Republican Rep. Max Miller refused Tuesday to end his re-election campaign in spite of President Donald Trump’s reservations about his prospects and mounting calls for his resignation amid abuse allegations.

The Ohio lawmaker said the president expressed doubts in a phone call earlier that day.

“He said, ‘Maxie, it’s going to be a tough race,’” Miller said on CNN. “And he said, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to be able to, you know, pull this one out.’”

The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation Tuesday into allegations that Miller “may have engaged in domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use in violation of the code of official conduct or any other applicable standard of conduct.”

Miller requested a House ethics investigation into himself earlier that day in an escalating effort to push back against mounting calls for his resignation over the abuse allegations by his ex-wife, the daughter of GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno.

Emily Moreno has accused Miller of throwing hot water on her and holding a gun to her head, among other allegations, all of which he has denied in increasingly strident statements.

The drug use allegation stems from a recording Miller himself posted of a conversation in which Moreno told him she found needles on his bedside table. Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper that they were for testosterone replacement therapy.

The couple’s public and vitriolic divorce has pitted a pair of prominent Ohio Republicans against each other, raised pressure on others in the party to pick sides and pushed Democrats to take a closer look at a seat previously considered out of their reach.

The most severe punishment the ethics committee can exact is a formal recommendation of expulsion, but expulsion requires a two-thirds majority vote by the full House. The committee may also opt to recommend that lawmakers censure Miller, as it did Monday in concluding its investigation into sexual harassment allegations by House staffers against Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C.

Censure or a reprimand requires a simple majority vote by the full chamber.

If Miller resigns, the committee cannot continue its investigation.

“In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family,” Miller wrote in an X post Tuesday. “I have absolutely nothing to hide. We will be providing the committee all necessary documents needed for a detail examination. The accusations continue to change, but my facts stay the same. I am looking forward to my colleagues reading everything for themselves.”

One day earlier, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham — who was in romantic relationship with Miller in 2019 and 2020 — filed for a temporary restraining order against him, alleging that he had violated terms of a settlement they reached after he sued her for defamation over an op-ed in The Washington Post in which she wrote about an abusive former boyfriend.

Tapper asked Miller if Grisham, Moreno and a third woman who accused Miller of pushing her down a flight of stairs in high school are all lying.

“Yes,” Miller said.

Sen. Moreno told reporters Tuesday the saga has become “truly the seventh level of hell. This has been a horrific experience for my entire family.”

Moreno said his daughter lives in constant fear of Miller.

“You can’t even, you can’t fathom what that makes me feel like when the dad’s No. 1 job is to protect your kids,” he said.

In response to a lengthy video Miller posted to social media Sunday in an attempt to clear his name and dispute Emily Moreno’s narrative about him, Sen. Moreno called Miller’s behavior “increasingly erratic and dangerous,” saying that “he should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Moreno also condemned Miller for sharing sensitive photos of his granddaughter in a trove of files he released to the public to support his claims. Miller’s lawyer, Aaron Minc, took responsibility on Tuesday for releasing the photos, which he said was unintentional.

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