Even Trump’s Not Sure if Max Miller Can Survive This

Over the weekend, Representative Max Miller made it clear that he has no intentions of dropping his bid for reelection even as the Ohio congressman’s campaign has been dogged by horrifying allegations of domestic abuse levied against him by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno. Miller would need to drop out by Wednesday in order for their to be a special election to replace him on the ballot. Several new reports suggest that support for him is waning among members of his own party with many expressing doubts about his electoral chances, including President Donald Trump himself.

Axios reports that the president called Miller on Monday and commented that “things aren’t looking good” for his reelection campaign. Per Axios’s sources, Miller told Trump, who has endorsed him, that his internal polling showed him in a good position in the race and that he isn’t dropping out.

It was a notable shift from how Trump has addressed Miller, a one-time political appointee during his first term, in public remarks. When asked Sunday if the congressman should resign in light of his ex-wife’s allegations, the president indicated that he needed to take a look at the situation. By Monday, Trump appeared to express sympathy for Miller. “It’s a very sad thing. I know Max. He’s a good person. I mean, I always thought he was a very good person. And I’m going to let the families figure that out,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “But it’s accusations and I’m going to let them figure that out.

But the president isn’t the only one with doubts. Sources tell CNN that allies to the president, including top Republicans in the House, are advocating for Trump to urge Miller to drop out of the race out of concern for his election chances. According to the outlet, at least one person said that Trump has said in closed-door conversations with allies that the embattled congressman is unlikely to win and should drop out.

Miller’s push to clear his name has been a disturbing mess. According to the New York Times, Moreno’s attorney filed a letter alleging that the online Dropbox folder shared by Miller’s legal team included, among a myriad of personal documents, private images of their daughter with her name unredacted and a later removed image that appeared to show her genitals. “The post with the link to the folder — published under your name — garnered over 204,000 views from the time it was posted until this afternoon,” the letter read. Politico reports that Aaron Minc, Miller’s attorney, took responsibility for the errant posting, calling it “completely unintentional and a mistake.”

The congressman also made a curious move Tuesday when he said he was formally initiating an investigation into himself:

Miller’s former father-in-law, Senator Bernie Moreno denounced the congressman on Sunday, and has continued to speak out about his daughter and granddaughter’s ordeal — which he called “the seventh level of hell” on Tuesday. Via CBS News’s Caitlin Huey-Burns on X:

Senator Moreno says picked his granddaughter up from Max Miller Sunday at the police station — “that we have to go to meet because I don’t know what this guy’s capable of” — and Miller wouldn’t hand over his daughter’s favorite little blue bunny. “Literally held it hostage for 48 hours” …

“This girl is crying at night because she can’t sleep without her little blue bunny. And his answer is, ‘I’m just not going to give it to you.’ So finally… yesterday, he lets the little blue bunny girl. This is the level of total and complete depravity.”

“This is truly the seventh level of hell…My daughter lives in constant fear of this man, not like something that’s existential, but deeply in her heart, she fears what this guy is capable of.”

On Sunday, Miller took part in a livestream where he forcefully denied claims of abusive behavior from his ex-wife Emily Moreno, suggesting without evidence that her allegations were lies stemming from her “significant mental-health challenges.” Miller and Moreno wed in 2022 at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, and then separated in 2024 with their divorce becoming finalized last year. Court documents publicized due to their contentious custody battle over their two-year-old daughter unearthed Moreno’s allegations of abuse. Records reveal that Moreno has alleged that Miller splashed her with hot water from a pan, pushed her against a wall and even held a gun to her head. Local authorities even investigated their daughter’s broken collarbone for possible signs of abuse, though no charges were ever filed in that instance.

In his livestream, Miller denied any of the incidents ever occurred. “Just want to be clear: No court, no agency has ever substantiated any allegation of abuse against me. No criminal charge has ever been filed against me. My former wife is engaging in a pattern of reporting incredible, serious, and destructive allegations with absolutely no evidence,” he said, vowing to release proof of his innocence online following his livestream.

Senator Moreno, the congressman’s former father-in-law, said Sunday that Miller “should not serve in the House of Representatives.” Moreno’s words appeared to reverberate throughout the chamber as several of his colleagues also expressed that Miller should resign. Roger Marshall, a Kansas senator, told Politico that Miller should resign and indicated that Moreno’s words carried a lot of weight. “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. “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.”