Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), facing a deadline to leave his race over abuse allegations, cited President Donald Trump's own accusers as his model for refusing to quit.
Miller made the comparison during a Newsmax interview, with the deadline for Republicans to replace him on the Ohio ballot set for Wednesday. Hours earlier, Trump had privately told Miller his reelection was in trouble, according to Axios.
Two women have publicly accused Miller of physical abuse. He denies all of it.
Newsmax host Rob Finnerty pressed Miller on whether he planned to step aside before Wednesday's deadline.
"What I find very interesting about these questions is that when we go all the way back to 2015, 2016, and people in the media looked at President Donald J. Trump, everyone came out with allegations," Miller said on Newsmax.
"Dozens of women, dozens of crazy allegations, dozens of nasty criminal misconduct [allegations]. And do you want to know what he did, Rob? He stayed in the fight. Because Americans see — and one of the qualities that they respect the most is somebody who is resilient," Miller said.
"This is a totally different situation. You're not Donald Trump," Finnerty told Miller.
Trump was found liable for sexual abuse by a federal jury in 2023. The 2016 scandal Miller referenced was the Access Hollywood tape — in which Trump boasted about groping women — not allegations of physical violence.
"Those are just words. We're talking about what may be physical abuse. They're not the same," Finnerty pushed back on the comparison.
Miller's ex-wife, Emily Moreno, accuses him in court filings of pointing a gun at her head, throwing scalding water at her, pushing her into a wall, and fracturing their two-year-old daughter's collarbone. Miller denies all of it. He claims three prior investigations cleared him, a count that could not be independently verified.
"But there are multiple women that have at least made allegations against you … that makes three different women, which to me points to a pattern," Finnerty said.
"I don't even know what you're talking about," Miller replied.
"But by three different women. You see what I'm saying? So you're saying they're all lying. Everybody's lying," Finnerty pressed.
"Well, where's the proof?" Miller said.
In Cuyahoga County court on Monday, Trump's former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham filed a restraining order against Miller, accusing him of breaching a settlement agreement — a legally binding deal — from a prior lawsuit in which she alleged he pushed her against a wall and slapped her.
Miller's ex-father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), had broken his silence the day before. "If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives," Bernie Moreno posted on X Sunday.
The deadline for Republicans to replace Miller on the Ohio ballot is Wednesday. The House Ethics Committee announced Tuesday it is reviewing the allegations.