‘Total and complete depravity’: Bernie Moreno accuses Max Miller of holding granddaughter’s ‘little blue bunny’ hostage

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) accused ex-son-in-law Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) of tormenting his family amid a yearslong dispute that includes allegations Miller abused the senator’s daughter.Moreno, who made on-camera remarks Tuesday about the divorce and child custody battle between his daughter and Miller, said the family “fears what this guy is capable of.” Miller, who is facing GOP calls for his resignation or to drop his November reelection bid, has vehemently denied the abuse allegations and any wrongdoing.“This is truly the seventh level of hell,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This has been a horrific experience for my entire family. My daughter lives in constant fear of this man, not like something that’s existential, but deeply in her heart, she fears what this guy is capable of. You can’t fathom what that makes me feel like when the dad’s number one job is to protect your kids. This has been brutal beyond comprehension.” Moreno alleged that during a child custody changeover last weekend at a police station that the senator participated in to pick up his granddaughter, Miller refused to provide a plush toy with which she sleeps.“She has a little blue bunny that she sleeps with,” Moreno said. “Max would not hand over the little blue bunny. Literally held it hostage for 48 hours. This girl is crying at night because she can’t sleep without her little blue bunny. His answer is, ‘I’m just not going to give it to you.’ … This is the level of total and complete depravity.”BERNIE MORENO YET TO SPEAK TO TRUMP AS DEADLINE TO PUSH MAX MILLER OUT OF REELECTION RACE LOOMSThe Washington Examiner reached out to Miller for comment.Aaron Minc, an attorney for Miller, took responsibility earlier Tuesday for improperly redacting sensitive materials, including a photo of the congressman’s daughter, from documents exchanged in legal proceedings.Read in full: Moreno’s latest remarks can be read in full below. The transcript of his exchange with reporters has been edited for clarity. Reporter: Did the lawyer for Max Miller apologize to you?Moreno: No, he did not.Reporter: Do you believe that Max Miller should resign from Congress right now?Moreno: Did you read my statement? Reporter You said he’s unfit to serve in Congress. Moreno: No, I did not. I said absolutely and affirmatively that he shouldn’t serve in Congress. That he needs serious help. That’s exactly what my statement says. My statement speaks for itself. Reporter: He said that in response to your statement that it was to protect from your own circus. To that you say what? Moreno: It’s the ramblings of a madman. I don’t even know what that means. Reporter: What did you think of Miller telling Trump he could still win the election? Moreno: Look, I don’t care about the politics of this. I hope that you guys understand, and maybe I hope you never have to understand what my daughter’s been through, what my daughter is going through, what my wife is going through, my two other, my two boys and my other daughter are going through. This is truly the seventh level of hell. This has been a horrific experience for my entire family. My daughter specifically did not want this to be out in the public. That’s why she asked me to lower the temperature. You got to remember when you don’t have kids and you get divorced, you can just say farewell. You never have to see each other again. But when you have a child, you have to co-parent with that individual for the rest of your life — that means scheduling pickups, scheduling drop-offs. This is not something that you can just say, ‘I’ll never have to deal with this guy again.’ My daughter lives in constant fear of this man — not like something that’s existential, but deeply in her heart, she fears what this guy is capable of. You can’t fathom what that makes me feel like when the dad’s No. 1 job is to protect your kids, and to have this whole thing out in the public like this is not what I wanted to do. It’s not what my daughter wanted to do. But on Sunday, when he went out and did what he did, including releasing photos of my granddaughter completely naked. Now you have hundreds of thousands of psychotic human beings that have that, and to say ‘oops’ is grotesque. 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. This has been brutal beyond comprehension, and if there’s any minimum standard for being an elected official, as I said, he fails to meet that minimum, basic standard. I don’t care about the politics at all. I don’t think about it. Doesn’t enter my consciousness. Reporter: But respectfully, why didn’t you say something earlier? This has been going on for such a long time. Moreno: As I just said and maybe you don’t understand. When your daughter tells you, ‘you have to de-escalate this thing’ because you want to keep it private. This has been going on for two years. Why did you just cover it today instead of covering it a year ago? This has been going on. This was about de-escalation. Every single week, she has to go arrange for a pickup and drop-off of this little child. Just this Sunday, I had to go — imagine this: I had to go pick her up because I don’t want my daughter interacting with this man. So I meet him at the Bay Village Police Station because that’s the place that we have to go to meet because I don’t know what this guy’s capable of. She comes over, gets in our car. We drive away, and if anybody is a parent, she has a little blue bunny that she sleeps with. Max would not hand over the little blue bunny. Literally held it hostage for 48 hours. This girl is crying at night because she can’t sleep without her little blue bunny. His answer is, “I’m just not going to give it to you.” So finally, yesterday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, yesterday, he lets the little blue bunny go. This is the level of total and complete depravity. Do I want all this in public? No. Do you have any idea what it’s like to go through physical abuse and then mental abuse, and then to relive it over and over and over again. That’s what my daughter has tried to avoid. She hasn’t made a single solitary public statement. Max feels like he needs to go on a publicity tour, which I just don’t understand.Remember, at the end of the day, that little two-year-old is going to be an adult, and unlike when I was a kid, when you know maybe there’s two or three pictures of me that my parents had, she’s going to have high-definition videos. She’s going to have news stories. She’s going to have everything out there. She’s going to read that as an adult, going, ‘What the heck happened? And why is my life the subject of so much publicity?’ It is grotesque where we are today. I don’t care about the politics. Do not ask me a single question about the politics. I do not care at all. I’m not running away from you guys. I have to go to another meeting. I’ve told you guys more than I need to say. If you could just please, please protect the privacy of me and my family. I’ve answered your questions. That’s all the questions I’m going to answer.Naomi Lim contributed to this report.