American politician (born 1988)
Max Leonard Miller (born November 13, 1988)[1] is an American politician and former aide to Donald Trump. He is the U.S. representative for Ohio's 7th congressional district.[2]
Early life and education
Miller grew up in Northeast Ohio and graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 2007.[3][4] He attended the University of Arizona before transferring to Cleveland State University, from which he received his bachelor's degree in 2013.[5]
Early career
Miller worked at a Lululemon store in Ohio before joining the Marine Reserve in 2013. He was a corporal and made no deployments. In 2019, he was transferred from the Selected Marine Corps Reserve to the Individual Ready Reserve.[5]
Trump aide
After initially working for Marco Rubio's campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination,[5] Miller left the campaign in February 2016 and joined Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. After working as a Trump campaign aide, Miller became a political appointee in the Trump administration.[4] He was a confidential assistant in the United States Department of the Treasury in 2017, then a lead advance representative in the White House Office,[5][6][7] and then associate director of the Presidential Personnel Office and special assistant to the president.[4][5] In June 2020, Miller was among the aides who accompanied Trump on his photo op at St. John's Church; a month later, was appointed "deputy campaign manager for presidential operations" on Trump's reelection campaign.[5] A favorite of Trump, Miller praised him as "the greatest POTUS this country has ever had."[5] He helped organize the 2020 Republican convention and was a Trump negotiator for the presidential debates.[5]
In 2018, Miller was one of several Trump administration officials who were scrutinized for their inexperience and lack of qualifications.[4] Miller's LinkedIn page falsely claimed that he was a Marine recruiter and that he had graduated from college in 2011, rather than 2013.[4][5] After The Washington Post raised questions about his biography, Miller removed the claims and called them mistakes made by a relative, who he said made the LinkedIn page on his behalf.[4][5]
In 2020 and 2021, Miller promoted Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged".[8] In June 2021, referring to a pro-Trump mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Miller told The Washington Times, "What happened on January 6 was not an insurrection."[8] In 2021, Trump appointed Miller to be one of 55 members of the board of trustees for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, an unpaid, part-time position.[8][9] In mid-December 2021, Miller was one of six people the January 6 committee subpoenaed to produce documents relating to the rally preceding the Capitol attack and deposed in January 2022.[10]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2022
In February 2021, Miller launched a campaign for Congress in the redrawn 7th district. The district had previously been the 16th, represented by two-term Republican Anthony Gonzalez. Miller was initially set to face Gonzalez in the Republican primary, but Gonzalez announced in September 2021 that he would not seek reelection to a third term, denouncing Trump as a "cancer for the country" and citing the likelihood of a "brutally hard primary" against Miller, family considerations, and a wave of threats against him.[11][12] Miller ran after Gonzalez voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection, arising from the January 6 attack on the Capitol.[13][14] Miller moved back to Ohio, purchasing a home in Rocky River in order to challenge Gonzalez.[15]
In June 2021, in his first rally since the January 6 attack, Trump appeared in Wellington, Ohio, with Miller; Trump praised Miller, repeated falsehoods about the 2020 election, and claimed the attack on the Capitol had been "mostly peaceful".[16]
Miller won the May 3 Republican primary for Ohio's 7th Congressional district with 71.9% of the vote.[17]
After announcing his candidacy, Miller was endorsed by Trump and the Club for Growth.[18][19][20] He also received support from Ohio Right to Life,[21] Ohio Value Voters,[22] and Congressman Jim Banks. He defeated Democratic nominee Matthew Diemer in the November 8 general election.[23]
Caucus memberships
Personal life
Miller is the grandson of Samuel H. Miller, the former co-chairman emeritus of Forest City Realty Trust. His grandmother, Ruth Miller, was a candidate for Ohio's 22nd congressional district in 1980. His uncle is Aaron David Miller, a scholar of Middle East studies.[25]
Miller is Jewish.[26] Trump appointed him to the Holocaust Memorial Council in December 2020.[27]
Miller became engaged in 2021 to Emily Moreno.[5]
Legal issues
Miller pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges in 2007, after being charged with assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; the charges were later dismissed as part of a diversion program.[4] In 2009, he was charged with underage drinking; after he pleaded no contest, that charge was dismissed under a first-time offenders' program.[4][5] In 2010, Miller pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct stemming from a late-night physical altercation in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.[4][5] In 2011, he was charged with "operating a vehicle without reasonable control" and operating a vehicle impaired (OVI) after crashing his Jeep Laredo, and told officers that he had had "two to three beers and several shots" the night before and "woke up in urine-soaked pants".[5] Miller pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and failure to control.[5] In 2018 and 2021, he called the events "youthful mistakes".[4]
In October 2021, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who had dated Miller, said he had "been physically abusive" to her, "cheated" on her, and "lied" to her. Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against her.[28] Judge Emily Hagan rejected Grisham's appeals to dismiss the case.[29]
