FOREIGN POLICY/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “One person stands out in the flurry of impeachment-related texts cascading onto Washington this week: The guy who says what’s happening is ‘crazy’ and that he might have to quit. William Taylor, the veteran diplomat in charge of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, is being hailed within foreign policy circles as a hero of sorts — a straight shooter who plays by the rules even in a chaotic political environment. In texts with two other top diplomats, Taylor objected to what some suspect to be an effort by President Donald Trump to withhold military aid to Ukraine until it investigated one of his political rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden. Whether Taylor knew those texts would one day be public is unclear, but friends and associates say that either in person or in print, he’ll tell you exactly what’s on his mind.”
–Nahal Toosi, “The U.S. diplomat who questioned Trump’s Ukraine scheme,” Politico, October 4, 2019 6:16 pm