Max Miller
A lawyer for Rep. Max Miller takes responsibility for releasing unredacted photos of the congressman's daughter during a document dump defending against abuse claims Gage Skidmore/Flickr CC BY-SA 4.0

A lawyer for Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller stated on Tuesday that he is responsible for the inadvertent release of an unredacted photo of the congressman's two-year-old daughter. The sensitive photo leak occurred when Miller published a trove of documents on a public Dropbox folder on Sunday in an effort to defend himself against domestic abuse allegations.

To recall, Miller released the documents alongside a livestreamed broadcast to address claims levelled by his former wife, Emily Moreno. Miller has denied all allegations, which include claims that he poured hot water on Moreno, held a firearm to her head, and broke their young daughter's collarbone.

Opposing Counsel Challenges Unredacted Dropbox Leak

Miller's document dump drew objections from Moreno's lawyer after a photo was reportedly left unredacted. Subodh Chandra, representing Moreno, asserted in a legal letter that the published files left the child's name visible and included what he described as private images.

Chandra alleged one specific photograph "could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material" because "the daughter's genitals appear to be visible."

The post containing the link to the folder garnered over 204,000 views before the image was removed, according to Chandra's letter. Chandra gave Miller's attorney, Aaron Minc, a Wednesday close-of-business deadline to answer questions, including: "Whose idea was it to share this intimate image of the child?"

Max Miller's Legal Team Rejects Accusation

Minc disputed Chandra's characterisation of the photograph. 'There were no images of "genitals,"' he said in an early statement. Minc stated that the two-year-old girl "had her shirt off," calling Chandra's description a "deliberately false, sensationalized, and disgusting characterization."

In a subsequent statement, Minc took full responsibility for the error, calling it "completely unintentional and a mistake." 'I am solely responsible for what happened,' Minc stated. '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 apologised to Miller, Moreno, and their families, while also accusing Moreno of 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."

Bernie Moreno Demands Consequences for Leak

The Dropbox dispute marks the latest development in the legal battle between Miller and Moreno, who is the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. Following Miller's Sunday livestream, Sen. Moreno publicly denounced his former son-in-law, stating he should not serve in the House and needs professional help.

Sen. Moreno reiterated his criticism of Miller on Monday following the photo revelations. He told reporters that releasing the images was "grotesque."

'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,' Sen. Moreno stated. '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, who is running for reelection in a competitive Cleveland-area seat, faces a Wednesday deadline to withdraw from the ballot to allow for a crash primary to replace him.

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