President Donald Trump and some White House officials privately hope GOP Rep. Max Miller withdraws from his Ohio congressional race before a looming deadline, according to a new report.
The 80-year-old Trump called the lawmaker on Monday to raise concerns about his re-election bid following allegations that Miller abused his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and their 2-year-old daughter, according to two sources directly familiar with the call, but a source told CBS News that Miller informed the president he has no plans to leave the race.
Miller has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to withdraw and allow Republicans to replace him on the November ballot, and Semafor first reported that Trump and some aides privately wanted him to drop out.
Rather than step aside, Miller announced Tuesday morning that he would file paperwork to open a congressional ethics investigation into himself, saying he wants to clear his name. “I have absolutely nothing to hide,” he wrote on X, adding that “the accusations continue to change, but my facts stay the same.”
Publicly, Trump has struck a far softer tone than his private outreach suggests. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Monday, he called Miller “a very good person” and said he would let the families involved work through the situation themselves, describing it as “a very sad thing.”
Miller has pushed back against calls to drop out. In an earlier statement to CBS News, he said withdrawing “would mean we as a nation have fallen so far from our American values” and insisted he would not “validate false claims by removing myself just to please the court of public opinion.”
The pressure on Miller extends beyond the White House. Emily Moreno is the daughter of Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno, who said in a statement Sunday that Miller “should not serve in the House of Representatives” and “needs serious psychological help.”
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