Trump raises concerns over campaign in call with Rep. Max Miller amid abuse allegations

President Trump called Rep. Max Miller on Monday and raised concerns about the Ohio Republican’s reelection campaign following allegations Miller assaulted his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and their 2-year-old daughter, two sources directly familiar with the call confirmed to CBS News.

Miller, who has adamantly denied the allegations, told the president he has no plans to leave the race, according to one of the sources. Miller pointed to his campaign’s internal polling, telling Mr. Trump it showed his campaign in a strong position for reelection. 

The call was first reported by Axios.  

A source close to the Miller campaign told CBS News the campaign’s internal polling has shown Miller ahead, despite the allegations that have engulfed the campaign in recent weeks. CBS News has not independently verified the polling. 

In a statement to CBS News, Miller said: “If I dropped out of this race, it would mean we as a nation have fallen so far from our American values. I will not validate false claims by removing myself just to please the court of public opinion. I am innocent of all of the allegations that have been attributed to me. I have done well representing my constituents’ interests. Why would I drop out?” 

Moreno, who is the daughter of GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, has accused Miller in court papers and police reports of throwing her against a wall during a February custody exchange and causing their daughter to suffer a clavicle fracture and handprint-shaped bruise. She also alleged that Miller threw hot water at her in 2024 and pointed a gun at her last year. 

Emily Moreno asked a court last week to issue a restraining order blocking Miller from contacting her lawyer. She alleged in court filings that Miller has repeatedly had physical and verbal altercations with her attorney amid an ongoing custody fight over their young daughter. Miller and Moreno, who were married between 2022 and 2025, have court-ordered restraining orders against each other.  

Miller has denied the allegations and accused his ex-wife of defaming him and abusing their daughter herself. In a livestream Sunday on X, he suggested the timing of the allegations was meant to impact the ongoing custody battle. He argued his ex-wife has engaged in a pattern of reporting “serious and destructive allegations with absolutely no evidence.”

“These are incredibly serious criminal accusations, and if these accusations were true, I would be in jail,” Miller said Sunday. He pointed to an April letter from county investigators closing a probe into whether he physically abused his daughter in February, calling the allegation “unsubstantiated.”

Stefan Mychajliw, a spokesman for Emily Moreno, called Miller’s livestream “shameful” and “lie-filled.”

“There is a documented trove of evidence that Miller has a history of violent and dangerous behavior and no amount of victim shaming will change that,” Mychajliw said in a statement. “Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law. We are confident that justice will prevail in court.”

Miller is seeking a third term in Congress. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary for his district and is set to face off against Democratic nominee Brian Poindexter in the general election in November.  

Sen. Moreno said over the weekend his ex-son-in-law should no longer serve in Congress over the allegations.

“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” the senator said Sunday in a post on X. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Sen. Moreno said he had hoped to keep the matter private, but that “Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”

The senator said that Miller “needs serious psychological help” and called him a “danger to my daughter.”

“I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake,” Sen. Moreno wrote. “I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does.”

On Monday, Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Stephanie Grisham, who served as press secretary in the first Trump administration and dated Miller from 2019-2020, posted on social media they had filed a restraining order against Miller. 

Zaid is representing Grisham in her lawsuit against Miller, which centers on a Washington Post op-ed from 2021 in which she described being in an abusive relationship with a man she did not identify by name. She also wrote about an abusive relationship in her 2021 memoir about her time at the White House but did not reference a name in her book either. Miller sued Grisham for defamation shortly after the op-ed was published but later dropped the case. 

Grisham wrote in the Post that Mr. Trump “endorsed my ex’s bid for Congress.” 

Miller launched his first congressional campaign in 2022 against the then-incumbent Republican Anthony Gonzalez, who had voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Miller and Graham ultimately signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2023 with an understanding that each would refrain from publicly disparaging the other. 

But in July, Grisham sued Miller, alleging he violated that agreement during a June 5 interview with Spectrum News and a social media post. 

“Without question, every allegation should be taken seriously,” Miller said in June. “What should be noted is that allegation came out on the same day as somebody’s book launch. And the other part, what I would like to discuss, is my ex-wife was with me every single day during that time of my life in that election, and she, in her own words, will tell you that I never did any of those things.”