COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Congressman Max Miller is being sued by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, for publishing a naked photo of their toddler in a document dump he released on social media in early August.
The federal lawsuit, filed on behalf of the 2-year-old Wednesday, accuses Miller and his attorney Aaron Minc of having "recklessly published and disclosed to the world a nude image of the child depicting her genitalia."
Miller and Moreno, daughter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, are currently going through a bitter and public divorce case, one that has brought allegations of domestic violence to light.
RELATED: Congressman Max Miller stays in his race, with or without national GOP support
Miller, who has consistently denied allegations of domestic abuse, represents Ohio's 7th U.S. Congressional District, which includes Cleveland's West Side suburbs, as well as Medina, Wayne and Ashland Counties.
After a national media storm, Miller held a 20-minute live stream on August 2, in which he denied all allegations and provided a folder of court documents.
"Faced with a mostly self-inflicted dumpster fire of public attention to his reputation for abusive behavior, Miller so desperately wanted to salvage his political job, that he recklessly and intentionally provided Minc a trove of documents and photos, indifferent about what they contained or how they were used," Moreno's attorney Subodh Chandra wrote in the filing.
RELATED: GOP leaders worried about Congressman Max Miller's reelection chances
According to our review of the original documents, there are two photos showing the child in a state of undress.
The posting of one of the images violates both federal and state laws for disclosure of intimate images and invasion of privacy, Chandra wrote.
Miller has not responded to comments about the situation, but Minc apologized and took full responsibility in early August.
Minc, in a statement, said it was completely unintentional and had been swiftly fixed the day after the livestream.
"To be clear, this was completely my fault," the lawyer said. "I am solely responsible for what happened."
RELATED: Sen. Husted calls on Rep. Miller to resign and drop out of race
"I find it egregious and shameful that Ms. Moreno and her counsels have decided to make a media spectacle regarding this unfortunate mistake and attract media attention to this incident as a means to try to gain leverage in court and distract from the underlying evidence that exonerates Mr. Miller from the false allegations he is accused of, and we are attempting to fight on his behalf," Minc said.
Sen. Bernie Moreno said Miller and his team members need to be in jail.
"Releasing photos of my granddaughter completely naked and now you have hundreds of thousands of psychotic human beings that have that — and they say 'Oops,' — is grotesque," Sen. Moreno said. "My personal opinion is that this is a felony and that every single human being that touched that photo and transmitted it electronically should go to jail because it is illegal to do that."
RELATED: U.S. House Ethics Committee investigating Congressman Max Miller over abuse allegations
Follow Statehouse and Columbus bureau reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram and Facebook. Email her at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
