From an article in the Intercept:

Senators, generals, ambassadors, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the owner of The Atlantic were in the roster of powerful voices who wrote to a federal judge to ask him to go easy on former CIA director and retired general David Petraeus, who admitted to giving classified information to his mistress and biographer.

There is a stark and terrible contrast between how people already in power is treated compared to the whistleblowers that does not have these powerful connections. Read the full article.