Congress

Rep. Max Miller sues ex-wife and her legal team for domestic abuse allegations

Published

2 months ago

May 14, 2026

Rep. Max Miller, who has been accused of abusing his ex-wife, is now suing her for defamation — a major escalation in an ongoing public dispute between the two-term Ohio Republican and the daughter of Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno.

In a copy of the complaint filed Wednesday evening in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and reviewed by Blue Light News, Miller claims that his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and her legal team made “false, malicious, and defamatory statements wrongly accusing [him] of being a violent and abusive husband and father.”

Miller, who shares a child with Emily Moreno, is also suing her legal team and maintained that conflicts with his former partner were, in part, the result of what the complaint describes as her mental health challenges. The lawmaker is seeking no less than $25,000 in damages.

According to Miller’s complaint, Emily Moreno and her legal team “engaged in a defamatory campaign against [Miller] to malign his character, undermine his odds at re-election to Congress, and falsely portray him as a violent and abusive father and husband” during the course of custody proceedings around the former couple’s daughter.

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported that Miller was battling domestic violence allegations from his now ex-wife. The article included accusations that Miller threw boiling water at Emily Moreno in front of their child and published photographs of what appeared to be injuries that she sustained from the alleged abuse. Other news outlets have also written about these allegations.

Miller quickly took to social media, calling the Daily Mail reports “nothing but lies.” He also accused first-term Sen. Moreno of funding “his daughter’s malicious campaign to ruin [his] life despite his knowledge of her mental health issues.”

“Bernie, this must be distracting from your job,” Miller wrote on X. “These antics harm your own grandchild. Anytime you want to put a stop to this, you can.”

Andrew Zashin, an attorney for Emily Moreno, declined to comment and referred the matter to his own lawyer. That lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment. A spokesperson for the senator also had no comment.

Now, Miller is insisting the allegations of misconduct have cost him “actual damages in the form of lost business opportunities, reduced campaign contributions to aid his reelection campaign to Congress, and other pecuniary harms that will be quantified in an amount to be proven at trial,” according to the complaint.

“Congressman Miller is seeking to hold those responsible accountable and to obtain damages for the significant personal, professional, and political harm that he has suffered,” said a Miller spokesperson in a statement, adding that the lawmaker was pursuing the lawsuit to “defend his reputation.”

Unrelated, Miller has also been accused of slapping another former romantic partner — a separate claim he denied through an attorney.

Miller is coming under the microscope amid a renewed reckoning on Capitol Hill over lawmakers’ unethical behavior, which has put significant pressure on members of both parties to quickly root out bad actors inside their ranks.

In the House, it has led to the resignation of three members over the course of five weeks. Former Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) resigned over accusations of sexual assault and an inappropriate relationship with a staffer, respectively. Swalwell has publicly apologized for his “mistakes in judgment” but vowed to fight what he called “false allegations” and Gonzales had denied wrongdoing but ultimately admitted to the affair.

Former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), meanwhile, stepped down rather than face a likely expulsion vote after the House Ethics Committee found she illicitly funneled money to support her campaign — charges she has refuted.

Other lawmakers under scrutiny include Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) who is accused of various misdeeds including threatening to release a former girlfriend’s explicit videos. In an apparent effort to show they were taking the case seriously, leadership of the bipartisan Ethics Committee announced Monday in a highly unusual statement that it had already pursued several steps to aggressively investigate the allegations, including approving 20 subpoenas. He has denied wrongdoing.

The Ethics panel is also pursuing a case against Rep. Chuck Edwards over allegations of sexual harassment and an improper relationship with staff. The North Carolina Republican has said the “baseless allegations [are] designed to impact the campaign driven by those who want to settle old political scores.” But some of his Republican peers who helped force Swalwell and Gonzales out of Congress have indicated they could try to force accountability in Edwards’ case, too.

Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Published

10 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

Published

17 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Published

20 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”