WASHINGTON, June 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — One of the highest-ranking African Americans in the administration delivered a stinging rebuke to President Trump’s handling of racial unrest, announcing her resignation and accusing the president of confronting the country’s recent upheaval in ways that “cut sharply against my core values and convictions.”
Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs and a loyal aide since the start of Trump’s administration, said she will depart in the wake of Trump’s dismissive response to demands for racial justice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minnesota police officer.
“Moments of upheaval can change you, shift the trajectory of your life, and mold your character,” she wrote in a letter dated Thursday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, criticizing the president’s “comments and actions” about the protests around the country. “I must follow the dictates of my conscience and resign.”
Taylor is the first black woman and youngest person to serve in that position following her appointment in 2018.
Her departure is among the first high-profile resignations in protest of the president’s response to Black Lives Matter demonstrations that have gripped cities across the US in every state with demands for justice following the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans in police custody.
James Miller, a member of the Defence Science Board and a previous member of Barack Obama‘s administration, resigned following Trump’s photo op in which he held a bible outside St John’s Church after law enforcement fired tear gas and pepper spray at protesters to clear the president’s path.
Taylor’s exit from the Trump administration on Thursday also follows the resignations of two Pentagon officials this week: foreign policy official Kathryn Wheelbarger and acting comptroller Elaine McCusker.
Prior to her White House roles, Taylor worked in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office.
She aided in the confirmations of Pompeo, US Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, and CIA director Gina Haspel.
The Post reports that Taylor told her State Department staff on June 3, days following the killing of Floyd in Minneapolis, that her heart “is broken, in a way from which I’ve had to heal it countless times.”
She said his “horrific murder and the recent deaths of other Black Americans have shaken our nation at its core. Every time we witness these heinous, murderous events, we are reminded that our country’s wounds run deep and remain untreated … For our team members who are hurting right now, please know you are not alone. You are seen, recognised, heard, and supported. I am right here with you.”
Trump has been roundly criticized for inflaming the protests that erupted in American cities following Floyd’s death by writing tweets that endorsed hard-core police tactics and ordering the violent clearing of protesters around the White House before he held a photo op in front of a nearby church. — NNN-AGENCIES
