Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) broke a two-year silence, revealing fallout from abuse allegations against his former son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), whom he accused of tormenting his granddaughter.
Miller, who is running for a third term representing northeastern Ohio, has denied all allegations of abuse made by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and has never been charged with a crime, according to ABC News. He has sued Emily Moreno for defamation, arguing in court filings that her accusations were a "repeated pattern" meant "to ruin my reputation, gain an edge in custody and litigation matters, and seek revenge."
Bernie Moreno broke his silence Tuesday, after Miller posted a 20-minute video Sunday on X denying the abuse allegations.
The post included a Dropbox folder of documents. Emily Moreno's lawyers said the folder contained an image of the couple's 2-year-old daughter that could constitute child sexual abuse material and that it was viewed over 200,000 times before it was removed.
Emily Moreno had alleged that Miller held a gun to her head, threw scalding water at her and pushed her into a wall, ABC News reported. Miller denied all of it. A children's services agency in Ohio found no substantiated evidence of child abuse, according to court filings.
"My daughter lives in constant fear with this man," Bernie Moreno told reporters. "Not like something that's existential, but deeply in her heart, she fears what this guy is capable of."
Every week, Bernie Moreno said, he goes to custody exchanges himself, to keep Emily Moreno away from Miller.
"So I meet him at the Bay Village Police Station in Ohio because that's the place that we have to go to meet," Bernie Moreno said. "I don't know what this guy's capable of."
At the most recent exchange, Bernie Moreno said, Miller refused to hand over the toddler's stuffed comfort animal.
"She comes over, gets in our car, we drive away, and — if anybody's a parent — she has a little blue bunny that she sleeps with," Bernie Moreno said. "Max would not hand over the little blue bunny."
"Literally held it hostage for 48 hours. This girl was crying at night because she can't sleep without her little blue bunny," Bernie Moreno said.
"His answer is, I'm just not gonna give it to you," Bernie Moreno said, characterizing Miller's response.
"This is the level of total and complete depravity," Bernie Moreno said.
What finally forced Bernie Moreno to speak was Sunday's video, and the Dropbox folder Miller's attorney posted alongside it. Miller's attorney, Aaron Minc, told Mediaite the release was "completely unintentional and a mistake" and said he was "solely responsible." Minc disputed that the image showed genitals, saying it depicted "a two-year-old girl" with "her shirt off."
"But on Sunday, when he went out and did what he did, including releasing photos of my granddaughter completely naked, that now you have hundreds and thousands of psychotic human beings that have that — and they say, oops — it is grotesque," Bernie Moreno told reporters, describing what finally drove him to speak out.
"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 because it is illegal to do that."
"It is grotesque where we are today," Bernie Moreno said.
Miller is facing a bid to oust him from Congress in the midterm elections. President Donald Trump has endorsed him.
