Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) took another hit this week when his own attorney admitted he accidentally posted photos of the congressman's toddler daughter that her mother's lawyers say were "illegal" to share.
The situation escalated for Miller when a U.S. senator reacted to the admission by calling for felony charges Tuesday.
Miller is already facing domestic abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH). She has accused him of holding a gun to her head, throwing hot water on her, and fracturing their daughter's collarbone, according to ABC News. Miller has denied all allegations.
The allegations had already pushed his reelection into serious doubt. A poll conducted by a Republican firm July 29–30 and reviewed by NOTUS, with a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points, showed Miller trailing his Democratic challenger by five points in a district President Donald Trump carried by 11 in 2024. Republicans have until 4 p.m. Wednesday to remove him from the November ballot under Ohio law.
Miller posted a public Dropbox folder on Sunday in an attempt to rebut the allegations. His attorney, Aaron Minc, later said that he assembled the folder — and that he failed to remove sensitive images of the child before it went public.
"In the course of assembling and publishing a large volume of documents, I was responsible for ensuring that any sensitive information was redacted and removed from the files," Minc said in a statement shared by Punchbowl News.
"Unfortunately, I missed the last three pages of a 40+ page document with sensitive content. It was completely unintentional and a mistake," he said.
"To be clear, this was completely my fault. I am solely responsible for what happened," Minc added.
The folder had already been viewed more than 200,000 times before the images were removed. Emily Moreno's attorney, Subodh Chandra, said at least one image may constitute child sexual abuse material because the child's genitals were visible, and called sharing it "illegal."
"How many people accessed and downloaded the intimate image, and each of the other images of the child, including one in which her chest is exposed?" Chandra demanded in a letter to Minc.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, Miller's former father-in-law and the grandfather of the child, responded Tuesday with a call for criminal prosecution.
"My personal opinion is that this is a felony, and that every single human being that touched that photo and transmitted it electronically should go to jail," Bernie Moreno said, according to Punchbowl News.
"I am truly sorry to Congressman Miller, Ms. Moreno, both of their families, and, especially, to their daughter. I deeply regret the mistake," Minc said.
"I find it egregious and shameful that Ms. Moreno and her counsels have decided to make a media spectacle regarding this unfortunate mistake and attract media attention to this incident as a means to try to gain leverage in court," Minc added, using the opportunity to attack Miller's accuser.
Trump publicly called Miller "a good person" but privately told him "things aren't looking good" for November, three sources told Axios. Bernie Moreno has said his former son-in-law "should not serve in the House of Representatives." Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) agreed, telling Politico: "He should resign. He should quit."
