A legal brief filed by the estranged wife of Rep. Max Miller accuses the Ohio Republican of taunting her attorney with vulgar insults about his fiancée and daring him to fight, all inside a courthouse, moments after a pre-trial hearing on May 7.
The filing, part of an ongoing push for a restraining order against Miller, describes a congressman who allegedly approached attorney Andrew Zashin after the hearing, made crude remarks about Zashin's fiancée by name, and then escalated the encounter by shouting "Come at me!" or similar words. Zashin did not engage and left the building, the New York Post reported.
The courthouse confrontation is only one thread in a rapidly unraveling domestic dispute that now involves police reports, a shared parenting plan, and dueling accusations between Miller, his ex-wife Emily Moreno, daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno, and Miller's own mother, Barb Miller. The details paint a picture of a custody fight that has spilled well past the courtroom.
Emily Moreno's legal team laid out the May 7 encounter in pointed detail. The brief states that Miller approached Zashin after the pre-trial hearing and, in the team's words:
"[Miller] referenced Attorney Zashin's fiancée by name, stated that she was 'not much of a looker,' or similar language, and further insinuated that she was a prostitute by claiming that he could find lots of women like Attorney Zashin's fiancée on a street corner for $10."
The brief goes on to state that the congressman "was very clearly trying to provoke Attorney Zashin and incite a confrontation between the two individuals." When Zashin began to turn around, Moreno's lawyers say, it was only to ask Miller's attorney, Larry Zuckerman, to "control his client."
Miller, the brief claims, kept pushing. The filing states he "continued to goad Attorney Zashin into a confrontation by saying 'Come at me!' or similar language." Zashin left the courthouse without engaging. A ruling on the restraining order is still pending.
Miller has served in Congress since 2023. He married Emily Moreno in 2022, and the couple divorced roughly two years later. They share a two-year-old daughter. Miller had previously filed a defamation lawsuit against Zashin and Emily Moreno over her abuse accusations, which he has denied.
Weeks before the courthouse episode, another confrontation played out, this one between Emily Moreno and her former mother-in-law, Barb Miller. A police report obtained by the Post describes the January 30, 2025 incident in blunt terms.
Miller was away during what was his scheduled time to care for the couple's daughter. Barb Miller was supervising the child. Emily Moreno stopped by the house, accompanied by her own mother, Bridget, and attempted to take her daughter.
Barb Miller called the police. The responding officer's report, with names redacted, documents threats attributed to Emily Moreno. She allegedly told Barb Miller: "I'm going to knock your f---ing teeth out." She also said, per the report: "You are not [my daughter's] Grandmother and never will be."
The threats escalated further. The police report records Moreno saying: "I'm going to f---ing punch you. I'm going to knock you out."
Moreno told police she made the threats conditionally, "if she touched me", and accused Barb Miller of trying to grab her as she attempted to leave with the two-year-old. The responding officer noted that Moreno "would not be facing charges due to saying what she said under duress."
The report also indicates that Moreno accused Barb Miller of having a "drinking problem and memory issues." A separate babysitter had been present at one point, but someone told her "she could go home and she left."
The Post reported that it reviewed a shared parenting plan signed by Miller and Emily Moreno weeks before the January 30 incident. One provision stands out: "Father's mother shall not serve as the child's babysitter." The reasons behind that clause remain unclear.
A source familiar with Moreno's perspective told the Post that she believed the arrangement had been violated, that Barb Miller was acting as the child's caretaker during Miller's parenting time, in direct contradiction of the signed agreement. That belief, the source indicated, drove Moreno's decision to go to the house and attempt to retrieve her daughter.
Elected officials are not immune to messy personal disputes, of course. Congressional misconduct allegations have become a recurring feature of modern political life. But the specifics here, a sitting congressman allegedly trying to bait a lawyer into a physical altercation inside a courthouse, stand apart for their recklessness, if the allegations hold.
The two sides have offered sharply different accounts. A source aligned with Miller told the Post that the congressman "stood up for [his] girlfriend" and was frustrated by what the source described as Zashin's prior attacks on her. Miller has denied shoving his estranged wife during a February 1 custody exchange, though the Post notes that he previously made a false claim in court and in a sworn statement that his girlfriend was present during that exchange.
That false sworn statement is a detail worth pausing on. Whatever one thinks of the underlying custody dispute, making inaccurate claims under oath is the kind of conduct that erodes credibility in any proceeding.
Moreno spokesperson Stefan Mychajliw offered a blistering assessment of Miller's behavior to the Post:
"Max Miller's public meltdown is becoming increasingly concerning and embarrassing as he spirals completely out of control. His latest incident, attempting to start a fight with a lawyer in a courthouse, shows just how erratic and unstable he has become."
Mychajliw added that "Emily remains committed to reaching a peaceful resolution out of the public eye, both for her safety and his." That claim of wanting privacy sits in some tension with the detailed public filings and press statements coming from her side, though it is worth noting that the restraining-order request itself is a legal proceeding, not a press conference.
Zashin's own attorney, Monica Sansalone, told the Post that her client "stands by his filings in court on behalf of his client" and that "the accusations against him are baseless." Zashin himself declined to comment.
The broader pattern of personal turmoil among elected officials, from marital strain linked to misconduct allegations to donors demanding refunds amid scandal, raises a persistent question: at what point does personal conduct become a legitimate matter of public accountability for someone who holds a seat in Congress?
Several questions hang over this case. No charges, sanctions, or court findings have been reported in connection with the May 7 courthouse encounter. The restraining-order ruling is pending. The specific courthouse, the court handling the matter, and the police agency that responded on January 30 have not been publicly identified in reporting so far.
Miller has not been quoted directly in the Post's account. His side has communicated through aligned sources and his attorney. Emily Moreno's side has been more vocal publicly, though her own documented conduct, threatening physical violence against her former mother-in-law, as recorded in a police report, complicates any clean narrative of victimhood.
This is a custody fight, and custody fights are rarely flattering to anyone involved. But the allegations in the court brief describe conduct by a sitting congressman that goes beyond marital acrimony. Insulting a lawyer's fiancée in crude terms and then daring the lawyer to fight, inside a courthouse, after a hearing, is not the behavior of someone exercising self-control or sound judgment.
The false sworn statement about his girlfriend's presence at the February 1 exchange adds another layer. Courts depend on truthful testimony. When an elected official makes claims under oath that turn out to be false, it matters, not just for the case at hand, but for the broader question of whether that official can be trusted with the public's business.
Voters in Ohio's district sent Max Miller to Washington to legislate, not to pick fights in hallways. If even half of what's alleged in these filings is accurate, the congressman owes his constituents a better account of himself than what the record currently shows.