Ex-Trump aide files restraining order against GOP Rep. Max Miller

[0:00] I know Max. He's a good person. I mean, I always thought he was a very good person [0:04] and I'm going to let the families figure that out. But it's accusations and I'm going to let [0:10] them figure that out. President Trump publicly standing by [0:15] embattled Republican Congressman Max Miller, even as his former press secretary, [0:20] launches a new legal battle against Miller. So on Monday, Stephanie Grisham's lawyer filed [0:25] for a temporary restraining order against Miller. Now she's suing him for breaking [0:29] the terms of a non-disclosure agreement, an agreement that stems from 2021. In a Washington [0:35] Post op-ed, Grisham had written about abuse allegations dealing with an ex-boyfriend and [0:40] Miller sued her at the time, but they settled out of court and agreed not to disparage each [0:45] other publicly. Grisham now claims Miller violated the deal in this interview back in June. [0:51] Without question, every allegation should be taken seriously. What should be noted is that [0:58] that allegation came out on the same day as somebody's book launch. And the other part [1:03] what I would like to discuss is my ex-wife was with me every single day during that time [1:10] of my life in that election. And she, in her own words, will tell you that I never did any [1:17] of those things and she never saw evidence of me ever doing those things. And that was nothing [1:23] more than somebody trying to get notoriety. Joining the group chat, Harry Lee, political [1:28] correspondent at Spectrum News. She conducted that interview with Congressman Miller. This [1:34] is a fascinating conversation that you got to have with him. Before we get to the allegations [1:38] within his family and ex-wife, can you talk about this issue with Stephanie Grisham, [1:43] why they are all of a sudden back in court? Well, they're back in court partly because of that [1:49] interview. In their non-disclosure agreement back in 2021, it appears this was a confidential [1:55] agreement. So we didn't know until she filed this suit, but it appears that they agreed not to [2:00] disparage each other. And she's saying that in that interview, by denying the claims that she made, [2:05] as well as the claims by his now ex-wife, that he broke that agreement. And as you know, yesterday, [2:10] she also filed a restraining order. Right. Because he's basically saying there are not multiple [2:15] allegations, right? He doesn't want this to sound like it's piling up. And so he reached [2:19] back to this conversation and she's like, no, keep me out of it. Yes. All right. So let's talk [2:25] about the Moreno family. The senator, Bernie Moreno, has been obviously like very upset and [2:33] frustrated. He has called for Miller to step down, saying he shouldn't be in Congress anymore. [2:39] Joining him, Senator Shelley, Moore Capito, and Roger Marshall. Are we going to see any other [2:45] senators speak up? I think Rick Scott might have said something to that effect. Yeah, I don't know. [2:49] When does it reach the House, the people who actually work with this guy? [2:53] I think it's getting to that point now. We're seeing signals coming out of the White House [2:56] where at least Trump is apparently privately saying that he doesn't think Max Miller can win [3:01] re-election. That seems like the beginnings of kind of a subtle pressure campaign [3:05] to convince this person to at least step aside from his re-election campaign. [3:10] And there's a very good reason for that, you know, even aside from kind of the details of the [3:15] allegations, this is a district that Republicans would worry about losing if Max Miller is on the [3:20] ballot in November. That's the same with some of these other congressmen which we're talking about. [3:24] But now we're talking about family. So for instance, Senator Moreno, like I said, [3:29] he put out a statement where he says, as he admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious [3:33] psychological help. He's a danger to my daughter. I hold my breath every minute. He has custody of my [3:39] granddaughter. And then also this audio obtained from earlier this year. Emily Moreno is telling [3:47] police about an incident on New Year's Eve where she alleged that Miller held a gun to her head when [3:53] she was changing their infant daughter. So just give you a moment to listen to this. [3:57] So when when does the gun come into play? And what does he do? Holds it. Holds it on you? Okay. Can [4:08] you show me where he held it to you? It's okay. Okay, that's fine. That's fine. Like I said, I that's [4:17] a hard thing to talk about. Has he said anything about this incident or others? Because I know he [4:23] released his own Dropbox of audio. So he does want people to kind of hear his side as he's denying these [4:30] allegations. Yeah, and I think that's part of the problem is that he keeps releasing more and more [4:36] information and more evidence that can then be used against him in certain cases. He does deny that [4:41] this incident even happened. What does he say about his father in law? Has he talked about what's going [4:49] on publicly? So for a long time, he said that they could work together. He said that he could walk and [4:55] chew gum at the same time. But after a while, he was saying that his father in law was helping [5:00] his daughter, enabling her in what he said was lying. And so that is when he started taking to [5:06] social media to criticize him. Bernie Marino didn't say anything for a very long time. His team [5:11] consistently said no comment until Sunday. And that is when he released that scathing post on X. [5:17] So Miller's ex-wife, as you noted, is not the only woman to accuse him of abuse. Former White House [5:21] Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, Trump's first term press secretary, was also Miller's ex-girlfriend. [5:28] She detailed an abusive relationship with an unnamed White House staffer in her memoir. Later, [5:34] that was identified as Max Miller. Miller also denies these allegations. Stephanie Grisham was on [5:38] the lead in 2021 talking about that relationship. Take a listen. I had an ex that I dated and there was [5:47] abuse in every way there. And that's something I actually told the president and the first lady about. [5:51] And they did nothing. The person you're talking about, you don't name him in the book, but his name [5:57] is Max Miller. He is running for Congress. And it's not just that President Trump, [6:01] then President Trump didn't do anything about it. Trump is now backing this guy for Congress. [6:05] I'm not going to lie. It was like a gut punch when I saw that he endorsed him. [6:09] Now, in response to Grisham's book, then Trump said that Grisham shouldn't be taken seriously because [6:16] she was, quote, very angry and bitter after the breakup. So the idea that President Trump [6:21] is standing by a guy accused of some horrific behavior, abusive behavior is not new. [6:28] No, it's not new. And we've seen a long pattern of this with Trump. And Trump often feels that he's [6:31] the victim and subjective false allegations and so forth. But I watched that video and one, [6:37] bad communications politically 101. He looked like somebody on an episode of SVU where you're like, [6:42] oh, he definitely did it. This is not how you want to communicate to your constituents. It's why [6:47] the best thing to do would be to drop him now so you can replace him. And ultimately, [6:51] as Republicans, you know, we stood really tall against Graham Plattner on all the awful things [6:56] that have been alleged about him. And he, thank God, yeah, and they got out. Let's do the right [7:01] thing on our side now at this point. Join me now, Democratic strategist Julie Roginski. She's also [7:06] the author of the substat column, Salty Politics. Julie, thank you for being here. I mean, the latest [7:12] reporting is that Trump told Miller privately that his reelection is not going to be easy. But you heard [7:17] his comments today where he called Miller a very good person and refused to get involved. [7:23] What does that tell you? Well, it tells me that Donald Trump couldn't care less about women. We've [7:27] known that all along. We've certainly known that going back to the allegations against him over and [7:32] over and over again. I think, in fact, he sees these kinds of allegations and automatically gets [7:38] defensive and disbelieves the women, or at least doesn't want to acknowledge that this is something [7:42] that women should come forward and talk about. Look, this is not the first time that Max Miller has [7:47] been alleged to be a domestic abuser. Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump's former White House press [7:56] secretary, publicly said that she told both the First Lady and President Trump during the first term [8:03] that Max Miller had done this to her. And she said that they didn't really care. And I think that's [8:07] probably one of the reasons that she ended up severing her ties to them. Look, how many times [8:13] does the president need to hear from how many women that this man is not fit for office and that he's [8:19] an abuser before he starts to take these concerns seriously? And while, of course, this is something [8:24] that's between Emily Moreno and her ex-husband, it also has to do with who's fit or unfit for office. [8:30] And this is not the first time the president has heard these kinds of allegations, and she is not the [8:36] first woman from whom he's heard those kinds of allegations. Now, Miller denies all the allegations [8:42] of domestic abuse against him from every source. And I want to play you one moment from his statement [8:47] yesterday that's, it's been drawing a lot of criticism. Listen. Only weeks later did the story [8:55] of February 1st assault appear. So ask yourself, if I had assaulted her, would she had offered to cook [9:03] me dinner six days later? Look, I was a prosecutor for domestic violence cases, and I think [9:10] it is so insulting to think that people could assume the behavior of somebody who was victimized. [9:17] His statement, particularly crass from my prosecutorial experience, but how do you feel [9:21] about how he's been addressing the allegations? I mean, that made my blood boil probably more [9:28] than anything else. How many times we heard stories about women who, for whatever reason, can't leave [9:35] or are just in no position to leave, particularly if they're mothers, particularly if they share a child [9:41] with their alleged abuser? How many times have we heard women, for one reason or another, stay [9:49] after being abused, and then something happens, and sometimes they don't survive those situations? [9:54] You know better than anybody else as a former prosecutor exactly what happens in those kinds of [9:58] situations. I've never been in that situation myself, but I certainly talked to enough survivors [10:02] over the course of my nonprofit work to know that this is not atypical. So even if you take him at [10:08] his word that six days later she offered to cook him dinner, which is a very weird turn of phrase to [10:13] begin with also, a little trad wifey there that he's putting her in that position. Look, you have the [10:19] Republican senator from the state of Ohio, somebody who has zero interest in seeing a Democrat win the [10:25] seat, break his silence after many, many, many days, for my opinion, waited a little too long to do that, [10:33] finally say that he holds his breath when his granddaughter is in the presence of her father. [10:39] And that's still not good enough for the president of the United States to listen to a senator of his [10:43] own party, somebody who he supported and continues to support very strongly politically. Still this [10:50] isn't good enough? I mean at some point I think, look I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, [10:55] Democrats just went through something similar, although allegations not quite like this, but still very [11:00] bad allegations in Graham Plattner in Maine. You have to stop and just think this should not be a [11:07] partisan issue. It doesn't matter if somebody has a D or an R after their name. And I said that about [11:12] Graham Plattner months ago and got into a lot of trouble from members of my own party for saying so. [11:18] But I say this to my Republican friends, my God, look in the mirror. Surely, surely there is somebody [11:25] other than Max Miller who can run for the seat while there is still time. And surely even if Max [11:30] Miller decides to stay here, this is not somebody who's fit to be in office even if he agrees with [11:35] you on every political issue you stand for. There are things in life more important than politics. [11:39] The safety of women, the safety of children should be chief among them. And for some reason, [11:46] I don't understand why we're in a world right now where you have Republicans who just can't say [11:50] that Max Miller needs to go, starting with the president of the United States.