GOP Candidate Sues Stephanie Grisham for Defamation After She Alleges He Was Abusive

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A Republican running for Congress in Ohio has filed a defamation lawsuit against a former White House press secretary alleging he was violent and abusive.

Stephanie Grisham and Max Miller dated when they both worked in the Trump administration. One of the more disturbing allegations in Grisham’s new book is that the relationship turned abusive.

Grisham wrote in The Washington Post that she told then-First Lady Melania Trump that “the end of our relationship had become violent, reaching its worst point on the day I left.”

“I told the first lady that he got physical with me,” she said. “She asked me if I had called the police and I said no, explaining that this close to the election, it wouldn’t be good to have yet another domestic abuse scandal hanging over the administration. I also had no proof. She nodded and did not push the matter further. As far as I know, she told no one.”

She ended up telling Donald Trump himself the same, and her takeaway from all this was that “the president and first lady seemed totally unfazed about whether there was an abuser — another abuser — in their workplace.”

Trump recently endorsed Miller, and Grisham said on CNN Tuesday learning of that was a “gut punch.”

Miller is now suing Grisham for defamation.

According to Cleveland.com, the lawsuit says Grisham’s Washington Post op-ed made “libelous and defamatory statements.”

Miller says that Grisham made the claims to harm him and to sell more copies of her memoir…

“A thorough and independent investigation will not only confirm that Ms. Grisham has ‘no proof’ to corroborate her allegations against Mr. Miller as she preemptively conceded in her article that was published in the Washington Post this morning, but will also establish that she has 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 Larry] Zukerman said.

Miller, the report says, asked a judge to order Grisham not to repeat these allegations, including on her scheduled CNN interviews Tuesday.