Rep. Max Miller sued by ex-wife over release of ‘sensitive’ photo of child
By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN
(CNN) — Rep. Max Miller, the embattled Ohio congressman who is facing an uphill battle to keep his seat following abuse allegations, was sued by his ex-wife on behalf of their 2-year-old daughter Wednesday over the accidental release of a nude image of the child.
The civil rights lawsuit, filed by Emily Moreno in Ohio federal court, claims that Miller “recklessly published” the image when he and his attorney, Aaron Minc, shared a link to a Dropbox folder that included the sensitive image earlier this month.
CNN has reached out to a representative of Miller and Minc for comment on the new lawsuit.
Miller had released the materials following a livestream on August 2 in an effort to defend himself against his ex-wife’s claims of domestic abuse, linking to the files on his X account, where he has nearly 60,000 followers. The photo was taken in the context of an inquiry into an injury the 2-year-old had suffered. Minc took responsibility for the image being included in the link the following day.
The image was publicly available for about a day before being removed.
“Unfortunately, I missed the last three pages of a 40+ page document with sensitive content,” Minc previously said in a statement to CNN. “It was completely unintentional and a mistake. The moment I discovered the issue on Monday morning, I corrected the file immediately.”
Miller, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper following the incident, said he was “not defending” the image’s inclusion in the documents, calling it “awful.” When Tapper called it “shockingly reckless behavior by you and your team,” Miller replied, “I wouldn’t say that it’s shockingly reckless.”
“My attorney took full responsibility,” Miller said. “There was never any intent to do that.”
The image also spurred outrage from Emily Moreno’s father, Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, who said his former son-in-law should no longer serve in Congress.
Emily Moreno’s attorney Subodh Chandra said in a statement Wednesday that the child is an “entirely innocent victim who has become collateral damage to her father’s political ambition.”
“They victimized an innocent child to score political points, and we intend to hold them fully accountable under federal and state law,” Chandra said.
Moreno is seeking $150,000 on behalf of her daughter in damages for each time the photo was downloaded, the suit said.
Earlier this month, Miller rejected calls to drop out of his congressional race and called for a House Ethics Committee investigation into his alleged conduct, which he says would exonerate him. The panel has since opened an investigation.
In June, CNN obtained police videos in which Emily Moreno emotionally describes abuse allegations against Miller, including an incident in which she says he held a gun to her. Miller, in separate police interviews, denies he ever abused her, calls his ex-wife “manipulative” and alleges she struggles with mental illness.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
