House committee launches investigation into Republican lawmaker amid domestic abuse allegations – as it happened

Max Miller, a Republican representative from Ohio, is facing a rising groundswell of resignation calls from his own party over domestic abuse allegations after his ex-father-in-law, Bernie Moreno, a GOP senator, said he was unfit to serve in Congress.

With a deadline looming for party leaders to choose a potential replacement, Miller, a former White House aide, also came under pressure from Donald Trump on Monday after the president reportedly called and told him “things aren’t looking good” for his re-election campaign against his Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter.

Pleas for Miller to step down intensified after Moreno – father of Miller’s former wife, Emily Moreno – broke his silence on Sunday after months of refraining from comment on allegations concerning the alleged abuse of his daughter.

“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno, an ally of Trump, posted. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Moreno’s comments came after Miller posted a livestream video defending himself against the abuse accusations and saying his former wife had “significant mental-health challenges”.

A series of public statements from Moreno’s fellow Republican senators indicate that their sympathies are with him.

double quotation mark“[Miller] should resign. He should quit,” Roger Marshall, a senator from Kansas, told Politico. “I don’t know Mr Miller’s story, but I trust Bernie [Moreno] so much as a good friend, and his family has such high values.”

double quotation markThe West Virginia senator Shelley Moore Capito said: “I don’t know [Miller]. I haven’t read a whole lot about him, but if [Moreno] thinks he ought to resign, I’m supportive of that.”