Embattled GOP Rep Agreed To Live Interview. It Didn’t Go Well.

Embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday and responded to allegations of abusing his ex-wife and daughter with a series of evasive answers that often raised more questions than they resolved.

Miller has been accused of abusing his ex-wife Emily Moreno — daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — and their daughter, and his appearance on CNN was one of several public appearances the Ohio congressman made as he attempted to refute the accusations against him. But as Tapper questioned him, Miller offered very few concrete answers — and instead turned the questions on his former father-in-law.

Tapper began with a question about a “blue bunny doll” that Miller’s daughter took everywhere and asked whether Moreno had been telling the truth when he said Miller had refused to return it for two days: “If it’s true, that sounds like emotionally abusive behavior toward the toddler, to refuse to give into her when she can’t sleep without it.”

Without directly answering the question, Miller said that he agreed that “would be disturbing if the senator was telling the truth,” and then pivoted immediately. “However, he has taken two years to publicly acknowledge — for me to resign from my seat. Why is that, Jake?”

Then Miller alluded to damaging information he claimed to have on Moreno — about a “deeply and personal embarrassing matter” — and claimed Moreno had only called for his resignation because he feared Miller might share that information publicly on his livestream Sunday. Miller did not give any specifics on what that damaging information might be.

Tapper reminded Miller that he’d been asking about the blue bunny, asking again whether he’d held the toy “hostage.”

Miller denied that he had, and immediately pivoted again, telling Tapper that there had already been two investigations into him that had not resulted in charges. He said one investigation had found fault at a daycare center, and defended himself in the other case — which involved his daughter’s broken collarbone — by arguing that his wife had violated a custody agreement by taking her hurt child to the emergency room.

“When I was reported for child abuse for my daughter for a broken collarbone, my daughter was in my ex-wife’s care nine out of the last 11 days, and she took her to the emergency room, which is a contempt violation from our shared parenting plan,” Miller said.

Rep. Max Miller: “When I was reported for child abuse of my daughter for a broken collarbone, my daughter was in my ex-wife’s care 9 out of the last 11 days and she took her to the emergency room, which is a contempt violation from our shared parenting plan.” pic.twitter.com/Gc05pX2g2t

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 4, 2026

Tapper continued to press, asking Miller about a Dropbox link he’d shared — ostensibly to provide evidence that cleared his name — which included a photo of his daughter in a state of undress. That link remained live for a day before it was pulled down and the image removed.

Noting that Miller’s lawyer has since fallen on the sword for that “mistake,” Tapper argued that it was “shockingly reckless” to allow that to happen in the first place.

Miller protested, explaining that the photo was part of evidence in a court case and wasn’t that inappropriate — and claimed that it was being blown out of proportion by media outlets chasing a good headline.

Tapper, clearly taken aback, asked how he could defend releasing such a photo — and Miller immediately claimed he wasn’t defending it.

“You just defended it!” Tapper replied.

TAPPER: One of the files you released was an image of your daughter naked. It was available in that drop box for a day before it was removed. Your ex-wife’s attorney says it could quality as CSAM. That’s shockingly reckless behavior.

MAX MILLER: I wouldn’t say it’s shockingly… pic.twitter.com/l8tSilKtu5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 4, 2026

As the conversation continued, Tapper pressed Miller about his claims that his daughter had told him she didn’t want to return to her mother’s house. He then asked about competing claims from Emily Moreno, who said their daughter had said things like, “daddy kill you,” “daddy angry,” and “daddy’s house is scary.”

“Jake, I wish you could talk to my beautiful baby girl. She can’t string together sentences like that. She’s two and a half years old,” Miller protested.

“You just told me that she had said that she was scared to go to mommy’s house,” Tapper pushed back.

“She is. I have video of it,” Miller said.

“But now you’re saying that she’s not capable of saying ‘Daddy kill you?’ I mean, it seems like she’s either able to say one but not the other. That doesn’t make sense,” Tapper pointed out.

“Jake. To be very direct, this is incredibly disturbing,” Miller said, adding, “You have to look at the timing of everything that is taking place, right? What about due process?”

Tapper then noted that Miller had been accused of inappropriate — and even violent — behavior by other women prior to his ex-wife. Miller shrugged off one of the cases by saying he’d been “young,” and then suggested that the accounts were not credible because at least one of the women had not gone “on record” with her accusation.

“I guess the question is, are all three of these women who don’t know each other, are all three of them lying?” Tapper asked.

“Yes, it’s very easy, and I can tell you why,” Miller said. “Every single time — and people have asked me, ‘What are you gonna do? Are you gonna drop out of this race? Are you gonna resign? Are you gonna get out before the deadline?’ And my answer to you, Jake, is no. And I can tell you why. 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. But guess what? He stayed in and he was resilient.”

TAPPER: Hold on — hold on, ’cause I’m not done with the list of women who have accused you of violence. Are all three of them lying?

REP. MAX MILLER: Yes. And I’m not getting out of the race because in 2016, President Donald J Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the… pic.twitter.com/gf76bMnzB6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 4, 2026

Miller also struggled to answer questions about his alleged illegal drug use when Tapper noted that he’d been inconsistent in his answers during his custody dispute with Moreno.

“Emily Moreno’s lawyers asked you a series of questions about past alleged incidents, and some of them you denied outright — ‘no, that’s not true,’ ‘no, that’s not true’ — and others you refused to answer at all, your lawyers claimed that they were not relevant.”

Among the questions Miller had refused to answer was whether or not he’d ever referred to the birth of his daughter as “setting my playground on fire,” as well as several related to illegal drug use.

“I can tell you that I never did any of those things, why can’t you?” Tapper asked, suggesting that his selective refusal to answer only made him look more suspicious. He then corrected himself, admitting to smoking marijuana “before it was legal.”

Miller sputtered briefly, saying he’d be “happy to” discuss those topics, but had not answered before because answering gave the question “credibility.”

“In the Mother Jones story, it says when you were picked up for drunk driving, you had ecstasy in your system. When is the last time you used illegal drugs?” Tapper asked.

“I mean, the last time — I don’t — I would have to say, I don’t know, several years ago. I don’t have a timeframe,” Miller replied.

“Two? 20?” Tapper pressed.

Miller then claimed, unsolicited, that if anyone ever found needles it was because he was using them for “testosterone therapy” — at which point he name-dropped War Secretary Pete Hegseth and his recent initiative to keep testosterone levels steady for male service members.