An attorney for Ohio Rep. Max Miller said he accidentally included a sensitive photo of the lawmaker's 2-year-old daughter in a trove of information Miller shared on social media as he denied domestic abuse allegations from his former wife and vowed to seek reelection.
"To be clear, this was completely my fault," the lawyer, Aaron Minc, said in a statement reported by Mediaite. "I am solely responsible for what happened. 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." USA TODAY has reached out to Minc for comment but did not receive a response.
Miller on Aug. 2 released an almost-20-minute video on social media in which
he addressed abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, who is the daughter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. He also reaffirmed his plan to run for reelection for his U.S. House seat, telling supporters "I'm winning in November."
Along with the video, Miller posted a link on X to a Dropbox folder at 10:23 a.m. containing files that he referenced in his video, inviting "everyone who is interested to take a look." At 11:35 a.m., he posted a new Dropbox folder, according to a Facebook post saying it was back online. In another X post at 11 a.m., Miller clarified that he paid his personal lawyer to produce the folder.
"It was completely unintentional and a mistake," Miller's lawyer Minc said in the statement. "The moment I discovered the issue on Monday morning, I corrected the file immediately."
Emily Moreno's attorneys cited the image of the girl in a letter to Minc this week, alleging the photo "could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)." The letter is part of a defamation lawsuit Miller launched against Moreno in May.
The image is no longer in the active Dropbox link reviewed by USA TODAY.
"Who removed the images from the second folder and why?" Moreno's team wrote in a letter to Minc, posted by the New York Times. "Was it because someone realized that it was ill-advised (and in the case of potential CSAM image, illegal) to share these images with the world?"
USA TODAY reached out to Moreno's lawyers for comment on the document but did not receive a response.
In a text conversation between Miller and Moreno from Feb. 18, Miller told Moreno that he was bringing their daughter for an x-ray because he noticed a bruise while bathing her. Moreno asked for a photo, and Miller replied with an image file. It's not visible, but Moreno's court filing alleges it was included in an earlier available sub-folder and shows the photo of their daughter.
Moreno's team asked Miller to respond to a list of questions by the end of the business day Aug. 5, including why the photo was shared, if anyone vetted the Dropbox before sharing, who accessed and downloaded the image and "what are you going to do about this?"
When the video and Dropbox were initially released, Emily Moreno's spokesperson, Stefan Mychajliw, released a statement calling the video a "shameful," "lie-filled rant" made by Miller to "desperately try to save his political career." Sen. Bernie Moreno also made his first public comments in two years about his daughter's allegations, saying Miller should not be in Congress and needs to seek professional help.
Miller continues to deny the allegations and responded to his former father-in-law in a post on X, saying Moreno's response is "all political."
The Ohio lawmaker also announced in an Aug. 4 post on X that he is opening an ethics investigation into himself "to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family," adding that he has "nothing to hide." Congress has a specific process for these matters in the Office of Congressional Conduct and the bipartisan House Committee on Ethics.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawyer says he's at fault after sensitive photo of lawmaker's daughter shared online
