President Donald Trump has stood by Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) through years of abuse allegations, coming to view him as a "surrogate son," according to a new investigative analysis.
The new investigation by the American Prospect describes in detail Trump's connection to Miller, a former aide who parlayed show-tune playlists and rally logistics into one of Washington's most protected political relationships.
Now that relationship is threatening to cost Republicans a seat they once considered safely red, according to Politico.
The bond began in 2015, when Miller — then a Lululemon employee with a Marine Corps Reserve weekend obligation — got a call to drive Marco Rubio around Chicago, according to the Prospect.
When Rubio dropped out, Miller jumped to the Trump campaign, according to Politico, eventually rising to run advance operations for the White House.
Advance work — staging the rallies that defined Trump's presidency — gave Miller direct, repeated access to the man who would become his most powerful protector, the Prospect reported.
The Prospect found that Trump "quickly came to see Miller almost as a surrogate son."
"'It'd be a good time to have Max come by," a person who worked for Trump told Politico, "and check on the order of songs or something."
"I'm an unapologetic, kind of unfiltered individual," Miller told the Prospect. "That's why the president supported me."
Trump rewarded that loyalty by making Miller the first recruit of his post-impeachment political vengeance campaign, the Prospect reported.
In 2022, Trump deployed Miller to primary Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), one of the Republicans who had voted to impeach him, according to the Prospect.
Miller then married Emily Moreno — daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — at Trump's Bedminster golf club, the Prospect reported, cementing what looked like a MAGA Ohio dynasty.
Sen. Bernie Moreno later said the arrangement devolved into "truly, the seventh level of Hell," the Prospect reported.
Emily Moreno's accusations that Miller held a gun to her head, threw hot water on her, and broke their toddler daughter's collarbone have consumed the Ohio Republican delegation, allegations Miller denies, according to The Hill.
Miller responded by invoking Trump's own 2016 playbook. "In 2016 when President Donald J. Trump faced the most extreme allegations that hit him day after day after day, guess what? He stayed in…" Miller said.
Trump's team then scrambled to manage the fallout, Politico reported.
White House officials contacted Ohio Republicans last week and asked them not to pressure Miller publicly to drop out of his reelection bid, according to Politico.
"They basically told us to back off," one Ohio Republican told Politico, "and let the voters decide."
Trump was asked about Miller directly by reporters in the Oval Office on Aug. 3, The Hill reported.
"It's a very sad thing," Trump told reporters. "I know Max. He's a good person… But it's accusations."
Republicans now have internal polling showing Miller trailing in a district Trump carried by 11 points, according to Politico.
