Future congressman Max Miller and Emily Moreno got married at Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club in August 2022, uniting two politically connected and wealthy Ohio families.
The guest list featured a who’s who of America’s political elite, including Trump himself.
Bernie Moreno, Emily’s father and a prominent businessman who would later be elected to the Senate, posted on Facebook about the “amazing event” and shared several photos of the happy couple.
“The best part? Watching the smiles on their faces and the love they have for each other in their eyes!” Moreno said.
That love, though, didn’t last.
Miller and Moreno divorced in June 2025 and are now embroiled in a bitter custody dispute over their 2-year-old daughter that has made headlines in tabloids and entertainment publications, including The Daily Mail and TMZ.
Moreno, 32, has accused Miller of abuse. Miller responded by filing a defamation suit and publicly calling out his ex-wife and her father in posts on X, alleging she has a mental illness.
“I know I’m on the side of the truth,” Miller told the Akron Beacon Journal in a recent one-on-one interview. “I know the truth will come out.”
Cherie Strachan, the director of the University of Akron’s Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, said the publicness of the dispute between Miller and his ex-wife is a sign of these highly plugged-in times.
“In the past, we were not privy to these kinds of details about people’s personal lives,” she said, pointing to President John F. Kennedy’s affairs as an example. “They were not covered by the press. They were seen as private.”
Strachan said this changed with the advent of the 24-hour news, the internet and social media in which politicians – including Trump – can instantaneously share their views.
“These things are happening everywhere,” she said. “The confluence of how it’s happening in Ohio adds another layer. These are people who are deeply connected to our state.”
Miller, 37, faces competition on Nov. 3 to hold onto his 7th district seat, which encompasses Medina and Ashland counties and parts of Cuyahoga and Wayne counties. The Cook County Political Report lists his district as “solid R,” but notes that Miller “has enough personal baggage to make him vulnerable.”
To get a better understanding of the dispute between Miller and Moreno, the Beacon Journal reviewed more than 75 filings in their custody suit, over 50 pages of police reports, and numerous stories, and spoke with attorneys and spokespeople from both sides.
Here’s what we found.
High-profile wedding ends in divorce less than 3 years later
Miller and Moreno, who works for America First Policy Institute, a conservative research institute, wed on Aug. 20, 2022. That November, he won his first bid to Congress.
The couple posed together for several smiling photos posted on social media. In November 2023, their daughter was born.
But the marriage didn’t last long. Miller filed for divorce in August 2024.
Miller was re-elected to Congress that November at the same time Bernie Moreno defeated long-time Sen. Sherrod Brown and Trump won his second term as president.
Miller and Emily Moreno reached a settlement in their divorce in June 2025. In the settlement, the couple agreed to joint custody, and Miller consented to pay $2,500 a month in child support, according to court records.
The divorce, though, didn’t settle their differences. Instead, the couple launched a custody dispute that quickly turned nasty.
Custody battle leads to allegations of abuse and prompts media attention
By March, both Miller and Moreno were arguing they should have sole custody of their daughter.
Miller claimed he had serious concerns about Moreno’s “mental health, well-being and capacity.” Since their divorce, he claimed she had become “increasingly confrontational, irrational and somewhat bizarre,” according to court records.
Moreno’s attorneys say she was never diagnosed with a mental illness.
Moreno said Miller “regularly speaks to me in an inappropriate, aggressive and demeaning manner” and “has conducted dangerous physical behavior in our child’s presence,” according to court records.
Moreno discussed her abuse accusations as part of an investigation by Bay Village Police and Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services into an injury involving their daughter.
Moreno took her 2-year-old daughter to the Cleveland Clinic on Feb. 19, and doctors determined she had a broken collarbone. Doctors found that she also had a bruise “that appears to be a handprint and appears to have been inflicted,” according to police records.
While officers talked to Moreno about her daughter’s injury, they also asked if Miller had ever hurt her. Moreno said she had been scared of him a lot and that was why she moved out. The officers asked if she could provide specifics, and Moreno started crying and covered her face with her hands.
“I think he just gets really mad at me sometimes,” she said.
Moreno said the first time she wanted to leave Miller was in January 2024. On New Year’s Eve, she said their daughter, who was sleeping in a bassinet in their room, was crying and that angered Miller. While she changed the sobbing girl’s diaper, she said Miller held a gun on her, according to police reports.
Moreno said she told her therapist about the gun incident but not police at the time.
In June 2024, Moreno said Miller threw hot water on her, injuring her. During a custody exchange in February, Moreno said Miller threw her against a wall, leaving a grab mark on her upper arm and a bruise on her stomach. She said both incidents happened in front of their daughter, according to police reports.
Officers asked Moreno if she wanted police to investigate these incidents, but she declined. She said it would be “her word against his.”
Moreno said she had never seen Miller abuse their daughter.
However, Moreno and Miller both told police they thought the other was responsible for their daughter’s broken collarbone. Prior to her injury, the girl was in the care of several people, including Moreno, Miller, and the couple’s nanny, according to police reports.
A caseworker concluded the investigation into the girl’s injury in April by making a “finding against an unknown person.” Cuyahoga County prosecutors opted not to file charges on May 12, saying there was “insufficient admissible evidence,” according to police reports.
In April and May, several media outlets published stories about Miller and Moreno’s custody dispute and her abuse allegations. A story in the British tabloid The Daily Mail on May 7 included photos that Moreno purportedly took of herself after the boiling-water and custody-handoff incidents showing her alleged injuries.
Miller denied Moreno’s claims and vented his frustrations against both his ex-wife and her father on X.
“It is unfortunate that @berniemoreno continues to fund and enable his daughter’s malicious campaign to ruin my life despite his knowledge of her mental health issues,” Miller said in a May 8 post. “Bernie, this must be distracting from your job. These antics harm your own grandchild. Anytime you want to put a stop to this, you can.”
Bernie Moreno’s spokesperson didn’t respond to several requests for comment. The senator has declined to discuss the dispute with other media outlets.
Miller moves to dismiss protection order; Moreno seeks restraining order
Miller filed a motion to dismiss his request for a civil protection order against Moreno May 26 just two days before a hearing was scheduled on this matter. He claimed Moreno had made false allegations against him and wasn’t mentally well.
“I want you to help me because I’m scared,” Miller said in an initial hearing that resulted in a judge granting a temporary protection order against Moreno for Miller but not for their daughter.
Miller opted not to pursue the protection order after retracting his claim that his girlfriend was at his home and heard no commotion during the custody exchange in which Moreno claims Miller was abusive. Miller’s attorneys have called this mix-up an honest mistake, but Moreno’s camp claims he was trying to get sole custody.
A judge granted a mutual restraining order June 1 that says Moreno and Miller may not “threaten, abuse or interfere” with each other. It specifies that drop-offs and pick-ups of their daughter must be done at curbside, with neither entering the other’s home, according to court records.
Part of the basis for Moreno’s request for a restraining order was a confrontation between Miller and Andrew Zashin, Moreno’s attorney, after a court hearing in which Miller insulted Zashin’s fiancé. Miller reportedly wasupset about Zashin’s comments about Miller’s girlfriend.
“Come at me!” Miller said as his attorneys tried to get him to step down and Zashin left the courthouse.
“The incident shows another reason Miller should be restrained by the court,” Zashin said in a court filing. “(Miller) does not and will not listen to sound advice, even from his own attorney.”
Miller sues Moreno, and her attorneys fire back
Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against Moreno in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on May 13.
Miller is suing Moreno, Zashin, and Zashin Law, his Cleveland firm. He alleges Zashin made untrue statements about him to the media and then republished those comments on his firm’s website.
“Congressman Max Miller has filed this lawsuit to defend his reputation against false and malicious allegations,” said Chris Vlasto, a spokesman for Miller. “The complaint states that they knowingly spread untrue claims of abuse to national media outlets in an effort to damage Congressman Miller’s reputation and standing as a public official and harm his reelection prospects.”
Subodh Chandra, Emily Moreno’s attorney in the defamation lawsuit, asked that the suit be dismissed May 27 and argued Moreno falls under Ohio’s new anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation)law that protects people from lawsuits that involve them speaking about matters of public interest.
“This is the latest example of Congressman Miller seeking to silence and intimidate a woman who has information about his behavior,” Chandra said on his firm’s website. “The First Amendment and Ohio law rightly don’t allow a public official to weaponize the courts to punish a victim for speech on a matter of public concern.”
Miller sues ex-girlfriend/White House staffer who claims he abused her
When Miller sued his ex-wife last month, it wasn’t the first time he filed a defamation lawsuit against a woman who accused him of abuse.
This also happened after Miller parted ways with Stephanie Grisham, a fellow staffer in Trump’s first administration.
Grisham wrote a tell-all book called “I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House” that was released in October 2021. In the book, she mentioned a former boyfriend who had been abusive and confirmed she was talking about Miller in a CNN interview, according to court records.
Miller sued Grisham for defamation in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, denying her abuse allegations and saying the claims were retaliation for their failed relationship and an attempt to sell more books.
Grisham claimed in court documents that Miller assaulted her in his Washington D.C. apartment in 2020. She said he became more erratic and angrier toward the end of their relationship.
“This lawsuit is about (Miller) trying to silence his ex-girlfriend and mitigate the public relations damage from a prior relationship,” Grisham’s attorneys said in a court document in March 2022.
Miller dismissed the lawsuit in August 2023.
Adam VanHo, a Munroe Falls attorney who represented Grisham, said neither he nor his client could discuss the suit.
‘One of the final straws of our marriage’
In Moreno’s motion to dismiss her defamation lawsuit by Miller, she includes photos of injuries she alleges she sustained from her ex-husband. These appear to be the same photos that ran with The Daily Mail story.
In an affidavit filed with the motion, Moreno said she told Miller on June 8, 2024, that she was leaving him and he threw hot water at her from a pan he had just used to cook eggs. She said she fell to the floor, and he sprayed hot water at her from the sink sprayer.
“This was extremely upsetting and was one of the final straws in our marriage,” Moreno said, adding that she and her daughter went to her parents’ house.
A parenting coordinator said in a May 12 deposition that Miller gave a different account of the water incident. She said he claimed that he and Moreno were goofing around, and he sprayed water from the sink sprayer at her.
Zashin and his attorney plan to join in the request to dismiss the defamation suit. Zashin said Miller sued him and Moreno in “an unconstitutional attempt to silence us.”
Monica Salsalone, Zashin’s attorney in the defamation suit, said her client is protected under litigation privilege, which allows attorneys to comment on pending litigation, the First Amendment and the anti-SLAPP statute.
Vlasto, Miller’s spokesperson, said the defamation suit wasn’t filed to silence anyone but to address “false and defamatory statements.”
“Labeling this a ‘SLAPP’ lawsuit is a “legal and public relations stunt,” he said.
“Congressman Miller remains focused on what matters most – protecting the best interests and privacy of his daughter and moving beyond the circus that has too often overtaken these proceedings,” Vlasto said.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3705. Beacon Journal reporter Amanda Garrett contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Miller-Moreno marriage ends in abuse allegations, nasty custody fight
Reporting by Stephanie Warsmith, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Stephanie Warsmith, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
