Five Whistleblowers on What It Takes to Risk It All
The impeachment of Donald Trump began with a whistleblower. What kind of person is willing to lose everything to reveal the truth?
On August 12, 2019, an unnamed whistleblower submitted a nine-page letter to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The letter-writer, a Trump administration insider, described a now-infamous phone call in which President Donald Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden. This quid pro quo struck at the heart of Trump’s presidency. It spurred weeks of investigations that have led here, to Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.
While the Ukraine whistleblower has so far chosen to remain anonymous, others who’ve been in a similar position — putting their lives on hold to expose corruption — understand what the inside of that crucible is like. GEN spoke with five whistleblowers about how it felt to weigh commitment to their values against their own solvency, status, and well-being. Telling the truth upended not just their everyday lives, but often their faith that institutions could live up to their founding principles.
These whistleblowers, from a variety of professional backgrounds, showed a resolute willingness to do what most of us…
