Embattled Rep. Max Miller, whose increasingly complicated reelection is critical to the GOP holding the House, shared secret recordings he captured of his ex-wife to The Post as he tries to fend off allegations that he abused her and that he’s an unfit parent for their two-year-old.
In his first major published interview since spousal abuse allegations emerged in their nasty custody fight, Miller (R-Ohio) teased how his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, “doesn’t know we have that audio” and expressed confidence he will be vindicated.
The deeply personal revelations involving two powerful GOP families in Ohio have spilled out into the open through a bitter custody battle that’s playing out in a made-for-TV drama ahead of November’s election.
Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), accused her ex of physical abuse, including scalding her with hot water. He’s sued her for defamation for making such accusations. And now both are ordered to restrain comments as the court is concerned with the welfare of their toddler daughter, who suffered a broken collarbone in an unexplained incident.
The audio clip appeared to lend credence to at least one of Moreno’s accusations about a hot water incident, which underpins his defamation case against her.
“The audio is key,” Miller told The Post. “She doesn’t know we have that audio. She doesn’t know that we have her admitting to her being bipolar.”
Although Miller’s seat in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District is rated as “solid Republican” in the Cook Political Report, the abuse accusations have given Democrats some hope that they can make the race competitive this cycle.
The audio tape, which was supposedly captured on Aug. 22, 2024, while she was unaware, featured Emily Moreno acknowledging once having a bipolar diagnosis, but claimed it was a misdiagnosis.
“Okay, Max, and it is,” Emily Moreno told Miller while unknowingly being recorded after he said her bipolar diagnosis was on her medical record. “But also I have a current therapist who says that’s not accurate.”
Miller, who is up for reelection in November against a Bernie Sanders-backed foe, claims he surreptitiously recorded Moreno to protect himself. The audio was recorded in Ohio, which is a one-party consent state, according to his team.
Miller also raised Moreno’s diagnosis in the defamation proceedings.
Lawyers for Moreno previously sought “all documents, including but not limited to, videotapes” that Miller’s team “might or possibly use as exhibits.” Miller’s team said it will “supplement” the court record by providing the audio if necessary.
“A sitting congressman exhibiting this kind of dangerously irrational behavior should be highly concerning to anyone watching.”
“Max Miller’s public meltdown has grown so erratic that he is now admitting to making private recordings of his closest family members without their knowledge and is laundering them to any reporter who will listen,” Emily Moreno’s spokesperson Stefan Mychajliw told The Post in response to the Miller interview.
Audio sheds light on hot water incident
Critically, the secret August audio sheds light on Moreno’s accusations that Miller tossed hot water on her on June 9, 2024, while the two were arguing, something the Daily Mail first reported and the congressman strongly disputes.
In the secret audio Miller captured two months later, his ex-wife claimed she “literally went into the closet and started crying” after getting hit with the hot water. Miller told her, “I never thought that — that hurt you” and “it wasn’t done with intent.”
“You poured steaming hot water on me, and you’ve also been… emotionally abusive, and I have photos of me that my mom took at my house with me with scars on my neck, and you’ve actually seen those photos,” she said, claiming he poured hot water from the faucet on her during the incident weeks prior.
“You went into the room where I was crying and you started crying saying, ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Why are you scared of me?’”
Miller told The Post that the red marks on Moreno’s chest and belly in the photos shown in the report weren’t burns from boiling water but came from a sunburn.
“That picture has a perfect, somehow, line where a bikini would go, or a bra. It is perfectly circular, like it would go up to your shoulders in a bikini strap, and I just want to once again reiterate that [if it was] boiling water [or] anything like that, she would have to go to the hospital,” he claimed.
The Buckeye State Republican also insisted that nothing nefarious occurred with hot water, and that they “were just in the kitchen messing around,” and that he sprayed her with water after “she started throwing like little things at me, like gummy fruits or whatever.”
Recent court records show a blue-inked handwritten note from Miller apologizing to her, saying “I’m sorry I failed you and [our daughter]” and that “I’m just a f— up and worthless.” Miller’s court submissions indicate that letter came in response to the hot water incident.
Miller denies that the letter was tied to the hot water ordeal, and insists it was in response to a separate “argument I got into with her father about a political issue, and that she got wedged in the middle.”
‘The next Amber Heard’
Miller’s interview with The Post on Monday came just after the judge overseeing their custody case partly granted Moreno’s motion for a temporary restraining order, but made it mutual. The congressman previously sat down with The Plain Dealer, which declined to publish that interview.
The restraining order restricts both of them from “disparaging the other in front of the minor child and using social media/electronic devices or third parties to threaten, harass, or annoy the other.”
Miller touted that order as a victory for him, telling The Post that “everything that she had kind of asked for, she did not get.”
“It really shocks me that, and it pains me too, that the mother of my child wants to be known as the next Amber Heard,” Miller said in a stunning public broadside against his ex-wife.
“That is something that we are going to have to work through as our daughter gets older, and people need to realize that it’s not just two adults at stake — one who is a little bit more chemically unbalanced than the other,” he added, before pivoting to their two-year-old. “There’s a little girl here that no one’s thinking about.”
“That is why I am fighting.”
Amber Heard had lodged abuse accusations against her ex-husband Johnny Depp. Public sentiment had largely turned against Heard after he sued her for defamation and as more details about the case emerged.
Multiple accusations against him
Looming over his ex-wife’s allegations is the fact that she’s not the first to accuse him of violence. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham publicly claimed to have been in a relationship with an unnamed fellow staffer that “turned abusive.”
Although she didn’t name the man, Politico reported that Miller “pushed her against a wall and slapped her in the face in his Washington apartment after she accused him of cheating on her.”
Miller filed a defamation suit against Grisham in 2021 but voluntarily dismissed it two years later. The congressman implied that legal reasons preclude him from discussing the merits of the case, though he did provide audio of Moreno discussing Grisham, a portion of which he has already shared publicly.
The full context of what came before that discussion was not clear in the audio provided.
There are also accusations circulating that he pushed someone down the stairs at Shaker Heights High School during his youth, an allegation he firmly denied.
“I’m pretty sure someone’s father would have gotten involved, and action would have been taken,” he said. “That’s a wildly ridiculous accusation by a man who also isn’t fully there.”
Miller also has a rap sheet, with multiple arrests. In 2007, the future congressman pleaded no contest to assault, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. He also pleaded no contest to underage drinking in 2009 and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor related to operating a vehicle without reasonable control, according to court records.
“The incidents in question occurred decades ago during his high school and college years and are entirely disconnected from his record as an adult,” his spokesperson Chris Vlasto told The Post.
Daughter’s broken collarbone
Miller’s custody battle with his ex-wife drew national attention after a TMZ report detailed how the congressman and Moreno had conflicting accounts about their two-year-old daughter’s broken collarbone and bruised shoulder from February, something that triggered a Bay Village Police investigation.
Shortly after an initial doctor’s visit with their daughter on Feb.16, Moreno took her to get X-rays, and doctors diagnosed the broken collarbone and “what appeared to be a handprint bruise” on her shoulder, according to a police report.
“This is incredibly upsetting, but nine out of the 11 days that the collarbone issue happened, she was in Miss Moreno’s care; she was not in my care, and she did not invite me to the hospital visit, which I’m entitled to as dad,” Miller said.
Domestic violence case
On Feb. 27, shortly after their daughter’s broken collarbone was diagnosed, Miller decided to pursue a domestic violence case against Moreno — something done in tandem with their custody battle.
But shockingly, his legal team moved to dismiss it just last week, raising eyebrows.
“The judge in our previous hearing looked at both Emily and myself and said, ‘You two need to cut it out.’ She said, ‘You’re adults, you need to grow up,’” Miller explained. “In the best interest of our daughter, while I am sacrificing my own safety, we thought that it was a good showing to the court of good faith.”
Notably, in the domestic violence case, Miller initially claimed in a sworn statement that his girlfriend was present during a Feb. 1 custody exchange in which Moreno accused him of shoving her. He also claimed in a court hearing that there was doorbell footage proving it.
Shortly afterward, his legal team informed Moreno’s lawyers that wasn’t the case. Miller claimed the mistake was made because his girlfriend was there at different times that day, so he was confused.
“When you are hit with an allegation like that, you’re trying to piece the puzzle together and to protect yourself as fast as you can,” he said when pressed about why his legal team didn’t vet a key witness cited in the opening salvo for the domestic violence case.
The case was aimed at getting a civil protection order to cut off Moreno from her daughter. A judge awarded Miller a civil protection order against his ex — something that is not atypical in messy divorce cases — but declined to do so for the daughter.
Miller denies putting a gun to Moreno’s head
Although the names were redacted, a Bay Village police report from February appears to suggest Moreno alleged that Miller “has previously held a gun to her head as well.” The congressman denies that.
“Desperate people do desperate things, and, like I said earlier, she continues to come out with new wild allegations,” he said. “If this all happened, she is the type of person who would have called the police and had full custody of my daughter.”
The Post also pressed Miller about a question his legal team dodged in court documents about whether he was ever expelled from college over an “incident involving violence with a female student.” His team had objected to the question in court, citing scope and relevance concerns.
“That’s absolutely ridiculous. I can prove to you that I’ve never been expelled from any college,” Miller said. “The only reason why we didn’t answer the question is because we don’t have to answer any question before December 18 of 2025 in court.”
Miller had taken courses at Pima Community College and attended the University of Arizona before transferring to Cleveland State University. He had been arrested in college.
At the moment, both Miller and Moreno are fighting for custody of their daughter. The current divorce settlement from June of last year includes joint custody of the two-year-old, with Miller shelling out $2,500 a month in child support.
Miller and Moreno had gotten married in 2022 at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey. The congressman filed for divorce in August 2024, on their second wedding anniversary.
