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Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) provided comment this week on a Republican lawmaker who is facing a series of domestic abuse allegations, indicating that he has no plans to admonish his colleague in the near future.
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) is in the middle of a child custody battle with his ex-wife, Emily Moreno. Court records from that case indicate that Moreno has accused Miller of several instances of abuse, including holding a gun to her head at one point in their marriage, as well as throwing scalding hot water on her in a separate instance. She also says that Miller abused their young daughter, breaking her collarbone.
Miller denies the allegations against him, and has called the water incident as “horseplay.” In an attempt to clear his name, Miller’s lawyer publicly shared images of his daughter, including one that was described by Moreno as “sexual abuse material.”
After reports of his alleged abuse of Moreno made national headlines, other women from Miller’s past have come forward, saying he abused them, too, while they were dating.
Miller is facing calls to resign or drop out of his reelection campaign, including from his ex-father in law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio).
Pressed to respond to the allegations against his colleague, Speaker Johnson refused to condemn his actions.
“I haven’t spoken to Max about this in the last few days,” Johnson told Politico, claiming that he will do so soon.
Johnson also stated that it’s “not [his] business to get engaged” in the “domestic events” of House lawmakers, downplaying his role as both Speaker of the House and the top-ranked Republican in Congress.
“We have to allow this process to play out,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that things “don’t look good” for Miller “right now.”
“But again, what should a Speaker do in this case?” Johnson said.
Johnson was also asked about how he felt about Miller several weeks ago, and whether he and his party had a double standard when it comes to politicians accused of abuse. When a journalist questioned why Democrats could remove former nominee Graham Platner from the ballot for a Senate race in Maine but Republicans wouldn’t budge on Miller, Johnson said it was because the GOP lawmaker only faced “allegations” of abuse — which was true of Platner, too.
“I’m not in the business of commenting on any investigations in process,” Johnson said.
On Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee announced that it was opening an investigation into the allegations against Miller. Despite calls for him to drop out, Miller remains committed to staying in the House race, even comparing himself to President Donald Trump, who faced multiple accusations of sexual abuse during the 2016 campaign.
“Dozens of women” came forward against Trump, Miller said in an interview with Newsmax. “And do you want to know what he did? He stayed in the fight. Because Americans see — and one of the qualities that they respect the most is somebody who is resilient.”
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