The White House resorts to character assassination of courageous public servants

UNABLE TO answer the mounting evidence that President Trump abused his office to advance his reelection campaign, the White House is resorting to character assassination. Following reports of the congressional testimony Tuesday of William B. Taylor Jr., the acting ambassador to Ukraine, a statement attributed to press secretary Stephanie Grisham described “a coordinated smear campaign from far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution.” We’ll let House Democrats defend themselves. But the attempt to sully Mr. Taylor’s reputation, and that of other government servants who have testified in the Ukraine affair, is ludicrous — and vile.

For the record: Mr. Taylor has served his country with distinction for 50 years. After graduating from West Point, he was deployed for six years as an infantry officer, including with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. Later he worked at NATO and as a State Department diplomat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Ukraine, where he was first appointed ambassador by George W. Bush.

In his testimony Tuesday, Mr. Taylor recounted that, after being asked to return to Kyiv earlier this year by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he approached a former senior Republican official for advice. He said “the mentor counseled: ‘If your country asks you to do something, you do it — if you can be effective.’ ” Despite the strong opposition of his wife, the 72-year-old Mr. Taylor accepted the assignment.

View the complete October 23 commentary from The Washington Post Editorial Board on their website here.