Mary Elizabeth Taylor is an American political aide who served as the

Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs within the United States Department of State. List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Legislative Affairs External linksList of Assis ...

from 2018 to 2020. She resigned on June 18, 2020 in protest of the handling of the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

. She previously served in the Trump White House as the Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs of Nominations.

Early life and education

Taylor is a native of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She earned a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

and interned at

Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in th ...

as a college student.

Career

Early political career

Taylor began her career in Capitol Hill as an

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in July 2006. She also worked in the Senate Republican cloakroom as a Senior Cloakroom Assistant. Taylor previously worked as an aide to

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConne ...

Trump administration

Taylor served in the Trump White House as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. In March 2017, she gained

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

attention for her presence at the

confirmation hearing A United States congressional hearing is the principal formal method by which United States congressional committees collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. Whether confirmation hearings (a procedure unique ...

s of

Neil Gorsuch Neil McGill Gorsuch ( ; born August 29, 1967) is an American lawyer and judge who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and has served since ...

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is any member of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 18 ...

. Taylor worked on Gorsuch's nomination team when he met with U.S. senators before the confirmation hearings. In December 2018, Gorsuch officiated at Taylor's formal swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Department of State. In 2018, she was listed on the ''

Forbes 30 under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...

'' list.

Department of State

In 2018, Taylor was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs. Confirmed unanimously by the Senate in October 2018, Taylor became the first African-American woman and youngest to serve in this role, and the only African-American senior official in the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

= Trump-Ukraine Scandal

= In May 2019, members of Congress criticized President Trump's abrupt recall of Ambassador

Marie Yovanovitch Marie Louise "Masha" Yovanovitch (born November 11, 1958) is a Canadian-American former diplomat and retired senior member of the United States Foreign Service. She served in multiple State Department posts, including Senior Advisor to the Under ...

from her post in Ukraine after Trump surrogates claimed that Yovanovitch, a career diplomat, was impeding Trump's efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate his political rival Joe Biden. Yovanovitch testified she had originally been asked in March 2019 to extend her tour in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

through 2020 before her sudden recall in May. But on June 11, 2019, Taylor misled federal lawmakers about the circumstances of Yovanovitch's recall, writing instead that Yovanovitch had been "due to complete her three-year diplomatic assignment in Kyiv this summer" and that the date she left her post "align dwith the presidential transition in Ukraine," despite the fact the State Department has no common practice of changing ambassadors based on transitions in foreign leadership. Taylor also failed to mention that Yovanovitch had been previously asked to extend her post in Ukraine.

Resignation

On June 18, 2020, Taylor submitted her resignation from the State Department in response to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

's handling of

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

following the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Mary Elizabeth Date of birth missing (living people) Living people White House staff African-American women in politics United States presidential advisors Bryn Mawr College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women United States Assistant Secretaries of State Trump administration personnel