The U.S. House officially voted to send articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate Wednesday, and an impeachment trial could begin as early as Tuesday.
But you might be forgiven if you forgot this all started back in August with a whistleblower's complaint about a phone call between Trump and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The complaint was major news, but speaking out against government impropriety isn't new in American politics.
Vermont Edition listens back to a conversation with Middlebury College professor Allison Stanger from September discussing her latest book, Whistleblowers: Honesty in America from Washington To Trump.
Stanger, who's on leave this year from Middlebury and is working as a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Edmund J. Safra Center for Ethics, said that despite our laws, whistleblowers often face relation for speaking up.
Also, we listen to back to a conversation about impeachment in American history. More than 45 years ago, President Richard Nixon was more than halfway through his second term when he became the first American president to resign.
Back in 2014, on the 40th anniversary of Nixon's resignation, Vermont Edition spoke with Kenneth Davis, author of the popular Don’t Know Much About… series of books, for a history and civics lesson on impeachment.
Broadcast on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020 at 7 p.m.
