An Ohio judge formally dismissed Rep. Max Miller's domestic violence petition against his ex-wife this week after finding the congressman was never actually threatened or in fear — yet the establishment press is running the story as a pressure campaign to force the Trump-aligned Republican out of office.
The stakes are straightforward: when the referee and the press work the same side of the field, the public never gets the full picture. Here, The Guardian framed its report almost entirely around the unverified abuse allegations from Miller's ex-wife Emily Moreno and former girlfriend Stephanie Grisham, burying the court's finding that Miller's own protective order petition lacked merit. The New York Post led with the judge's dismissal — the actual news — but even that outlet loaded its copy with the most incendiary allegations from a bruising custody fight.
Here's what the court record shows. Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Judge Debra Boros dismissed Miller's Feb. 27 petition Wednesday, writing that Miller "was not under any apparent infirmity and did not appear to have been threatened by or in fear of Respondent." Miller had tried to drop the case in May, but the court didn't grant it until this week.
Miller also claimed he had doorbell camera footage proving his account of a Feb. 1 custody exchange where Moreno accused him of shoving her. His own team later admitted the footage didn't exist. Miller said he made an honest mistake, confusing the timing because his girlfriend was at the home that day.
Moreno — the daughter of Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno — has made serious allegations in divorce proceedings. She testified that Miller threw hot water from a pan at her and, according to a New York Times report, allegedly held a gun to her head. No police reports were ever filed, Miller told Spectrum News in June: "They're false allegations."
A police report also noted the couple's two-year-old daughter suffered a broken collarbone and what doctors concluded appeared to be "a handprint bruise" on her shoulder in February. Questions about those injuries remain unresolved in the public record.
Moreno's attorney, Andrew Zashin, filed a motion for a restraining order against Miller on Thursday, alleging the congressman physically grabbed him after a hearing and referenced Zashin's fiancée. Zashin's filing claims Miller also harassed Moreno's two previous attorneys via email.
Then there's the Grisham angle. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham wrote a 2021 Washington Post op-ed about an abusive relationship without naming Miller, later confirming it was him. Miller sued her for defamation, then dropped the case in a confidential settlement. Grisham now claims Miller violated that agreement in his Spectrum News interview. Miller noted Grisham's allegation coincided with a book launch and said his then-wife was with him daily during that period and would attest he "never did any of those things."
A prominent anti-gun-violence group has called for Miller's resignation over the gun allegation. Miller called a New York Times reporter "disgusting" when approached for comment.
The Guardian's framing — "growing pressure to resign" — rests on unverified claims from a bitter custody dispute and a former girlfriend who timed her allegation to a book release. The court, meanwhile, found Miller's own petition equally without merit. None of this means the allegations are true or false. It means the press is playing a role it shouldn't: prosecuting a case in the court of public opinion that the actual courts haven't resolved.
The open question is whether any of these allegations will ever be tested under oath in a courtroom, or whether the media's preferred venue — the headline — is where this fight stays.
