Sen Bernie Moreno calls for ex-son-in-law to resign from House, get ‘serious psychological help’

2026-08-02T12:46:51-04:00 / Fox News

Moreno: Max Miller ‘is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter’

By Eric Mack Fox News

Published August 2, 2026 12:46pm EDT

Rep. Max Miller denies abuse allegations, vows to stay in race

Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, issued a rebuke of the accusations against him, saying investigations found no evidence he harmed his daughter and accused his former wife and the media of fueling a false narrative. (Credit: @MaxMillerOH/X)

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Unmoved by his former son-in-law’s X livestream denials Sunday, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, called on Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, to resign from Congress and seek “serious psychological help.”

“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno wrote in a lengthy statement on X. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

It was a call repeated by Miller’s Democratic challenger in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District.

“No one credibly accused of holding a gun to his wife’s head and breaking their 2-year-old daughter’s collarbone belongs in the halls of power,” Brian Poindexter, the union ironworker and Brook Park city councilman, wrote in a statement Sunday.

GOP REP MAX MILLER PUSHES BACK AGAINST ABUSE ALLEGATIONS: ‘I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE’

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, rejected Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, on his denials of daughter Emily Moreno’s allegations against his former son-in-law and called for him to resign from the House and seek ‘serious psychological help.'(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Moreno delivered an even more blistering public rebuke an hour after Miller livestreamed a sweeping denial of domestic abuse allegations made by ex-wife Emily Moreno, the daughter of the senator.

“As he has admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious psychological help,” Moreno wrote. “He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”

The aftermath of the couple’s divorce had been “pure hell” for his family, Moreno began.

“As a father and husband, I can tell you the last two years have been pure hell for my wife Bridget, our daughter Emily, me, and our entire family in the aftermath of Emily’s divorce,” Moreno wrote.

5TH ACCUSER COMES FORWARD AGAINST REP ERIC SWALWELL AHEAD OF EXPECTED RESIGNATION

Emily Moreno and Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, have gone through a difficult divorce that continues to rock their family, the 2026 midterm elections and divide the Republican Party.(Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP)

“It has been horrific to watch this play out in full public view, all while knowing an innocent two-year-old girl is caught in the middle. Our priority has always been protecting our daughter and our granddaughter.

“Out of concern for the safety of my family, I hoped to keep this matter private but Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”

Miller has categorically denied abusing Emily Moreno or their daughter. In the livestream, he said no court or government agency had substantiated an allegation of abuse against him and that he had never faced a criminal charge related to the claims.

The congressman said child welfare investigations involving his daughter had been closed without findings against him. He also argued that the allegations emerged as the former couple’s custody battle intensified and accused his former wife of using them as leverage.

DEMOCRATS TARGET MORE GOP HOUSE SEATS AFTER SOCIALIST VICTORIES ROCK LEFT-WING PRIMARIES

Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, vowed to stay in the race Sunday, but the Republican Party might still pressure him to resign before Wednesday’s deadline so they can replace him before the November general election ballot deadline.(CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Emily Moreno has accused Miller of physically assaulting and threatening her during their marriage, including allegedly holding a gun to her head. Questions have also been raised about how the couple’s daughter suffered a broken collarbone. Miller denies causing the injury and said his daughter was no longer in his care when it was discovered.

Miller also denied an allegation that he threw boiling water on his former wife, saying he sprayed her with water from a kitchen sink during what he described as horseplay.

“It is shameful that Max Miller decided to go on a bizarre and lie-filled rant about his ex-wife to desperately try to save his political career,” Emily Moreno spokesman Stefan Mychajliw wrote in a statement Sunday.

“There is a documented trove of evidence that Miller has a history of violent and dangerous behavior and no amount of victim shaming will change that.

“It is despicable and abhorrent that Miller lied on an unhinged and humiliating video for their daughter to watch one day.

“No loving parent would have ever used their daughter as a PR pawn to save their own political career. Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law. We are confident that justice will prevail in court.”

The extraordinary intervention from a sitting Republican senator adds pressure on Miller as a Wednesday deadline approaches for the party to replace him on the November ballot. Democrats have increasingly viewed the northeast Ohio district as a possible pickup opportunity amid the controversy.

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Miller, a former advisor in President Donald Trump’s first administration who had Trump’s endorsement, insisted Sunday that he would remain the Republican nominee.

“I’m not dropping out of this race,” Miller said. “And I’ll win in November.”

Eric Mack is a breaking news reporter and writer Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. ET to 2 p.m. ET, with a particular interest in stories that lead the news cycle on politics, elections, foreign affairs and government.

RFK Jr. targets Fauci and pushes medical misinformation in fiery CNN interview

2026-08-02T16:13:44.448Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/02/politics/rfk-jr-fauci-medical-misinformation

In attempting to rewrite the history of the US Covid-19 response, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday pinned the blame for pandemic lockdowns on Dr. Anthony Fauci, while simultaneously reviving a string of debunked assertions about vaccines, RSV and measles.

Kennedy’s appearance came in the wake of a congressional hearing with Fauci last week, when the infections disease expert invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination more than 100 times, as Republicans lambasted him for his role in handling the pandemic.

Kennedy joined the chorus of criticism on CNN’s “State of the Union with Dana Bash,” saying President Donald Trump, who was in office at the beginning of the pandemic and notably downplayed the virus, was not to blame for the government’s response.

“Trump, as you recall, wanted to end the lockdowns. I think the thing that did the most damage to our country was the lockdowns,” he said.

The lockdowns were overseen by state and local leaders who were responding to ICUs being overwhelmed and hospitals asking for help to get control of the situation in the early stages of the pandemic.

Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as the White House Covid-19 response coordinator under President Joe Biden from 2022 to 2023, pushed back on Kennedy’s claims, saying, “accountability has to be with our political leaders,” while condemning his false claims on the inefficacy of vaccines.

“The accountability has to be with our political leaders, not with scientists who are giving advice. Second issue that i just want to quickly reflect on. There was a lot of information that Secretary Kennedy said that just isn’t true. It’s just factually not true,” Jha told Bash in an interview following Kennedy’s appearance.

Dr. Ashish Jha responds to RFK Jr. on vaccines, measles, and Covid-19
https://www.cnn.com/

The clash underscores a deepening division over public health authority at a critical juncture. As HHS secretary, Kennedy’s skepticism of mainstream science is no longer just outsider rhetoric; it now shapes official federal policy. His efforts to reframe the pandemic’s legacy come as the US battles its worst measles resurgence in more than three decades — a crisis experts warn is fueled directly by the type of vaccine misinformation and institutional distrust Kennedy amplified during the broadcast.

Kennedy pushed back on his handling of measles outbreaks in the US.

“The communities that are suffering from measles are almost all religious communities that just don’t vaccinate,” Kennedy told Bash.

A Mennonite community was one focus of an outbreak that began in West Texas last year. But the virus quickly spread among unvaccinated people outside that group, eventually reaching almost 800 cases — including the deaths of two children — before the outbreak was declared over.

There have been dozens more outbreaks in 2026, leading to the highest case count in 35 years, and more than 90% of them have been in people who aren’t vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.

South Carolina has reported more measles cases in 2026 than any other state. An outbreak started raging across Spartanburg County in October; it would become the largest the US has seen in decades, with nearly 1,000 cases, before ending in April.

Health officials recommend two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in childhood, and those two shots are 97% effective against measles infection.

But experts say the potential for measles outbreaks remains anywhere vaccination rates remain below 95%, a key immunity threshold for the highly contagious disease.

Pockets of low vaccination have been growing in recent years, which research attributes in no small part to misinformation.

Kennedy, who has frequently expressed skepticism about vaccines, told Bash that his agency’s websites recommend that “parents should get their children vaccinated for measles.”

“I’ve never questioned the efficacy of the MMR vaccine,” he said.

But in March 2025, as the outbreak in Texas spread to New Mexico and Oklahoma, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that measles outbreaks could be driven in part by people who have waning immunity from the vaccine.

“When you and I were kids, everybody got measles, and measles gave you … lifetime protection against measles infection. The vaccine doesn’t do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people, it wanes,” Kennedy told Hannity.

“Some years, we have hundreds of these outbreaks. … And, you know, part of that is that there are people who don’t vaccinate, but also the vaccine itself wanes,” he said.

Some of the criticism officials have leveled at Fauci concerns “gain-of-function research,” which involves the manipulation of a germ in a lab setting so researchers can study how it behaves as it evolves.

Kennedy claimed that gain-of-function research was responsible not just for the virus that causes Covid-19 but for other diseases, as well.

“The RSV epidemic that we have, that is the biggest killer of kids in this country today, came from these kind of experiments,” he said.

RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, was first identified in the late 1950s in lab chimpanzees as well as in human children. What became known as gain-of-function research began two decades later, when scientists first figured out how to piece together genes from different organisms.

After 2011, when two teams of scientists modified the bird flu virus so it could become more dangerous and be transmitted between mammals through the air – something the virus hadn’t been able to do before — the US Department of Health and Human Services stepped in to create guidelines and mandate oversight of such research.

Acetaminophen and autism

Kennedy told Bash that dozens of studies link exposure to Tylenol during late pregnancy and the perinatal period to autism.

A 2025 review by US researchers of 46 earlier studies did suggest a possible link between prenatal exposure to acetaminophen — the drug found in Tylenol — and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, but the researchers said the study does not prove the drug caused those conditions. They advised that pregnant women should continue to use acetaminophen ⁠as needed, at the lowest possible dose and for the shortest possible period.

Other research has found no sign of a link, including studies of millions of children followed for decades. However, there’s little research looking at autism prevalence relative to acetaminophen use during infancy or early childhood.

Major medical organizations support the use of acetaminophen to treat pain and fever during pregnancy, with recommendations reflecting that the benefits outweigh any potential risks.

Kennedy and Bash butted heads on whether Covid-19 vaccines had protected children, with the secretary asking her to cite research showing that the vaccine “did more good than harm.”

More than 700 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the US since they became available in late 2020, according to the World Health Organization. Researchers have estimated that the vaccines helped save 2.5 million lives around the world between 2020 and 2024.

The shots have been extensively tested and continually monitored for safety, and serious side effects such as anaphylaxis or myocarditis have happened but have been generally rare.

Research has also found that the vaccines are associated with lower risks of infection, hospitalization and complications in kids. In December, a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that children who were vaccinated against Covid-19 in the previous respiratory virus season had a “substantially lower risk” of emergency department and urgent care visits related to the virus.

Democratic socialists face a prove-it moment in battleground Wisconsin

2026-08-02T16:00:26.061Z / CNN

Francesca Hong, the democratic socialist leading Wisconsin’s Democratic field for governor, could soon test whether the progressive insurgency that notched primary victories in deep-blue districts this summer can prevail statewide in a perennial presidential battleground.

Polls show Hong, the 37-year-old state assemblywoman from Madison, at the forefront of the field of Democrats vying for the nomination in the August 11 primary to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The winner is all but certain to take on Republican US Rep. Tom Tiffany in November.

Hong was already the frontrunner entering July. But the month saw her top two Democratic rivals’ campaigns implode. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez exited amid a campaign finance scandal, and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes dropped out Thursday.

Evers and others are attempting to rally at the last minute around a more moderate alternative in David Crowley, the 40-year-old Milwaukee County executive who dropped out of the race in early July and then re-entered 10 days later. But even Crowley’s supporters acknowledge Hong is the clear frontrunner.

“Wisconsin is the quintessential swing state, but it’s also a very polarized state,” said Sheboygan Mayor Ryan Sorenson, who is supporting Crowley. “This is going to be a new chapter in a political science theory book: how do far left-wing and far right-wing candidates build a coalition and win elections.”

Tiffany isn’t waiting for the primary votes to be counted: He has already started to tee off on Hong, latching her to the Democratic Socialists of America’s platform and accusing her of supporting abolishing prisons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US Senate and more. He has also highlighted her history of calling for the defunding of police — an issue sure to feature prominently in a slew of Republican advertisements this fall.

Hong, who worked her way up from low-level kitchen jobs to become a top chef and restaurant co-owner, has tried to distance herself from some of the more politically problematic planks of the DSA platform.

“I do not support the full platform of the national DSA and I am not endorsed by DSA National,” she said in a recent debate. Hong also said that she is “not here to govern by slogan” and that a governor cannot defund the police.

But in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Friday, Hong wouldn’t directly answer when asked repeatedly if her views on defunding the police have changed.

Hong said Republicans who control the Wisconsin legislature are the ones who have defunded police by slashing dollars directed to local governments.

“People can evolve,” Hong said. “I am going to be a sensible and practical governor that is going to make sure that public safety is a priority.”

The election comes with the Democratic Party at a critical juncture, and many within it looking to the governor’s race in Wisconsin, a Senate primary this week in Michigan and other key races as potential signs of what’s to come in 2028, with a wide-open presidential primary looming.

For much of the last year, democratic socialists have been on the march — with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s win last year serving as an inflection point.

Democratic socialist Katie Wilson was elected mayor of Seattle last year and another, Janeese Lewis George, is poised to win the mayoral contest in Washington, DC, this November. In Los Angeles, democratic socialist Nithya Raman is challenging incumbent mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat. They’ve also won a series of congressional primaries, including ousting House incumbents in New York and Colorado.

But Hong is different: A democratic socialist running not on deep-blue turf but in a true political battleground.

Her supporters say Hong’s brand of politics is a break from a Democratic Party that polls show isn’t popular among voters — even those who oppose President Donald Trump.

“She has brought a coalition into the Democratic Party that otherwise had been shut out and told, ‘You don’t belong within this.’ And they’ve been showing up continuously. They definitely look different and act different than folks who have been around for a really long time, and frankly they should, because the political system has not worked for them,” said state Sen. Chris Larson, who represents parts of Milwaukee and is supporting Hong.

Republicans, meanwhile, have made no secret of how they intend to run against her. Republican Governors Association communications director Kollin Compton called Hong “the Mamdani of the Midwest.”

Hong’s rise comes in an election year in which Democrats have their first real shot at winning full control of Wisconsin’s state government in a generation. Under Evers, the party has won a majority on the state Supreme Court and forced a redraw of state legislative districts that ended a Republican gerrymander. This fall, Democrats hope to retain the governor’s office and flip both the state Senate and Assembly.

However, as Hong climbed in the polls, the state’s jittery Democratic establishment struggled to coalesce behind a more moderate alternative.

Crowley had dropped out amid lagging poll numbers in early July. But he re-entered the Democratic primary on July 18, and received Evers’ endorsement. Barnes’ exit left Crowley as likely the only viable contender in the race aside from Hong.

Still, he’s far behind: A Marquette Law School poll conducted in late July found Hong with 38% support among Democratic primary voters to 16% for Barnes, who at the time was still in the race, 7% for Crowley, and no other candidate topping the 2% mark. The poll found Hong is strongest among young and very liberal voters; Barnes and Crowley performed better among older and more moderate voters.

In an effort to rally Democrats who are concerned about Hong, Crowley will campaign alongside Evers in the race’s closing days.

“I’m not here to protect the establishment. I’m here to deliver real results for Wisconsinites all over our state,” Crowley said in the recent Democratic debate.

Hong addressed her status as a democratic socialist — she’s a dues-paying member of the local Madison chapter — she said in a Fox News interview on Friday.

“I believe that as a democratic socialist, you know, I am less defined by just one organization, but clearly our bipartisan coalition means I’m more defined by being a good single mom, that I am a service industry worker, that I truly believe in legislation that helps everyone,” she said. “And these are the things that people want to talk about in rural and urban parts of the state.”

She walked back some of the stances she has taken, such as supporting calls to eliminate the US Senate, which she said Friday is “nonsensical and nonpractical at this time.”

But a social media post from Tiffany that followed Hong’s Fox News appearance offered a preview of what she would face in the general election.

Instead of clipping her comments, Tiffany on X posted a still image of Fox News displaying Hong’s years-old social media comments.

A 2021 post included in that image says: “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option.”

“The facts speak louder than campaign spin,” Tiffany said.

Trump targets Biden-era billion-dollar Smithsonian budgets amid anti-‘woke’ push

August 2, 2026 3:34pm EDT / Fox News

A 162-page White House report recommends sweeping reforms to eliminate what it calls ‘woke’ ideology from museums

By Amanda Macias Fox News

President Donald Trump orders warning signs outside the Smithsonian, alleging politicized exhibits that emphasize activism over history. The institution faces scrutiny for promoting racial reparations and for a 2020 infographic criticizing ‘white culture.’ A congressional hearing further ignited debate over the museum’s ‘woke’ displays and their historical accuracy, highlighting the growing tension.

President Donald Trump’s effort to remake the Smithsonian is reaching the institution’s bottom line, with the administration proposing its smallest budget request in years while pushing to eliminate what it calls “woke” ideology from federally funded museums and programs.

A Fox News Digital analysis of Smithsonian budget requests found the institution submitted steadily larger funding requests during the Biden administration, with annual requests rising from $1.11 billion in fiscal year 2021 to a record $1.24 billion in fiscal year 2024.

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The fiscal year 2025 request also exceeded $1 billion before the Trump administration proposed reducing the institution’s request below that threshold in its fiscal year 2026 and 2027 budgets—the first time since fiscal year 2020 that the Smithsonian’s annual request has fallen below $1 billion.

The proposed funding reduction comes as the White House expands one of its most ambitious efforts to reshape a federally funded cultural institution, arguing the Smithsonian has promoted ideological narratives at odds with its mission and directing it to change its exhibits, programming, leadership and spending priorities.

FORMER DEMOCRATIC STAFFERS, DEI LEADERS SHAPE SMITHSONIAN LEADERSHIP AMID POLITICAL FIRESTORM

President Donald Trump launched a sweeping White House review of the Smithsonian, arguing the institution had promoted “divisive” ideological narratives.(Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

The White House’s effort to root out what it calls “woke ideology at the Smithsonian has grown into one of the most extensive reviews of the institution in decades.

Over the past 16 months, the administration has examined museum exhibits, educational programming, internal records and leadership statements, issued multiple document requests, interviewed curators and conducted on-site museum walkthroughs.

That review culminated in a 162-page White House report recommending sweeping reforms and a new round of executive actions aimed at implementing those recommendations.

The administration has ordered the Smithsonian to promote what it describes as a more accurate portrayal of American history while scrutinizing exhibits, programming and leadership across the museum complex.

INSIDE THE BEHEMOTH SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM NETWORK DRAWING FIRE FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Smithsonian, the nation’s largest museum and research complex, is at the center of a White House campaign to overhaul its presentation of American history.(J. David Ake/Getty Images)

The Smithsonian oversees 21 museums, the National Zoo and nearly 157 million objects and specimens while receiving more than $1 billion annually in federal funding, in addition to private donations and other trust revenue.

The taxpayer-supported institution has become the latest battleground in a broader national debate over patriotism, historical interpretation and the role of federally funded cultural institutions in shaping how Americans understand the nation’s past.

TRUMP ORDERS SIGNS OUTSIDE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM AMID ROW OVER ITS DEPICTION OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Whether Congress adopts the administration’s proposed funding levels remains to be seen.

But alongside executive orders, museum reviews and a sweeping White House report, the budget proposal signals that the administration intends to use both policy and federal funding to reshape one of the nation’s largest cultural institutions.

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The Smithsonian Institute did not immediately respond to Fox New Digital’s request for comment.

Amanda Macias covers the intersection of business, economics and politics, with a focus on how policy decisions shape markets, businesses and American workers.

Rep. Jordan: Blanche ‘should not recuse himself’ from deciding criminal referral of Jack Smith

12:33 PM EDT, Sun August 2, 2026 / CNN

By Dana Bash, CNN

Rep. Jordan: Blanche “should not recuse himself” from deciding criminal referral of Jack Smith

Dana Bash presses House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on his criminal referral of former Special Counsel Jack Smith to the Justice Department.

1:06 • Source: CNN

US Senator Moreno says Ohio’s Miller should not serve in Congress, citing abuse allegations

August 2, 2026 5:57 PM UTC / Reuters

By Mike Spector

Updated 2 hours ago

U.S. Representative Max Miller (R-OH) joins House Republican Study Committee members as they hold a press conference to discuss their resolution against hateful political rhetoric on the one-year anniversary of the Butler, PA, shooting of then-candidate Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 14, 2025…. Read more

• Moreno calls Miller a danger to his daughter
• Miller’s ex-wife accused him of scalding her and abusing their toddler daughter
• Miller denies the allegations and posted a video on X defending himself

NEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Max Miller of Ohio “is a danger” to his ex-wife and should ‌not serve in Congress, U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, a fellow Ohio Republican, said on Sunday while addressing abuse allegations lodged against his former son-in-law.

Moreno, whose daughter Emily was married to Miller until last year, said he owed it to ​his family to “speak the truth now” about Miller. Calling the previous two years “pure hell” for ​his family, Moreno wrote in a social media post that Miller “is a danger ⁠to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”

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“If ​there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should ​not serve in the House of Representatives,” Moreno wrote. “I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue ​endangering others until he does.”

Miller has denied the allegations. His spokesperson did not immediately respond to ​a request for comment, but in a social media post of his own on Sunday, Miller disputed his ex-wife’s allegations ‌in ⁠a video recording and vowed to remain in his congressional race.

Moreno’s broadside against Miller marked a significant departure from his previous attempts to sidestep a drumbeat of abuse allegations engulfing the Republican congressman. Emily Moreno has alleged that Miller burned her with boiling hot water and physically abused her and their ​toddler daughter.

Moreno previously said he ​would “not litigate these ⁠matters in the media” and that he would prioritize the safety and well-being of his daughter and granddaughter. While the senator hoped to keep the matter ​private, Miller’s “increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible,” Moreno wrote ​on Sunday.

Miller and ⁠Moreno both owe their political rise to close associations with President Donald Trump. The allegations against Miller threaten to put what had been a safe Republican seat in play for Democrats in this November’s midterm elections.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/f27a652b-2297-4e1c-a250-d9b113f9509a

Democrats ⁠only need ​to flip a handful of seats to regain control of ​the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a 218 to 214 edge, with three seats vacant.

Reporting by Mike Spector in New ​York; Additional reporting by Tim Reid in Washington and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Sen. Moreno says ex-son-in-law Max Miller shouldn’t serve in Congress amid abuse claims, as Miller vows to stay in race

August 2, 2026 / 2:55 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said on Sunday that his former son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller, shouldn’t serve in Congress amid swirling abuse claims, as Miller vowed to stay in the race for another term and strongly denied all allegations of misconduct.

“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno said in a post on X. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Miller’s reelection campaign has been plagued in recent weeks by allegations of abuse against his ex-wife — the senator’s daughter Emily Moreno — and their child that have emerged in legal filings. The second-term Ohio Republican responded to the accusations in a livestream on X earlier Sunday, in which he said allegations that he abused his daughter or his ex-wife were false.

The statements came after Miller’s ex-wife asked a court to issue a restraining order last week blocking the Ohio Republican from contacting her lawyer. Emily Moreno alleged in court filings that Miller has repeatedly had physical and verbal altercations with her attorney amid an ongoing custody fight over their young daughter. Miller and Moreno, who were married between 2022 and 2025, have court-ordered restraining orders against each other.

The restraining order request followed months of allegations leveled by Emily Moreno against Miller. In court papers and police reports, she has accused Miller of throwing her against a wall during a February custody exchange and causing their daughter to suffer a clavicle fracture and handprint-shaped bruise. She also alleged that Miller threw hot water at her in 2024 and pointed a gun at her last year.

Miller has called the allegations untrue and pointed to the fact that he still has joint custody of his daughter, while accusing his ex-wife of defaming him and abusing their child herself. In Sunday’s livestream, he cast doubt on the timing of the allegations against him, suggesting that they were made to sway the custody fight. He argued his ex-wife has engaged in a pattern of reporting “serious and destructive allegations with absolutely no evidence.”

He also released documents that he argued would clear him of allegations that he injured his child or abused his former wife, saying: “These are incredibly serious criminal accusations, and if these accusations were true, I would be in jail.” He pointed to an April letter from county investigators closing a probe into whether he physically abused his daughter in February, calling it “unsubstantiated.”

A spokesman for Emily Moreno, Stefan Mychajliw, called Miller’s livestream “shameful” and “lie-filled.”

“There is a documented trove of evidence that Miller has a history of violent and dangerous behavior and no amount of victim shaming will change that,” Mychajliw said in a statement. “Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law. We are confident that justice will prevail in court.”

In his post on X Sunday, shortly after Miller’s video, Sen. Bernie Moreno called the last two years “pure hell” for his family. And while he noted that he hoped to keep the matter private, Moreno said: “Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”

Moreno claimed that Miller “needs serious psychological help” and called him a “danger to my daughter.”

“I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake,” Moreno posted. “I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does.”

Miller responded to his former father-in-law on X, saying: “If my daughter said the same thing to me, I personally wouldn’t wait two years before holding him accountable.”

“You know this isn’t true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus,” Miller said. “This is all political.”

Entire Squad endorses Abdul El-Sayed days before Michigan Democratic Senate primary

The progressive backing sharpens ideological stakes as El-Sayed distances himself from Democratic Socialists of America

August 2, 2026 2:41pm EDT / Fox News

By Robert Schmad

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said during an interview that he was “simply not a socialist” when pressed on his association with prominent left-wing leaders such as Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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Every member of the “Squad,” an informal left-wing congressional caucus, has endorsed Abdul El-Sayed ahead of Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, according to his campaign website.

The Squad is made up of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Summer Lee, D-Pa., Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., and Greg Casar, D-Texas.

Many of the squad’s current and former members have past or ongoing affiliations with the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization El-Sayed is attempting to distance himself from as he attempts to moderate ahead of a swing-state general election.

The unified endorsements sharpen the ideological stakes of the Tuesday primary, linking El-Sayed to the party’s most prominent progressive bloc even as he rejects the socialist label and seeks to present himself as a viable candidate in a battleground state. The support also gives Republicans an early line of attack should El-Sayed defeat the more centrist Stevens and advance to the general election.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is among the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

DEM PRIMARY ERUPTS AS ESTABLISHMENT FAVORITE DISMISSES RIVAL AS ‘CELEBRITY CANDIDATE’

“The entire Squad has now endorsed Abdul El-Sayed to carry on its radical, socialist, anti-American agenda in the U.S. Senate, and they will be rejected by Michiganders at the ballot box,” National Republican Senatorial Committee regional press secretary Samantha Cantrell told Fox News Digital.

Casar was the most recent Squad member to endorse El-Sayed, throwing his support behind him Thursday.

“Abdul El-Sayed is showing what it means to run a bold, pro-working class campaign,” Casar said. “House progressives need strong partners in the Senate in order to put money in your pocket, get money out of politics, and win Medicare for All. I’m proud to endorse Abdul.”

SOCIALIST-BACKED DEM WHO RIPPED THE WEALTHY CRACKS STATE’S TOP 1%, TAX RETURNS SHOW

Every member of the “Squad,” an informal left-wing congressional caucus, has endorsed Abdul El-Sayed ahead of Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.(Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Casar, Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Lee all have current or former Democratic Socialists of America affiliations. El-Sayed at one point even appeared at a Democratic Socialists of America event alongside Tlaib.

El-Sayed headlined that event, a fundraiser that brought in roughly $10,000 for the Detroit Democratic Socialists of America, and was photographed next to Tlaib behind a table with a poster on it depicting a hand labeled “DSA” choking a snake labeled “capitalism.”

The Michigan Senate hopeful attended and spoke at six Democratic Socialists of America events between 2017 and 2020, Fox News Digital previously reported. Organizers affiliated with the socialist organization have described El-Sayed as “a longtime friend of Detroit DSA.”

ABDUL EL-SAYED SAYS RALLYING WITH HASAN PIKER DOESN’T MEAN HE ENDORSES ‘AMERICA DESERVED 9/11’ REMARK

From left foreground, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., join hands following a campaign rally Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Detroit.(AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

Despite pulling in endorsements from socialists and his long-time association with the Democratic Socialists of America, El-Sayed rejects the socialist label and has distanced himself from the group.

“I’m not technically or practically DSA,” El-Sayed told The Wall Street Journal in early July.

In an interview with CNN, he said that “I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism, I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.”

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El-Sayed faces off against Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday. Stevens is widely viewed as the more centrist of the two. Polls generally show El-Sayed leading Stevens by a comfortable margin, according to the New York Times.

The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

An airport search, a wiped phone and a potential test of Fourth Amendment protections

2026-08-02T16:00:26.430Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/02/politics/airport-search-left-wing-activist-phone-code-fourth-amendment

In a small room at the Atlanta International Airport, without a warrant and ignoring his protest and requests for his attorney, a left-wing activist and US citizen says Border Patrol officers started to search his devices, luggage and diary.

Sam Tunick, involved in the Stop Cop City movement, which opposed an 85-acre law enforcement training center in Georgia that opened in April 2025, was returning from a vacation in the Dominican Republic in January of that year when Border Patrol officers, coordinating with the FBI, pulled him aside, according to his lawyers.

After refusing to answer questions, the officers began searching Tunick and the items eventually asking for access to his phone, Tunick and the prosecutors say. According to prosecutors, Tunick then gave officers a passcode that wiped the contents of the device.

Tunick was charged that November with a single count of destroying property to prevent seizure. He has pleaded not guilty and has not been charged with any additional crimes.

Experts told CNN the case could be a toehold to challenge how Fourth Amendment protections, which generally prohibit search and seizures without probable cause, are weakened at the US border and entry points into the US, including international airports.

“It’s not that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply at the border,” white-collar criminal defense attorney Paul Calli told CNN. “It’s that there’s no requirement for reasonable suspicion, like there would be not at the border.”

Tunick’s lawyers say agents told him that he was suspected of possessing child pornography before they demanded access to his phone. But during a hearing last week on efforts to suppress evidence and testimony gathered during the search, CBP agents admitted there was no reason to suspect Tunick possessed child sex abuse material, according to his attorneys.

“They were unequivocal that no, we had no reason to think that was applicable to Sam, it was part of our shtick to sort of get him to open up,” Tunick’s attorney Matthew Dodge told CNN.

CBP said agents have authority to search the devices of anyone entering the US “regardless of citizenship.”

Despite Tunick’s protest and refusal to allow such a search, the officers still went through his luggage and personal journal before turning to his phone, according to his attorneys.

Tunick said he also repeatedly directed the officers to his lawyer’s business card, which he was carrying.

“Because you’re refusing to talk, which is your right, we have the authority to go through your phone to see what we’re looking for,” one of the officers said, according footage of the incident provided to Tunick’s attorneys.

CNN has not reviewed the footage.

When he asked for a second time why he was not allowed to contact his lawyer, Tunick was told that “when it comes to immigration and customs, right, it’s a whole different ballgame.”

“We have search authority, we don’t need a warrant,” Tunick was told, according to his lawyer’s March court filing.

Tunick’s attorneys also allege their client was never read his Miranda rights nor given the chance to have a lawyer present.

“Sam’s big interest here was protecting his privacy, not hiding evidence of wrongdoing,” Dodge said.

Tunick’s attorneys claimed in the March court filing the search was conducted because of his involvement in the group opposing law enforcement training facility.

As it was being constructed, the Atlanta facility was a hot spot for protests and, at times, violent clashes with police. Authorities charged dozens of activists allegedly associated with the protests. Law enforcement shot a man 57 times in January 2023 after they say he opened fire at officers near the facility.

Border exemptions and questions of obstruction

When asked about the case, CBP told CNN it has the authority to search all electronic devices for people, regardless of citizenship, coming or leaving the US, “to enforce laws addressing terrorism, child exploitation, drug- and human-smuggling, visa fraud, and national security threats.”

The statement continued: “The border search will only include an examination of information that is present on the device at the time it is presented for inspection. In Fiscal Year 2025, less than 0.01% of all arriving international travelers had their electronic devices searched by CBP.”

The limits of that authority, however, could be challenged with cases like Tunick’s.

“We are hopeful that this general rule, that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply at the border, (has) just got to be revised and corrected,” Dodge said. “And this is a pretty vivid example of why that rule is far too broad.”

“It has to be much more tailored rule about the Fourth Amendment at the airports,” Dodge added.

In speaking broadly about warrantless seizure, Nathan Freed Wessler, the American Civil Liberties Union’s deputy director for the foundation’s speech, privacy, and technology project told CNN there are several “cases pending in a few courts of appeals now where this question is really live.”

“A couple federal courts of appeals have imposed more stringent limitations than the government was,” Wessler added. “And there are a handful of federal district court judges who have actually gone the whole way and said a warrant is required because this is such a privacy imposition.”

The appeals court that will have jurisdiction over Tunick’s case — the 11th Circuit — however, has previously ruled that phones and electronic devices don’t have greater protections than a suitcase or handbag, despite the vast amount of personal information stored in those devices, Wessler noted.

Questions also remain over whether giving law enforcement a passcode that strips your device of information constitutes obstructing an investigation.

“Obstruction means I’m obstructing some type of investigation, and without any type of warrant or even reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, what investigation am I obstructing?” Mike Fox, a legal fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, a think-tank focused on issues of civil liberties, told CNN.

Fox noted that it’s unclear what recourse federal agents would have if a person refused to hand over their phone passcode in a similar, warrantless search.

“They’re not going to deny entry because he’s a US citizen,” he said. “But are they going to charge him with some type of obstruction or take his device?”

“This is new, uncharted territory,” Fox added.

According to his attorneys, Tunick was told by officers that if he didn’t comply, they would take his phone and access it by other means.

The judge overseeing the case issued a deadline for final preliminary court filings in late October.

No trial date has been set.

HHS Secretary RFK, Jr.: ‘Parents should get their children vaccinated for measles’

12:51 PM EDT, Sun August 2, 2026 / CNN

By Dana Bash, CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/02/politics/video/hhs-secretary-robert-f-kennedy-jr-parents-should-get-their-children-vaccinated-for-measles-dana-bash

Asked by Dana Bash whether he accepts some responsibility for rising measles cases in the United States, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. tells Bash “absolutely not” and defends his response to the outbreak.

3:19 • Source: CNN