# Max Miller Republican U.S. Representative for Ohio's 7th congressional district since 2023, and previously a four-year Trump White House aide. Since July 2026 he has been the subject of a detailed accounting of domestic-violence allegations spanning nearly two decades, brought forward principally by his ex-wife Emily Moreno — daughter of Ohio's senior senator, [[Bernie Moreno]]. The KB tracks Miller because the case is a live test of how the party handles credible violence allegations against a sitting member in an election year, and because the answer changed within about a week. ## Background Born November 13, 1988, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Grandson of Samuel H. Miller, longtime co-chairman emeritus of Forest City Realty Trust — a Cleveland real-estate fortune. Cleveland State University. Served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 2013–2019, reaching corporal. **Trump White House, 2017–2021.** Miller held a series of advance and personnel roles: confidential assistant at the Treasury Department, lead advance representative in the White House Office, associate director of the Presidential Personnel Office, special assistant to the president, and ultimately Director of Presidential Advance and senior advisor. The advance operation is the machinery behind presidential travel and rally staging — an unusually close-in staff position for a member who later entered Congress on that association. **Congress.** Elected in 2022 to Ohio's 7th district, defeating Democrat Matthew Diemer; took office January 2023. Running for a third term in 2026. ## The Allegations *Mother Jones* (Abby Vesoulis) published a lengthy investigation in July 2026 built on roughly 2,000 pages of court filings and police reports. The central allegations come from **Emily Moreno**, Miller's ex-wife and the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, and surfaced during a probe into possible child abuse. She alleges that Miller threw scalding water at her, shoved her against a wall, and held a gun to her head. She further alleges he caused a fractured collarbone in their two-year-old daughter. Miller has denied these claims. The reporting also documents: - Allegations by **Stephanie Grisham**, the former Trump White House press secretary, who was in a relationship with Miller before his marriage to Moreno - A pattern of allegations from multiple women, with court records reaching back to Miller's high school years - Allegations of illegal drug use Miller disputes many of the claims and has not responded publicly to others. > [!note] Allegations, not findings > As of this page's last update these are allegations documented in court filings, police reports, and press investigation. Miller denies the central ones. The House Ethics Committee investigation opened in August 2026 has not reported. ## The Party Response — and Its Reversal This is the part worth watching, because the KB's source letter caught it mid-turn. As of **July 29, 2026**, [[Heather Cox Richardson]]'s letter noted that Miller was running for a third term, that Republican leaders had not called for his resignation, and that Sen. Bernie Moreno — the accuser's own father — was publicly silent on his former son-in-law even while shouting at [[Anthony Fauci]] in a Senate hearing the same day. That characterization was accurate on July 29. It did not hold for long: | Date | Development | |------|-------------| | July 2026 | *Mother Jones* investigation published; Democrats call for an Ethics Committee investigation | | Early Aug 2026 | **Bernie Moreno calls for Miller's resignation** | | ~Aug 4, 2026 | Trump privately tells Miller his House candidacy is in trouble (*Axios*) | | Aug 4–6, 2026 | Senate Republicans back Moreno's call — among them Katie Britt (R-AL), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Roger Marshall (R-KS) | | Aug 6, 2026 | Ohio's other senator, [[Jon Husted]], calls on Miller to resign: "Anyone who commits domestic violence is not fit to serve in Congress" | | Aug 2026 | The **House Ethics Committee opens an investigation** into the domestic-violence and drug-use allegations | | Aug 2026 | Miller stays in the race (*Axios*: "Why Max Miller is staying in — for now") | The sequence is the finding. The initial response was silence; the reversal came only after the accuser's father — a sitting Republican senator with standing no one could dismiss as partisan — broke first. Party discipline held until the cost of holding it was borne by a member of the party's own Senate conference. ## Midterms Relevance Ohio's 7th is a Republican-leaning seat that becomes competitive only under unusual conditions; a nominee under an active Ethics Committee investigation, publicly abandoned by both of his state's Republican senators, is such a condition. Miller's decision to stay in through the reversal makes the seat one to watch in the [[2026 Midterm Elections]] — and makes the race a measure of whether Republican voters follow leadership signals when leadership finally sends one. ## See Also - [[Bernie Moreno]] — Ohio senator, Miller's former father-in-law, and the first Republican to call for his resignation - [[Jon Husted]] — Ohio's other Republican senator, who followed - [[2026 Midterm Elections]] - [[Donald Trump]] — the administration Miller served before Congress