Max Miller

CLEVELAND - A Cuyahoga County judge sided with both U.S. Rep. Max Miller and his ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, at the close of a preliminary injunction hearing Monday, ordering each side to take down the social media posts the other found objectionable.

Judge Emily Hagan granted both sides’ requests for injunctive relief after Miller and Grisham each took the stand and testified about a confidential settlement they reached in 2023.

Grisham sued Miller in July, arguing that his public statements defending himself against abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, violated a 2023 settlement where the two agreed not to make statements about each other that could be regarded as disparaging. That settlement ended a defamation lawsuit Miller filed against Grisham in 2021 after she publicly accused him of abuse.

Miller testified he settled that original lawsuit for a dollar. He said he had already spent more than $300,000 in litigation and wanted to be done with legal fees.

Related post: On the stand, Max Miller denies controlling his own social media in Grisham lawsuit

Central to Grisham’s case is a May 7 post on X in which Miller said he was sharing a 2024 recording in which Moreno “admits 1. Everything alleged by Stephanie Grisham was fabricated and 2. I have never done anything to harm her.”

The Bay Village Republican testified in a live feed from his Washington office. Grisham’s attorney, Jeffrey Crossman, cross-examined him first. Miller’s attorney, Adam Brown, followed.

Crossman pressed Miller on whether the post disparaged Grisham. Miller said he had not authorized it and that it appeared to show his ex-wife discussing Grisham rather than any statement of his own.

Miller repeatedly told Crossman he does not control his own social media accounts. He said the accounts are run by a mix of his campaign and legal teams, and that he’s too busy with his job as a congressman to spend his time that way.

“I haven’t had social media on my phone for two years,” said Miller, describing social media as “the worst of the worst.”

Asked how he could authorize what staff and lawyers post if he does not review it, Miller said he trusts his team. He said he first learned of some of the posts when he saw them referenced in news coverage.

Miller argued that it was Grisham who reignited the dispute with her own posts on X in April and May. They appeared on days when articles came out accusing him of domestic violence against Moreno.

“Today I feel broken over what so many men with money & power get away with,” she posted on April 22. “Over & over & over. Almost worse is those of you who know & do/say nothing as it happens time & again.”

She reupped the same post in May.

Miller argued that even though he wasn’t mentioned by name, it clearly referred to him. On the stand Monday, Grisham testified she was referring to Jeffrey Epstein in both posts.

Miller also argued that a 2021 Washington Post column Grisham authored that described her relationship with an abusive former boyfriend obviously referred to him. That column and a memoir Grisham published triggered the defamation suit he filed against her during his first run for Congress.

He said Grisham breached the agreement first and he has a right to defend himself. He accused her of filing the lawsuit because “she needs money” and wants attention. “This was done to hurt me, to take me out,” said Miller.

Grisham testified she agreed to the settlement because she wanted to leave Washington behind. “I was so happy to be out of Washington, DC. I just wanted peace,” she said. “I wanted to get away from every terrible person in that swamp, as we used to call it.”

She said she has turned down media requests to discuss Miller since signing the agreement, out of fear that speaking out might be used against her.

Grisham disputed Miller’s contention that she’s a self-admitted liar. As White House press secretary, she said she sometimes relayed information from the administration that turned out not to be accurate, but insisted doing so was part of the job. She noted that Karoline Leavitt, a more recent White House press secretary, has also faced accusations of lying.

Grisham said the fallout from Miller’s statements has taken a toll on her health, including anxiety. “It has made me relive what I went through towards the end of the administration. What I went through with him,” she said. “I am scared all the time. I don’t know who he is going to have following me.”

She said Miller’s continued public comments about her have made it hard to move on.

“I would really like him to stop,” she said.

Grisham’s lawsuit sought an order requiring Miller to delete the May 7 post along with any reposts still within his control, a bar on further public statements about her or the settlement, and damages and attorney’s fees.

Hagan’s ruling granted preliminary injunctive relief to both sides, ordering the removal of the posts each found objectionable while the case proceeds.

“I find that no injuries to others will be caused by the granting of this injunction, and public interest will be served by granting the injunction,” said Hagan.