The political pressure on Rep. Max Miller to abandon his reelection efforts is only intensifying, as allegations that the Ohio Republican abused his wife and young daughter begin to consume his campaign. 

But the most damaging criticism — and potentially the most politically potent attacks — are now coming from someone who is ideologically in lockstep with Miller: his former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio.

After months of keeping quiet about the family drama, Moreno broke his silence over the weekend, writing on X that Miller “should not serve in the House of Representatives” and should “seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake.”

On Tuesday, in a spirited conversation with reporters on Capitol Hill, Moreno doubled down — offering Democrats fresh ammunition against one of their top House targets.

“This is truly the seventh level of hell,” Moreno said. “This has been a horrific experience for my entire family.”

“This has been brutal beyond comprehension,” Moreno added, “and if there’s any minimum standard for being an elected official, as I said, he fails to meet that minimum basic standard.”

Moreno continued that he picked up his granddaughter from an Ohio police station over the weekend — the agreed-upon meeting spot — because “I don’t want my daughter interacting with this man.”

In one particularly emotional account, Moreno said Miller refused to hand over the toddler’s little blue bunny for 48 hours, leaving the two-year-old crying at night.

“This is the level of total and complete depravity,” Moreno said.

Across the Capitol, the House Ethics Committee announced it was “reviewing allegations” that Miller “may have engaged in domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use.” The revelation came shortly after Miller said he would file a request for an ethics investigation himself, “to clear my name from these horrific attacks.”

“I have absolutely nothing to hide,” he wrote on X.

On Monday, Axios reported that President Donald Trump called Miller to tell him his reelection race would be difficult. Miller, who is seeking another term in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District — a seat Democrats see as a prime pickup opportunity — confirmed the conversation during an interview on CNN on Tuesday, saying Trump told him “it’s gonna be a tough race.”

“I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to, you know, pull this one out,” Miller said, relaying what Trump told him.

According to Miller, the call took place at 9 a.m. on Monday. But later in the day, when asked about the allegations in the Oval Office, Trump declined to criticize the congressman.

“I know Max. He’s a good person. I mean, I always thought he was a very good person. And I’m going to let the families figure that out,” Trump said, noting that the claims were “allegations.”

(Miller worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and in the first Trump administration.)

The allegations have created an unusual political predicament for Republicans, forcing the party to navigate a deeply personal battle between two Trump allies — one a sitting member of Congress and the other a prominent Republican senator who is also the congressman’s former father-in-law.

But the abuse allegations are also complicating the former Trump staffer’s already complicated reelection chances.

NOTUS reported on a poll conducted by a GOP firm last week that showed Miller five points behind his Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter, 44% to 39%. The survey had 16% undecided, with a margin of error of 3.8%, and it was conducted before Moreno publicly declared that Miller should not remain in Congress.

Although the allegations are getting fresh attention, many of the underlying accusations have been public for months.

Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, has accused Miller of throwing hot water on her, holding a gun to her head and breaking their daughter’s collarbone — allegations that the congressman has repeatedly denied, including on Sunday when he hosted a livestream on social media to announce that he wasn’t dropping out of the race. 

Miller then released a dropbox folder containing documents and recordings to back up his defense. But the materials also inadvertently included a nude photo of his young daughter.

Miller eventually took down the documents and blamed his attorney. “There was never any intent to do that,” Miller said Tuesday.

Sen. Moreno, however, said that explanation was insufficient, arguing that “hundreds and thousands of psychotic human beings” now have a naked photo of his toddler granddaughter. 

“And to say ‘oops’ is grotesque,” Moreno said.

The allegations, the bitter custody dispute, the public back-and-forth, the botched document release and Moreno’s decision to publicly condemn Miller have together transformed what was once a private family battle into one of the GOP’s most politically charged House races — and it’s threatening to endanger other vulnerable Republicans, as they face questions about whether they stand with Max Miller.

The Ohio Republican’s campaign is now so troubled that Democrats now seem to be effectively rooting for him to stay in the race rather than to step aside.

“The man doesn’t belong in Congress,” one Democratic operative told MS NOW. “He’ll be gone one way or another. If it’s because voters reject him and elect a candidate who instead fights to make life more affordable and cracks down on corruption, that would be a good outcome.”

According to the Ohio secretary of state’s office, if Miller suspends his candidacy by the end of the day on Tuesday, a special primary would have to take place to replace him on the ballot.

If he ends his bid after Tuesday, the secretary of state’s office says the party has 86 days before the election to replace the candidate — which falls on Sunday, August 9. Because it’s a weekend, the party would have until Monday, Aug. 10, at 4 p.m. to report a new name.

On Sunday, and again on Tuesday, Miller said he has no plans of dropping out.

“People have asked me, you know, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna drop out of this race? Are you gonna resign? You know, are you gonna get out before the deadline? And my answer to you, Jake, is no,” Miller told Jake Tapper on CNN.

His Democratic opponent, meanwhile, is leaning in. 

Over the weekend, Poindexter wrote in a statement that “no one credibly accused of holding a gun to his wife’s head and breaking their two-year-old daughter’s collarbone belongs in the halls of power.”

While Trump won Miller’s district by 11% in 2024, according to The Downballot, Miller only secured 51.1% of the vote in his own race that year. Democrats see the underperformance as an indication that the district is ripe for a takeover.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., hasn’t commented on the allegations. But on Tuesday, Miller said the speaker and “everybody else” are “standing behind me.”

Even so, Miller’s CNN interview on Tuesday suggested that Miller believes his most important audience is Trump. 

And although the interview surely didn’t go as well as Miller had hoped — at one point, the congressman struggled to answer when the last time was that he had used illegal drugs — Miller made a point to satisfy the one person he needs the most.

During his interview, Miller twice compared his predicament to the troubles Trump had to overcome during the 2016 campaign, casting himself as another Republican being unfairly targeted.

“In 2016, when President Donald J. Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the world that hit him day after day after day, and people in the media — very much like yourself and others — said that he would have no shot at winning, that he should not be the president of the United States,” Miller said on CNN. “But guess what? He stayed in, and he was resilient.”

“And what the American people can see is that somebody is fighting who is resilient, and that is a quality that the American people cherish,” he added.

Trump, at least publicly, has stopped short of urging Miller to step aside — at least thus far. But elsewhere in the Republican Party, the pressure is moving in the opposite direction.

Moreno’s public break with his former son-in-law has opened the door for other Republicans to weigh in, with several GOP senators now backing his call for Miller to leave office.

“He should resign,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas. “He should quit.”

For now, Miller is defiant. 

He told Newsmax Tuesday night that even if Trump asked him to step aside, he wouldn’t do it.

“There’s no chance I’m removing myself from this race,” Miller said.

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From MS Now.