, good luck with all that. Apparently, Miller and the GOP have a lot of work to do in correcting their collective image if they want to continue lying about being the party of morality.