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Attorney in whistleblower case has ties to Rochester

www.markzaid.com

An attorney who is involved in the current whistleblower case that is part of the impeachment investigation has ties to Rochester.

Mark Zaid is not from Rochester, he’s a Long Island native, but he looks back very fondly on his undergrad days at the University of Rochester.

Zaid is in town this weekend as part of a college reunion. He graduated in 1989, and then attended Albany Law School.

Now, Zaid heads up a law firm in Washington, D.C. which does a lot of work involving national security and whistleblower issues.

And he is representing the whistleblower whose complaint helped spur an impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s actions.

Zaid can’t speak too specifically about that case, but did talk about the importance of having an environment that allows whistleblowers to come forward.

“The process has been shown to work, that is really key, and we need to make sure that, that process stays intact so that others may come forward in the future. And I’m not talking about come forward against President Trump, I’m talking about coming forward against anyone in power in the United States government whether Republican or Democrat,” Zaid said.

Zaid says there has to be an atmosphere where people can speak up, when there’s something going on they feel should not be happening.

“There is a need for an individual to be able to tell those in power, without fear of retaliation, that something wrong is being  perpetrated by someone,” Zaid said.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.