Experts in the News | Miller Center

One bigly unindicted co-conspirator and other bunches of them, including some in Epstein files now

Trump's efforts to lean on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is reminiscent of the way Nixon created a team of secret investigators, known as "the plumbers," to find incriminating or embarrassing evidence about his enemies, said Ken Hughes, a leading Watergate authority and research specialist at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs.

Ken Hughes

The presidential pardon power

In a new book, The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History, Miller Center senior fellow Saikrishna Prakash examines one of the most powerful and controversial authorities granted to the U.S. president and its impact on law, justice, and democratic accountability. In this event, participants will trace the historical origins and constitutional meaning of the presidential pardon power and how pardons have been used, abused, and debated across American history.

Rachel Potter

The presidential pardon power

Saikrishna Prakash

Trump has ‘99 problems’ heading into the midterms, but ‘money ain’t one’

An analysis from Robert A. Strong, a senior fellow with the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, found that the president’s party has lost seats in the House in 90% of the midterm elections over the past 80 years.

Robert Strong

Cuba’s looming inflection point

In the aftermath of the U.S. operation that removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has rapidly escalated pressure on Cuba, a move that appears aimed at provoking regime change on the island. On January 11, President Donald Trump urged Cuba’s leadership to “make a deal [with the United States] before it is too late,” while publicly signaling Washington’s intent to sever the last of Venezuelan oil support to the island.

Cristina Lopez-Gottardi Chao

How we can know the 2020 election wasn’t stolen

In a famous passage in Federalist No. 51, James Madison explains how the American system of checks and balances can protect us from tyranny: The three separate branches of government will compete, and each will have the ability to push back against abuses of power by the others. The pushback won’t happen because the leaders in Congress, the White House, or the courts are wise and virtuous; it will happen because they are ambitious.

Robert Strong