...AND UGLIER...:

"As I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Taylor texted former U.S Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, in early September, according to previously released messages.

House Democrats now have a golden opportunity to press Taylor about exactly what was said on that July 25 phone call -- and for his take on the "crazy" diplomatic overture.

Taylor was sent to Kyiv in June to serve as the top American diplomat to Ukraine on a temporary basis after the abrupt ouster of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in May.

Yovanovitch's removal came at the urging of Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney. Her sudden recall to Washington alarmed career State Department officials, who have been deeply critical of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for not supporting her more forcefully in the face of what's been widely seen as a right-wing smear campaign against her in the media.

Taylor's appointment to replace Yovanovitch made sense, on paper: He was already deeply familiar with Ukraine, having served as U.S. ambassador in Kyiv from 2006 to 2009. Prior to returning to Kiev, he was working in D.C. as executive vice president for the U.S. Institute for Peace.

But he hardly fit the profile of someone prepared to work with Giuliani's back-door pressure campaign on Ukraine, and appeared to clash with his counterparts, Sondland and Volker.

Taylor's text messages suggest he was deeply uncomfortable with their discussions.

He warned Sondland and Volker that Ukraine's president was sensitive to his country "being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington domestic, reelection politics."

At another point, he raised the prospect of quitting if aid to Ukraine wasn't released.

Multiple former State Department officials who spoke with VICE News described Taylor as a straight-shooting, non-partisan career diplomat.

Taylor is "very loyal to public service and he knew Ukraine inside and out," and would be "outraged" by the notion that military aid to Ukraine "was tied to the notion of an investigation into our election, either 2016 or into the Bidens," Tara Sonenshine, a former undersecretary of State in the Obama administration who worked closely with Taylor, told VICE News.

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