A Hallway, a Book and a Ballot Deadline: The Latest Turn in Max Miller’s Legal Fight

The newest Max Miller restraining order request does not concern his ex-wife directly. It concerns her lawyers.

An affidavit signed by Emily Moreno and notarised Thursday was filed as an exhibit to a motion in the couple’s long-running domestic relations case in Cuyahoga County. It asks a judge to bar the Ohio congressman from contacting her attorneys — alleging, among other things, that he put his hands on one of them.

What Was Actually Filed

The distinction matters, and it has been blurred in some coverage.

This is a request for court-ordered restraint on communication with counsel. It is not a domestic violence protection order, and it is not the first restraining order to appear in this case. A mutual order has been in place since June 1, barring both Miller and Moreno from threatening, abusing, annoying or interfering with one another.

Across six numbered paragraphs, Moreno swears that Miller has harassed, threatened and communicated directly with her current lawyers at Zashin Law as well as with two attorneys who previously represented her.

She also swears that he physically touched her counsel without consent, and recounts her own response after he allegedly placed his hands on attorney Andrew Zashin — telling him to take his hands off. The affidavit does not specify when that particular contact occurred.

The Alleged Hallway Encounter

The filing describes an incident outside an Ohio courtroom on Tuesday, following a hearing both parties attended.

During a conversation in the hallway, according to the document, Miller physically grabbed Zashin in an effort to get his attention while simultaneously making a reference to Zashin’s fiancée. Some reporting describes that reference as a profane slur. The filing also alleges he grabbed another attorney’s bag to get his attention.

It characterises this as the second time the congressman accosted his ex-wife’s lawyers after a court proceeding, alleging that in May he made a crude comment about the same attorney’s fiancée.

The Exchange Inside the Courtroom

The filing also describes something that happened during the hearing itself. Miller allegedly interrupted proceedings to ask Zashin whether he would like him to sign a copy of a book by Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary.

That reference carries history. Grisham, who dated Miller before his marriage, made abuse allegations against him in her book. He sued her for defamation in 2021, denying the claims. Accounts of what happened next differ across outlets — some describe a voluntary dismissal, others a 2023 settlement. Grisham is now suing him, alleging he violated a confidentiality agreement by publicly claiming she fabricated the allegations.

The filing further alleges that after the exchange, Miller’s own attorney, Larry Zukerman, remarked across the table that his client simply cannot control himself.

CNN reported that it had reached out to Miller’s lawyer and spokesman for comment.

The Larger Case

Miller and Moreno, the daughter of Ohio’s senior senator Bernie Moreno, are engaged in a bitter custody dispute over their two-year-old daughter.

Moreno has accused him of abuse. Police video obtained by CNN earlier this summer detailed specific allegations, including her account to investigators of an incident in which she says he held a gun to her.

Miller denies the allegations entirely. He has countered that his ex-wife struggles with bipolar disorder — a claim her attorney has denied. That assertion has drawn criticism as a familiar tactic in contested custody proceedings, and it is worth noting that a mental health diagnosis, where one exists, says nothing about the accuracy of a person’s account.

He has also accused her of advancing false domestic violence allegations in a separate case, which he moved to dismiss. A judge granted that request this week.

None of these allegations, in either direction, has been established in court.

The Defamation Suit and the Free-Speech Defence

Miller sued Moreno and Zashin for defamation in May, alleging they circulated abuse allegations subsequently published by national and regional outlets.

Moreno’s legal team has moved to dismiss under a recent Ohio anti-SLAPP statute, which protects people from lawsuits designed to suppress speech on matters of public concern. Their argument is direct: allegations about a sitting member of Congress who is on the ballot are precisely the sort of speech the law exists to shield.

That motion has not been resolved.

The Political Clock

What makes this more than a family court story is the calendar.

Ohio’s 7th District has long been considered safe Republican territory — Donald Trump carried it by 11 points in 2024. It no longer looks that way. The Cook Political Report moved the seat from Solid Republican to Likely Republican on June 18, and Democrats say internal polling puts Miller only a point ahead of challenger Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker.

Republicans have until August 5 to replace a candidate on the ballot. That deadline is now days away, and it explains why every filing in this case is being read through an electoral lens.

Miller is seeking a third term.

Calls for an Ethics Inquiry

Democratic legislators, including the Democratic Women’s Caucus, have called for a formal House Ethics investigation. Representative Sam Liccardo, the first to demand one, wrote that Congress must never function as a safe harbour for abusers.

Miller told CNN last month that no active ethics investigation into him exists.

His Side

A campaign spokesperson, Abigail Angelos, told the New York Times that the court has continued to permit Miller joint custody of his daughter — a point his team treats as significant, since a judge with access to the full record has not restricted his access to the child.

She said he would continue defending his reputation against what she described as false and reckless allegations.

Where It Stands

A judge will decide whether to grant the requested restraint on contact with counsel. Separately, the anti-SLAPP motion, the custody proceedings, the Grisham suit and the ethics question all remain open, and the ballot deadline arrives before nearly any of them can be resolved.

For readers, the useful discipline here is to keep the categories separate: what has been alleged in sworn filings, what has been denied, and what a court has actually determined. At the moment, the third category remains close to empty.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. In the United States, the National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-7233, and advocates can assist with safety planning and legal options regardless of whether someone is ready to take formal action.