Ohio Rep. Max Miller and his ex-wife Emily Moreno, the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, are locked in an increasingly hostile custody fight that now involves a police investigation into their 2-year-old daughter's broken collarbone, the New York Post reported, citing court documents and attorney statements from both sides.
Miller, a second-term Republican congressman and former Trump administration aide, filed for divorce from Moreno in 2024, not long after the birth of their daughter. The two initially agreed to a shared parenting arrangement under which Miller would pay $2,500 per month in child support. That arrangement has since collapsed.
Last month, Emily Moreno moved to overhaul the parenting agreement entirely, citing what she described in court filings as concerns about Miller's behavior. The result is a custody dispute that has pulled in local police, family services, and now a subpoena aimed at one of Ohio's sitting U.S. senators.
The court documents paint a grim picture from both sides. Emily Moreno alleged in her filing that Miller "regularly speaks to me in an inappropriate, aggressive and demeaning manner, which is not in the best interest of our child." She also claimed Miller "has conducted dangerous physical behavior in the child's presence."
"I do not believe it is in our child's best interest for [Miller] and me to jointly make a decision for her. I fear that attempting to make joint decisions, and the lack of cooperation from [Miller] in doing so, will cause direct harm to" their daughter.
That language appeared in Moreno's court filing as part of her push to strip the shared decision-making arrangement from the parenting agreement.
Miller fired back in his own filings, describing his ex-wife's conduct as having "become increasingly confrontational, irrational and somewhat bizarre." He accused Moreno of making "repeated and unsubstantiated allegations of abuse of" their daughter to local police and family services.
The personal nature of this fight between two politically connected Ohio families is hard to miss. Sen. Bernie Moreno, Emily's father, is a populist Republican ally of Vice President JD Vance and a former luxury auto mogul. Miller served in the first Trump administration, holding roles at the Treasury Department and as an associate director in the Presidential Personnel Office before winning his House seat in 2022.
The broader Trump-world orbit connects both men, making the dispute more than a private family matter, it is a collision between two GOP power centers in the same state.
At the center of the dispute sits a 2-year-old girl with a broken collarbone and a bruised shoulder. Local police looked into the injuries, which occurred while the congressman was watching his daughter. Miller claimed in court filings that local authorities investigated and "apparently cleared" him, though he noted they ensured he had a booster seat properly installed in his vehicle.
But the investigation into possible child abuse remains technically listed as active by local police. That detail stands in tension with Miller's assertion that he was cleared. Neither the specific police jurisdiction nor any public statement from investigators was identified in the reporting.
The gap between "apparently cleared" and "still listed as active" is the kind of discrepancy that matters in a custody case, and it is one neither side has fully resolved in public.
Both sides have lawyered up aggressively. Andrew Zashin, Emily Moreno's attorney, issued a statement that left little room for ambiguity about his client's position.
"If Mr. Miller is looking for an individual with abusive behavior, he should look in the mirror and past the veneers. Mr. Miller has already lost in court. His desperate and entirely false allegations against his ex-wife concerning their daughter were thrown out of court."
Zashin went further, calling Miller's claims "nothing more than a cynical attempt by Mr. Miller to weaponize the legal system against his ex-wife, a strong, loving mother who refuses to submit to his coercive control."
Miller's attorney responded with a pointed counter. The statement, first provided to TMZ, noted that "the only person who has been granted a restraining order by a court of law is Rep. Max Miller." The attorney added that "the evidence brought against his ex-wife Ms. Moreno was enough to convince a judge that she was a threat to the Congressman."
When the Post asked Miller's team for comment, they referred to the attorney's statement. The specifics of the restraining order, when it was granted, under what circumstances, and on what terms, were not detailed in the reporting.
Political figures embroiled in personal scandals are nothing new in Washington. The spectacle of public figures navigating legal drama has become a recurring feature of modern political life. But the involvement of a sitting senator's family and an active child-injury investigation raises the stakes beyond the usual tabloid fare.
More recently, Miller moved to subpoena Sen. Bernie Moreno as part of the custody proceedings. The filing did not detail what testimony or documents Miller sought from his former father-in-law, but the move escalates the fight into territory that directly touches the U.S. Senate.
Miller also pushed the court to mandate psychological evaluations for both himself and Emily Moreno to help determine custody arrangements. That request signals a willingness to subject himself to scrutiny, or, depending on one's reading, an effort to cast doubt on his ex-wife's fitness as a parent.
The broader political context adds another layer. Miller's background in the Trump inner circle stretches back years. He did multiple stints in the first Trump administration before his 2022 House race. His connection to the former president is well established.
The custody fight is not the first time Miller has faced allegations touching on personal conduct. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who is Miller's ex-girlfriend, publicly alleged that a relationship with an unnamed White House staffer "turned abusive" and "had become violent." Miller filed a defamation suit in connection with those claims but voluntarily dismissed it in 2023.
The voluntary dismissal does not prove or disprove Grisham's allegations. But in the context of a custody battle where both sides are accusing the other of dangerous behavior, the prior public claim adds a dimension that neither Miller's attorneys nor his political allies can easily wave away.
The media environment around Trump-world figures ensures that every detail of this dispute will receive maximum exposure. TMZ first reported on the court documents, and the Post followed with its own detailed account.
Several questions hang over this case without clear answers. Which court is handling the custody filings? What specific jurisdiction is conducting the child-injury investigation, and what have investigators concluded? What ruling is Zashin referring to when he says Miller "has already lost in court"? And what are the terms and circumstances of the restraining order Miller's attorney referenced?
None of those questions have been publicly answered. The case sits in the uncomfortable space where serious allegations from both sides remain unresolved, a police investigation is technically open, and a sitting public official's private life has spilled into full public view.
Readers should note that court filings contain allegations, not proven facts. Emily Moreno's claims against Miller are contested. Miller's claims against Moreno are contested. The attorneys on both sides are doing what attorneys do, advocating hard for their clients in language designed to persuade a judge and, increasingly, the public.
What is not contested is that a small child was injured, that police opened an investigation, and that two politically prominent families in Ohio are tearing each other apart in court while the rest of us are left to sort allegations from evidence.
In the end, the only person in this fight who didn't choose to be there is the 2-year-old. Whatever the courts decide, she deserves better than what the adults around her are delivering.
