A lawyer for Rep. Max Miller took responsibility Tuesday for inadvertently releasing sensitive photos of the Ohio Republican’s daughter in a trove of material Miller published Sunday in a bid to defend himself against domestic abuse claims.
The attorney, Aaron Minc, took responsibility for the photo being released and called it “completely unintentional and a mistake” after a lawyer for Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, accused Miller of disseminating the daughter’s name and one image that “could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material.”
“I am solely responsible for what happened,” Minc said in a statement. “I was the only person responsible for assembling, creating, reviewing, adding, deleting, redacting, or making any changes to the information and files that were in this folder.”
Minc apologized to Miller, Moreno and their families but also decried Moreno for creating “a media spectacle regarding this unfortunate mistake … as a means to try to gain leverage in court and distract from the underlying evidence that exonerates Mr. Miller from the false allegations he is accused of.”
Miller posted the documents online Sunday after delivering a livestreamed defense against the claims leveled by his former wife, Emily Moreno. He has declined all allegations of wrongdoing, which include pouring hot water on his ex-wife, holding a gun to her head and breaking his daughter’s collarbone.
Moreno’s lawyer Subodh Chandra claimed that some documents published to Dropbox left the daughter’s name unredacted and contained “private images,” including one where “the daughter’s genitals appear to be visible,” according to a letter to Minc obtained by POLITICO. Chandra noted that the photo was later removed.
“The post with the link to the folder — published under your name — garnered over 204,000 views from the time it was posted until this afternoon,” Chandra wrote.
The letter from Chandra asks Minc, “Whose idea was it to share this intimate image of the child?” among other questions, giving a Wednesday close-of-business deadline.
Minc disputed Chandra’s characterization of the photo: “There were no images of ‘genitals,'” he told POLITICO. “A two-year-old girl had her shirt off. That is a deliberately false, sensationalized, and disgusting characterization.”
The Dropbox dispute marks the latest escalation in the legal battle between Miller and Moreno, who is the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. After Miller delivered his livestreamed defense Sunday, the GOP senator denounced his former son-in-law, saying he should not serve in the House and needs to seek professional help.
Bernie Moreno rekindled his attacks on Miller Monday after the photo revelations.
“When he went out and did what he did — including releasing photos of my granddaughter completely naked, that now you have hundreds of thousands of psychotic human beings that have that — and to say ‘oops’ is grotesque,” the senator told reporters. “My personal opinion is that this is a felony, and that every single human being that touched that photo and transmitted it electronically should go to jail because it is illegal to do that.”
Miller is running for reelection in a competitive Cleveland-area seat. He has until Wednesday to withdraw from the ballot and allow for a crash primary to replace him.
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