“Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) called for embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) to drop his reelection bid amid allegations from his ex-wife that he abused her and their young daughter,” Mediaite reports.
Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) called Miller a ‘degenerate sociopath’ in a statement urging him to exit the race released shortly before Husted’s comments.”
“As the custody battle between Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) and his ex-wife Emily Moreno seems to grow nastier by the day — and play out in the public eye — Miller’s ex-father-in-law Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said he moved his wife, daughter, and granddaughter to a ‘secure location out of state’ until they ‘feel safe,'” Mediaite reports.
“Last summer, when lawmakers launched their Jeffrey Epstein investigation, it came with an ambitious promise: to pull back the curtain on decades of failed federal probes, secure the full release of long-withheld files and provide a public accounting of how the late pedophile evaded accountability for so long,” CNN reports.
“A year later, the probe has kept Epstein in the headlines, but its parade of high-profile witnesses has failed to produce the kind of revelations many lawmakers and Epstein survivors had hoped for. Instead, the investigation has been defined by closed-door interviews, with many witnesses denying knowledge of Epstein’s crimes or saying they do not recall key details.”
NOTUS: Is the Epstein investigation almost over? Depends on who you ask.
“Four scandal-plagued House Republicans whose seats should be gimmes for the GOP have instead turned their races into unexpected battlegrounds,” Axios reports.
“These aren’t districts you’d expect to be in play — Donald Trump carried all four comfortably in 2024. But the incumbents’ ethical troubles are making Republicans spend time and money defending the seats — in a cycle where neither party has any room for error.”
CNN: House GOP anxiety spikes as scandals pile up in critical battleground seats.
New York Times: “Even without scandal, the race in western North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District had turned competitive. Jamie Ager, the Democratic candidate, had been making hay of his background as a farmer with deep roots in a region that has been reliably red for decades but has shifted left in recent election cycles.”
”Now, just over 12 weeks before Election Day, Republicans are scrambling to find a candidate. The Republican executive committee of North Carolina’s 11th district — which includes dozens of members, such as county party chairs — will meet next Monday to pick a new nominee.”
“Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Wednesday that his office, alongside two other red states, issued a subpoena to former Covid czar Anthony Fauci for records tied to grant money, awards and book deals, among other areas of investigation,” Politico reports.
Axios: Fauci woes could deter scientists from public service.
“Accusations of domestic violence and physical abuse against Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) by his ex-wife have rattled Republican leaders as they fight to hold on to their threadbare House majority,” the Washington Post reports.
”But days after Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Miller’s former father-in-law, publicly declared him unfit to serve, the scandal is barely registering back at home, where partisan loyalties remain strong as Miller, who denies any wrongdoing, seeks a third term.”
“Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) claimed his ex-wife was such a violent menace that his former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), offered her $5 million to ‘go away’ and leave her own family alone,” Mediaite reports.
“Texas state Rep. James Talarico voted in five elections using his parents’ address after purchasing a home for himself nearby, a practice that may have violated state voting laws,” ProPublica reports.
”This comes weeks after Talarico accused Attorney General Ken Paxton, his opponent in the race for U.S. Senate, of voter fraud for similar actions. The news organizations reported in July that Paxton voted using an address where his estranged wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, said he hasn’t lived for two years.”
“A domestic drama involving a House lawmaker and his former father-in-law, a U.S. senator, has shocked Capitol Hill and prompted escalating accusations with both personal and political consequences,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The messy back-and-forth between two Ohio Republicans—Rep. Max Miller and Sen. Bernie Moreno—briefly took over Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s weekly press conference and prompted a phone call between President Trump and Miller, a former White House and Trump campaign aide, about prospects that the accusations have damaged Miller’s re-election campaign.”
The Guardian: Max Miller faces growing calls to resign over domestic abuse allegations.
“Rep. Max Miller insisted that he will continue to seek reelection to his Ohio House seat as he battles domestic abuse allegations, comparing himself to President Donald Trump in refusing to yield to calls to step aside,” Politico reports.
Said Miller: “People have asked me, what are you going to do? Are you going to drop out of this race? Are you going to resign? You know, are you going to get out before the deadline? And my answer to you… is no.”
He added: “No one has told me to get off the ballot, and that’s because they know I can win this seat.”
Axios: Max Miller doubles down on staying in Ohio House race.
“Jeanine Pirro had had it up to here with Doug Burgum. The famously voluble U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia strode into the Oval Office late Monday with her future on the line and the interior secretary, whom she privately called an incompetent liar, in her cross hairs,” the New York Times reports.
“A few hours earlier — in front of the cameras, from the Resolute Desk — President Trump had accused Ms. Pirro, an ally and friend from New York going back decades, of ‘folding like an umbrella’ and ‘choking’ after she withdrew charges against a man accused of destroying the lining of his beloved but shoddily renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.”
“Why was he so angry at her? Because Ms. Pirro had dared to publicly demolish one of his most cherished narratives, promoted by Mr. Burgum, that vandals — and not a contractor hired by the Interior Department to do a rushed job — had defaced a Washington landmark.”
“Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) will hold a committee vote Thursday morning on whether to hold Anthony Fauci — the former Covid czar who Paul has long reviled — in contempt of Congress,” Politico reports.
“A never-before-seen photograph appears to show a syringe in the bedroom of embattled Trump-endorsed Congressman Max Miller, appearing to directly contradict his own recorded denial that he ever had needles by his bed, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal,” the Daily Mail reports.
“The bedroom image appears to have been taken by his now ex-wife Emily Moreno inside the home she previously shared with Miller… If authentic, it would corroborate one of her most explosive claims: that she found needles beside her then-husband’s bed and photographed them.”
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) has until Wednesday to withdraw from the race if Ohio Republicans want to trigger the process to replace him on the November ballot.
After that, their options become much more limited.
Will Rep. Max Miller resign before the deadline so Republicans can replace him?
“Rep. Max Miller, facing allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, said he would ask the House Ethics Committee to investigate the claims in an attempt to clear his name,” Politico reports.
Said Miller: “In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family. I have absolutely nothing to hide.”
CBS News: Behind closed doors, Trump, White House aides hope Rep. Max Miller exits race.
“President Donald Trump is facing pressure from his allies to intervene in Rep. Max Miller’s race as the party races against a Wednesday deadline for the embattled Ohio Republican to drop out,” Semafor reports.
“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,” Politico reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.