The abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller.

Happy Thursday, Tangle readers. It’s Editor Audrey Moorehead, unfortunately back to talk about more abuse allegations against a politician. This time, we’re covering accusations against Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) and what they mean for his candidacy — and our politics. Then, we’ve got a reflection on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 81 years later, followed by a story we didn’t cover this week. But we end with a palate cleanser for this otherwise somber edition: a nice story about Karelian Bear Dogs in Nevada. It’s a 14-minute read.

Audrey joins Suspension of the Rules.

This week, Audrey fills in for Editor-at-Large Kmele Foster to talk with Ari and Isaac about progressive Democrats’ rise, Truth Social’s new offering, the biggest political scandals in modern history, and more. Check it out: 

Quick hits.

1. The Senate voted 51–44 to confirm Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Schwartz will become the agency’s first Senate-confirmed director in approximately one year. (The confirmation)
2. The Maryland legislature approved a ballot measure for the November elections that, if passed, would allow state Democrats to redraw congressional districts. (The measure)
3. The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for invoking the Fifth Amendment throughout a Senate hearing last week. Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) said he will refer the resolution to the Justice Department. (The vote)
4. Federal aviation officials are reportedly investigating an air-traffic safety incident on Tuesday, in which the Marine One helicopter carrying President Donald Trump may have flown too close to a commercial airplane taking off from Ronald Reagan National Airport. (The incident)
5. A federal judge ruled that permit requirements for short-barreled guns and suppressors were unconstitutional, finding that Congress had no basis to impose the requirements after it removed a prior $200 tax for a permit. (The ruling)

Today’s topic.

The Max Miller allegations. Over the past week, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) has faced growing calls to resign or drop his bid for reelection amid allegations of domestic abuse. Emily Moreno, Miller’s ex-wife and the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), accused Miller of verbally and physically abusing her and their two-year-old daughter; Miller denies the allegations. In recent days, Sen. Moreno has spoken out against Miller, saying the representative is unfit to serve in Congress.

Back up: Miller and Emily Moreno wed in 2022, shortly before Miller was elected to the House, and filed for divorce in 2024. In July 2026, Mother Jones obtained legal documents detailing allegations that Miller used illegal drugs, verbally abused his wife, and acted violently toward multiple women. Moreno claimed that Miller had thrown hot water at her and held a gun to her head, among other aggressive acts; she also told police she suspected Miller may have been responsible for their daughter’s broken collarbone. Child services determined the allegations were “unsubstantiated,” and a prosecutor declined to pursue them, citing a lack of evidence. Miller was previously accused of physical abuse by former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, whom he dated while serving as a Trump administration staffer. 

On Sunday, Miller issued a statement denying the accusations against him and released recordings of conversations between him and his ex-wife, which he claimed supported his version of events and showed Moreno to be mentally unwell. In the documents Miller released to exonerate himself, a family coordinator described the abuse allegations as “greatly exaggerated.” The documents also included unredacted photos of Miller and Moreno’s two-year-old daughter naked, which Miller’s lawyer apologized for. 

Miller has reaffirmed his intention to continue his reelection campaign. Separately, the congressman requested an ethics investigation into himself in an attempt to clear his name. On Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee said it will investigate. 

Following Miller’s statement on Sunday, Sen. Moreno wrote on X, “As a father and husband, I can tell you the last two years have been pure hell for my wife Bridget, our daughter Emily, me, and our entire family in the aftermath of Emily’s divorce… Max Miller needs serious psychological help. He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”

President Donald Trump has remained publicly supportive of Miller but reportedly expressed doubts about his candidacy in private. On Monday, the president said, “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.”

Today, we’ll share views from the left and right on the allegations against Miller. Then, Editor Audrey Moorehead gives her take.

In The Hill, Laurie A. Watkins asked “how will Republicans handle Max Miller?”

“I [criticized Graham Platner] because if character is going to mean anything in our politics, it has to mean something even when the person under scrutiny is on your own side. I still believe that,” Watkins wrote. “On Sunday… Moreno said publicly that his former son-in-law should not serve in Congress. That is not a Democratic strategist’s opinion. That is a sitting Republican United States senator telling voters that a member of his own party, in his own state, is not fit for the office he holds, because of what that man allegedly did to the senator’s own daughter and granddaughter.”

“These allegations have been public for months. The pattern behind them goes back two decades. And still Miller stayed in the race with the quiet cover of a party that spent the summer telling Democrats exactly how seriously character should be taken,” Watkins said. “Here is what I would say directly to the Republican Party. You have spent years telling the country you are the party that protects women and children, the party of family values, the party that will not look away from abuse. I believe many of you mean it. So mean it now, even when it costs you something.”

In The Atlantic, Ashley Parker said “Republicans have been slow to call for an Ohio congressman to end his reelection campaign.”

“Once upon a time, it was practically de minimis for either political party to disavow a candidate facing allegations of domestic violence. But now is not that time. Which might help explain why… Republicans have been reluctant to say that an alleged domestic abuser (especially one facing allegations from two women) is probably a poor choice to represent their party this November,” Parker wrote. “I am referring, of course, to Miller, whom Emily Moreno has accused of scalding her with hot water, holding a gun to her head, and throwing her against a wall — all allegations he has denied.”

“But this is now a party whose leader has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women… Perhaps only in President Trump’s Republican Party does believing all women — or even some women, some of the time — become politically fraught,” Parker said. “I am not unsympathetic to Bernie Moreno. I am the stepmom in a blended family, and I understand a key tenet of Divorce 101, especially when there are kids, is to never speak ill of anyone involved. Moreno seemed to be trying to abide by that ideal.”

In Slate, Jill Filipovic described “Sen. Bernie Moreno’s too-late attempt to stand up for his daughter.”

“For weeks now, journalists, Democrats, and plenty of American voters have been pushing powerful Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno to say something — anything — in defense of his daughter and granddaughter. For weeks, Bernie Moreno stayed silent, even as Miller went on a crusade of character assassination against Emily Moreno, saying she was mentally ill with untreated bipolar disorder,” Filipovic wrote. “It’s good that Moreno has finally come to the defense of his own daughter and granddaughter after weeks of silence and dithering.” 

“But it’s reasonable to ask: What took him so long? And given that the deadline for Miller to pull out of the race is Wednesday, where are all the other Republicans — especially those who called on Democrats to force Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to resign — in demanding that Miller step aside?” Filipovic asked. “Traditionalist conservatives, those who push a nuclear-family model with a male head of household and a female carer for home and the children, make women a clear pledge: Acquiesce to your husband’s authority and you will be protected and provided for; your children will be as well. The Miller-Moreno saga is a textbook example of how this promise of patriarchal protection is a myth.”

In the New York Post, Bethany Mandel argued “Republicans must draw a line.”

“Rumors have reverberated on Capitol Hill for years that domestic violence allegations against the two-term Ohio Republican would soon explode. Now they’ve hit the fan, in the ugliest imaginable way — and Republicans must choose between principles and party loyalties,” Mandel wrote. “In Sunday’s video statement, Miller… tried to brush off his ex-wife’s claims by saying that she’d offered to cook him dinner just days after one alleged physical altercation. Anyone familiar with domestic violence recognized that as a tell: It’s an unfortunate reality that victims often try to placate an abuser as a means of defusing tensions.” 

“Republicans know, and have known, that Miller is problematic, at best. Now they’re faced with the same calculation Democrats were forced to make just weeks ago, when their hopes for control of the Senate hung in the balance of their moral computations,” Mandel said. “A political party cannot credibly ask Americans to take its values seriously if it refuses to uphold those values when doing so is inconvenient. Republicans now have a chance to show that ‘family values’ describes a standard they’re willing to enforce, not merely a slogan they’re willing to campaign on.”

In The Bulwark, Andrew Egger wrote “things are quickly going from terrible to unsustainable for Max Miller.”

“The congressman, who has long faced serious, troubling allegations of domestic abuse, became a national spectacle this week after he tried to refute the allegations in a bizarre livestream,” Egger said. “Incomprehensibly, he decided to take another bite of the apple yesterday afternoon, going on CNN for a lengthy interview with Jake Tapper. It couldn’t have gone worse… Miller was utterly unconvincing in his denials, strange and offputting in his tone and approach, and seemed unable to speak in complete sentences, stringing together semi-related fragments of talking points at random.”

“Any half-sane person who found himself in this situation would go straight off the air and into monastic life or the Witness Protection Program. Miller, on the other hand, says he’s determined to stay in the race. And the only people who could perhaps change his mind — House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump — seem determined not to force the issue,” Egger wrote. “The trajectory of the next few months thus seems basically set… He will run and lose and that will be the end of it — including the House Ethics Committee investigation. These obscene humiliations will last only a few more months at most. The stain on Trump and Johnson, however, will remain.”

In PJ Media, Scott Pinsker said the Republican Party should “swap Miller with someone else.”

“Some very nasty allegations of spousal abuse and breaking his daughter’s collarbone were made. (Miller vehemently denies all accusations of wrongdoing.) What’s muddying the political waters is where these allegations originated: The ex-wife who accused Miller of abuse is the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), a MAGA favorite. Unsurprisingly, Sen. Moreno is on his daughter’s side,” Pinsker wrote. “Had his accuser been a left-wing activist, it would’ve been easier for Miller to dismiss it as a political smear. Yet he still played that card.” 

“This is high-stakes, big league politics. With control of the House coming down to just a handful of districts, destroying Miller’s career raises the question of cui bono. (Be naïve of us to deny the possibility.) But it’s also true that this is the second pro-Trump MAGA member who’s accused Miller of physical abuse,” Pinsker said. “Is it possible that Rep. Miller was wrongfully accused not once, but twice? You betcha… But at this point, that’s an awful lot of smoke… Miller is also a junior player in D.C.; he’s not irreplaceable. And given the nastiness of the allegations — as well as the quantity — it’s in the best interest of the Republican Party to swap Miller with someone else.”

My take. Audrey Moorehead Editor

The allegations against Rep. Miller deserve every bit of the attention that Graham Platner’s scandals received. They haven’t drawn as much attention so far because the Morenos were trying to keep this private, and Platner was a more compelling political figure. While Miller’s self-defense has been unconvincing, I still don’t think this scandal will sink his campaign.

Reminder: This is where we share a personal opinion. If you have feedback, criticism or compliments, leave a comment or reply to this email.

It’s hard to really put into words just how horrific this all is.

Just last month, I wrote about the sexual assault allegations that ultimately sunk Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s Senate campaign. While Platner’s scandals were reaching a crescendo, the Tangle team was watching the Max Miller story build across the aisle. In May, The Daily Mail published photos of Emily Moreno’s alleged injuries. Further updates came in a slow drip until Mother Jones’s comprehensive reporting on Moreno’s allegations in mid-July. But even then, media coverage of Miller has been nowhere near as ubiquitous as coverage of Platner was. 

I remember feeling indignation as the stories slowly came out: Why weren’t people talking about this? Why weren’t people taking this seriously? This is a senator’s daughter filing for a restraining order against a congressman, accusing him of slamming her into walls and pouring steaming water on her, fearing that he had broken their toddler daughter’s collarbone. Where was the coverage? In fact, we wanted to cover this topic on Tuesday, but we couldn’t even find sufficient commentary on the story to make it our main topic until yesterday.

Of course, stepping back, I can see why the situations are different. For one thing, Miller’s situation is quite a bit more complicated. Platner’s accusers faced great personal risk in speaking up but were no longer attached to Platner. Emily Moreno, however, is permanently linked to Miller through their daughter, and she has to consider what’s best for their child as she navigates her legal battles with a national political figure. Graham Platner’s story got so much coverage because his accusers went directly to the media — the Moreno family has not, saying they wanted to keep the story out of the public eye for as long as possible. Even now, Emily Moreno hasn’t spoken to the media herself (instead releasing statements through her spokesperson and legal team), and most of the allegations have only come out through public records of their legal proceedings. 

Sen. Bernie Moreno, for his part, affirmed that story when he broke his silence on Sunday, saying, “If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them.” In a subsequent interview, Moreno said his daughter had asked him to keep things private, to “lower the temperature,” because of Miller’s volatility. Sources close to the Morenos confirmed the story to The Atlantic’s Ashley Parker (under “What the left is saying”). If that is indeed the case, I don’t fault Emily Moreno for her silence, and I have a hard time faulting Sen. Moreno for his — that includes when he told reporters he “didn’t know” if Miller should continue running for Congress as the abuse allegations went public. At first, I thought Sen. Moreno cowardly; but now that he has spoken up, I really think he was just trying to do right by his daughter and granddaughter until his hand was forced, and I’m even somewhat ashamed that I didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt to begin with.

With all that said, that context only explains why none of the Morenos have yet sat for a full media interview. It does not explain why it’s taken so long for the story to gain traction among the commentariat, and that slowness I’m much more cynical about. I don’t want to rank levels of trauma, but the accusations against Miller demand every bit as much scrutiny as the ones against Platner. They’ve also been building up publicly for much longer, as outlets began reporting on Moreno filing for a restraining order at the end of July. Why did public figures take so long to comment directly on the allegations and Miller’s House race? Unfortunately, I think they’ve been silent because the Miller allegations just weren’t as salacious. Platner was a charismatic, rising star gunning for a high-profile Senate seat; Miller has largely been a milquetoast MAGA representative from a (usually) safe Republican district. Disgusting though it may be to say, it makes sense that pundits would be more interested in sifting through the dirt on Platner.

But now that the Miller allegations are, finally, being discussed publicly, they’re subject to all sorts of scrutiny — as they should be. Scrutiny is a vital part of public adjudication of claims like these against political figures. I’m perversely grateful for figures like Michael Tracey, who seem to never believe claims of abuse and impropriety, because they provide a good measuring stick to determine the veracity of these allegations. And, as Tracey notes, some of the evidence points to a more complicated situation than just “Max Miller is a bad guy.” Family psychologist Deborah Koricke did say in court that she thought the abuse allegations were “exaggerated” (but she also confirmed Emily Moreno’s story about hot water); Emily Moreno did swear that she had never seen definitive evidence that Miller had harmed their daughter (though this statement predated the collarbone incident); and investigations into Miller have never resulted in him losing custody of his daughter. Indeed, child services said the allegations he abused his daughter were “unsubstantiated,” and Moreno never formally brought charges.

Miller himself has been trying to fight the allegations against him on social media and on the broadcast media circuit. Miller claims the hot water incident was just play. He also said that, in the time since, Moreno has offered to cook dinner for him and has invited him to playgrounds to spend time with their daughter. He denied that his daughter told Moreno “daddy kill you” and told CNN’s Jake Tapper that their daughter was “scared” to go to her mother’s house (to Tapper’s credit, he, live on the air, asked how Miller could claim his daughter was too young to make this statement about her dad but somehow old enough to make the statement about her mom). And in a show of confidence, Miller asked for a House Ethics Committee investigation into the claims against him, to prove his innocence.

Tracey and Miller can build a strong argument that the congressman isn’t necessarily a significant threat to his ex-wife and child, but they can’t sufficiently disprove that Max Miller is abusive, either. Domestic abuse experts and survivors will tell you that abuse doesn’t always look like a deadly threat — it can come in the form of volatility or fear, of occasional violence followed by attempts to obfuscate and deny and paper over with love. Responses to abuse, too, can range wildly, from pretending nothing’s wrong to reconciliation attempts for the sake of the children caught in the middle. 

And, most of all, Miller’s own history and his conduct throughout this situation have only indicted his character further. Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham has accused Miller of abuse in their relationship during the first Trump administration and filed for a restraining order. An unnamed high school girlfriend claims Miller pushed her out of a door and down stairs during their relationship. Miller has a history of drunk and disorderly behavior. Meanwhile, in interview after interview, he appears volatile and defensive. When interviewers push back on his claims — like Tapper did — he slips and slides, going from defending himself to levying counterclaims against his ex-wife to invoking due process. 

I don’t deny that he has a right to due process in the courts, but he should know that public scrutiny of a political figure is different. The courts may decide that he should keep partial custody over his daughter, but voters still have a right to decide whether a man accused of this sort of personal conduct (by multiple women) is really fit to serve in one of the highest offices in the country.

All of this, then, leaves me with one more consideration: how Miller, and Republicans, will respond to these abuse allegations. So far, I have cause for despondency, as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has indicated that he won’t intervene. Sen. Moreno said Miller was unfit to serve in Congress, but most Congressional Republicans aren’t making strong statements on the matter, and President Trump appears content to stay on the sidelines, too. Miller himself has refused to back down, and if it weren’t so horrible, I’d find it laughably fitting that he did so by invoking President Trump’s electoral victory through a storm of scandal in 2016. I think Miller is banking on something we all fear to be true: Character matters less and less to certain voters.

Privately, at least, Republicans do seem worried about Miller’s candidacy: President Trump reportedly called Miller to express doubts about the election. Prominent pollsters seem to think that the allegations will hurt Miller, as many of them have downgraded the seat from “Solid R” to “Likely R” or even “Lean R” as more news has come out. And maybe, as Sen. Moreno takes a public stand, the House Ethics Committee begins its investigation and Miller himself continues digging holes in public appearances, Republicans will see reason to abandon and push Miller out — as Democrats eventually did with Platner.

I admit I’m not very confident in the GOP. But, if Republican leadership won’t draw the line, I hope Ohio voters will.

Take the survey: How do you view these allegations? Let us know.

Disagree? That’s okay. Our opinion is just one of many. Write in and let us know why, and we’ll consider publishing your feedback.

This day in history.

Months after Germany surrendered to Allied forces, fighting between the United States and Japan dragged on in the Second World War’s Pacific Theater. The toll was high: After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, roughly 416,000 American soldiers and 2.1 million Japanese would die in the war, with hundreds of thousands more wounded on both sides. At the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, Allied heads of state called for Japan’s unconditional surrender, issuing a terse warning of “prompt and utter destruction” if the country failed to do so. Japan refused.

On August 6, the Enola Gay B-29 Superfortress bomber dropped an atomic bomb, christened “Little Boy,” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in the first use of a nuclear weapon in active combat. As many as 80,000 people died instantly or within the first 24 hours of the blast, and the death toll rose to about 140,000 by the end of 1945. The city’s population was roughly 300,000 people at the time of the attack.

Three days later, on August 9, the United States used a nuclear weapon for the second time when the B-29 Bockscar dropped “Fat Man,” an atomic bomb with a yield of 21 kilotons (6 more than “Little Boy”), on Nagasaki (population: 263,000). Japan surrendered on August 15. By the end of 1945, the death toll in Nagasaki had reached about 70,000. In years to come, thousands more would suffer and die from radiation exposure. A nuclear weapon has not been used in combat since.

Debates on the merits, ethics, and legality of the bombings continue to present day. The bombings were undeniably devastating man-made humanitarian disasters, and many historians consider their usage to mark the beginning of the Cold War. Historians also credit the atomic bomb as a key contributor to the Long Peace and weigh its usage against the lives that could have been lost through protracted conventional warfare. Today, museums and memorials stand in Hiroshima and Nagasaki for visitors to learn about and reflect on the bombings and fallout, carrying an ongoing warning against future nuclear warfare.

The road not taken.

Throughout the week, we considered covering Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination as our main topic. The story evolved as the week went on — Blanche’s status was uncertain coming out of the weekend, but he appeared back on track after striking a deal with Republican senator holdouts and advancing through committee. We decided to hold on coverage to see how his nomination fares in the full Senate; with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) saying she’ll vote no and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) still unable to return to work, Blanche’s status is again uncertain. We’re planning to dedicate a full edition to the story when the confirmation vote is held.  

The extras.

• One year ago today we covered the EPA’s emissions rollback.
• The most clicked link in our last regular newsletter was Ray Bradbury’s short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains.”
• Nothing to do with politics: A report from the DARPA lift challenge.
• Our last survey: 1,954 readers responded to our survey on the Michigan Senate primaries, with 42% saying they think Abdul El-Sayed (D) would defeat Mike Rogers (R) in the general election if it were held today. “El-Sayed is running on policies. Rogers is running as you should be afraid of the other guy,” one respondent said. “Unless Rogers blows it, it won’t be close,” said another.

Have a nice day.

In the 1980s, Carl Lackey was a one-man team responsible for stewarding the black bear population for the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW). Black bears once lived throughout the state, but habitat loss reduced their total number to about 30 at the time Lackey took charge. As the bear population rebounded, Lackey realized he needed help preventing confrontations between humans and bears, particularly in the Tahoe area. That help came from Karelian Bear Dogs, a breed that specializes in confronting bears to teach them to avoid areas where people live. Today, Badger and Banjo are two of NDOW’s most valuable employees, keeping up to 700 bears across western Nevada away from humans. “They really add a level of comfort and safety for us,” NDOW employee Becca Carniello said. “This can be a really challenging job … and it’s really cool to have someone with you who adores you.” Tahoe Daily Tribune has the story.