Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham filed a temporary restraining order against Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) on Monday, the latest episode in the saga around the embattled congressman.
Grisham’s lawyers filed the motion in a Cuyahoga County, Ohio, court. It accuses Miller of breaching a 2023 settlement that capped off a round of litigation between the two over domestic violence allegations. Grisham’s filing comes days after Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, filed a restraining order of her own that also accused Miller of domestic violence.
Grisham and Miller began dating during the first Trump administration. Grisham served as White House press secretary and communications director. Miller held a variety of roles, including associate director of the Presidential Personnel Office and special assistant to the president.
The relationship ended in 2020. Politico reported that Miller had pushed Grisham against a wall and slapped her in the face after she accused him of infidelity. Miller denied those allegations in a statement to Politico.
The rupture between the two led to a lawsuit from Grisham and a countersuit from Miller. The two privately settled the matter in 2023, agreeing to a nondisclosure agreement that prevented either party from making disparaging comments about the other.
Now, Grisham accuses Miller of violating that settlement.
“Once Miller chose to publicly accuse Plaintiff of fabricating her allegations and publicly reinsert her into an ongoing media controversy, the contractual benefit of peace and finality were eroded,” Grisham’s attorneys wrote in the Monday filing.
The filing centers on a series of X posts that Miller made on May 7. Those posts came in response to a Daily Mail article describing Miller’s alleged abuse against Moreno, his ex-wife and the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH).
In one post, Miller shared a 43-second audio recording that he had surreptitiously taken during a conversation with Moreno. In the recording, Moreno tells Miller that it was “cruel to watch someone destroy a big part of your soul.”
Miller claimed that Moreno had admitted that “everything alleged by Stephanie Grisham was fabricated” and that he had “never done anything to harm her.” Grisham accuses Miller of repeating those claims during a subsequent media interview.
“These are not isolated breaches,” the filing continues. “Miller’s offending publications remain publicly accessible, continue to be disseminated, and continue to inflict ongoing harm upon Grisham’s professional reputation, credibility, and standing.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Miller’s office for comment.
Grisham did not hold a press briefing during her nine-month tenure, which stretched from July 2019 to April 2020. She exited the press secretary role to serve as chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump before leaving the MAGA movement and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
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President Donald Trump has not weighed in directly on the spat between his two former employees. He has commented on Moreno’s allegations against Miller, whose endorsement he has not revoked.
“I know Max,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “He’s a good person. I mean, I always thought he was a very good person, and I’m going to let the families figure that out. Those families, I know they’re working on it. It’s a very sad thing, especially when you know somebody so well, to be going through that. But it’s accusations, and I’m going to let them figure that out.”