The House Ethics Committee is actively “reviewing allegations” of domestic abuse and illegal drug use against embattled Rep. Max Miller, after he made the unusual move Tuesday of urging the committee to launch an investigation into himself.
Miller is facing mounting pressure to step down following allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, who is the daughter of a fellow Republican lawmaker, Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno.
“In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family,” Miller wrote Tuesday on X. He added that he intends to provide the committee with “all necessary documents needed” to conduct a detailed examination.
The committee has been hesitant in the past to investigate members of Congress during election years and has a rule barring it from pursuing investigations within 60 days of an election. The committee is unlikely to release any findings by Election Day and would have to reauthorize the probe after a new Congress begins.
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Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, has accused the congressman of throwing scalding water on her, shoving her against a wall and holding a gun to her head. Miller has denied those allegations and another claim that he caused his daughter’s broken collarbone.
Sen. Moreno on Monday called his family’s experience with Miller “truly the seventh circle of hell,” and said his “daughter lives in constant fear of this man.” The Ohio senator put out a lengthy statement over the weekend saying Miller should seek professional help and should not serve in Congress.He’s not the only Republican to call for Miller to step down.
“He should resign. He should quit,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) told Politico this week.
Marshall said the trust he has in Moreno as a “good friend” makes him think the senator’s family is “telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) also said she agrees with Moreno’s condemnation of Miller.
“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,” Capito told Politico.
While Moreno has stopped short of explicitly calling for Miller to resign, the senator has said he “should not serve in the House of Representatives.” In Miller’s congressional race, recent polling shows him trailing his Democratic challenger, Brian Poindexter.
Some senators think it should be left up to voters to decide Miller’s future in Congress.
“The best thing is, the public’s going to take him out of office,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) told MeidasTouch, responding to a question about whether Miller should resign.
When asked if there is a double standard with how Democrats and Republicans handle allegations of misconduct, Scott said it didn’t exist but “everybody should be held accountable.”
Miller reaffirmed his plans to seek reelection in a livestream on X on Sunday and denied the allegations of abuse. The congressman also released a trove of files containing court documents, text messages, audio recordings and videos that he says back up his side of the ongoing dispute.
Emily Moreno’s legal team subsequently wrote a letter accusing Miller of releasing an image of their daughter that could be considered “child sexual abuse material” as part of that trove. One of Miller’s attorneys took responsibility for sharing the photo.
“I am solely responsible for what happened,” attorney Aaron Minc said in a statement to Politico on Tuesday. “I was the only person responsible for assembling, creating, reviewing, adding, deleting, redacting, or making any changes to the information and files that were in this folder.”
This is not the first time Miller has faced allegations of domestic abuse.
Miller, who served as a White House aide during President Donald Trump’s first term, dated White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham in 2020. After their relationship ended, Grisham published an opinion piece in The Washington Post describing the abuse she allegedly endured from a former partner who was not named in the piece, but whom Grisham later identified as Miller. He denied the allegations, arguing they coincided with the release of her memoir.
Miller sued Grisham for defamation in 2021, and they reached a confidential settlement in 2023.
Grisham recently sued Miller and filed for a temporary restraining order on Tuesday, claiming he broke the terms of the settlement by speaking publicly about the case.
This story has been updated with the House Ethics Committee’s announcement.
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