Max Miller Sues Stephanie Grisham for Defamation, Asks Judge To Stop Her From Alleging Abuse
Former Trump aide Max Miller filed a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend and former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham for defamation over accusations that he abused her during their relationship.
Miller, who's running for Congress in northeast Ohio, also asked a Cleveland judge to order Grisham to stop discussing the alleged abuse. Grisham first made the claims in a Washington Post op-ed, which was published on Tuesday, and did not name Miller.
Larry Zukerman, Miller's attorney, filed the lawsuit in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court hours after the piece went online and asked the judge to prevent Grisham from discussing the claims during CNN television interviews later in the day.
In the 13-page complaint, he said that Grisham made "libelous and defamatory statements" regarding Miller's alleged abuse. Zukerman told Newsweek that she made "false allegations against him in retaliation for him breaking her heart by ending their relationship and subsequently becoming engaged to Emily Moreno."
Miller's attorney also claimed that Grisham has no proof of misconduct and had only made the allegations to sell more copies of her tell-all memoir, I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw At The Trump White House, which was also released Tuesday.
Grisham's abuse allegations are included in her book but Miller is not named.
She appeared on The Lead with Jake Tapper in the afternoon and told the host she didn't name Miller on purpose because she'd moved on. She also told Tapper that while dating him there was "abuse in every way there."
"If there's anything I can take away, I'm almost stronger than ever now, and no one is ever going to abuse me again in any way, shape or form," Grisham said during the interview.
In the op-ed, Grisham wrote that she told then-President Donald Trump and then-First Lady Melania Trump that her ex, a White House staffer, "had become violent" but both "seemed totally unfazed about whether there was an abuser—another abuser—in their workplace."
Allegations of Miller's abuse first circulated in July when Politico reported that he allegedly pushed Grisham against a wall in his Washington apartment and slapped her in the face last year after she accused him of infidelity, according to three people familiar with the incident. At the time, Grisham declined to comment and Zukerman responded that it never, ever happened.
Miller is seeking punitive damages from Grisham as part of the defamation suit and requested a preliminary injunction and restraining order to keep her from repeating the claims.
The request for an emergency restraining order was ultimately denied by Judge Emily Hagan later in the day. A hearing is set for October 13.
Grisham worked as the former first lady's press secretary before taking on the same role in the White House from July 2019 to April 2020. She's the only White House press secretary in history to never hold a press conference while in the position.
She expressed remorse for her time working under the Trump administration in a New York magazine profile, also published Tuesday, and said that she believes she was "part of something unusually evil."
Trump endorsed Miller and called him a "great guy" during a June rally in Ohio. The former aide was challenging current GOP Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, one of 10 Republican Congressman who voted to impeach Trump over the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, but Gonzalez announced last month he's no longer seeking re-election.
Speaking of the endorsement to Tapper, Grisham said it felt like a "gut punch" after she told the former president of the alleged abuse.
