“While the Beltway media has breathlessly reported on rumors of Secretary Perry’s departure for months, he is still the Secretary of Energy and a proud member of President Trump’s Cabinet”, Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes told the media on Friday. “One day the media will be right. Today is not that day”.
Maybe not. But “that day” will probably come sometime in the next week, or in the next month, because The New York Times and the Washington Post have both confirmed Politico’s initial reporting (from Thursday evening) that Perry is close to resigning.
Although Perry – one of the longest surviving members of Trump’s cabinet – has managed to keep a low profile and stay largely clear of scandals, standing in for Mike Pence at the inauguration for Ukraine’s President Zelensky has put the former Texas governor at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
Read more: Pompeo Accused Of ‘Illegal Witness Intimidation’; Mike Pence, Rick Perry Questioned
Senator Bob Menendez this week sent a letter to Perry seeking information about that trip, which came right, smack in the middle of Trump’s efforts to work through both official (in Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland) and unofficial (in Rudy Giuliani) channels to let the Zelensky government know that friendly relations with Washington hinged in part on Ukraine opening investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden.
During a briefing with lawmakers on Thursday, Volker produced text messages which suggest that he and Sondland drafted a statement for Zelensky in August that would have committed the Ukraine government to the probes.
There is no evidence that Perry was personally involved in any wrongdoing, but his trip to Ukraine for Zelensky’s inauguration means he’ll likely be compelled (figuratively and literally) to answer a lot of questions. He was mentioned in the subpoena served to Giuliani earlier this week and, according to a memo from Elijah Cummings, House Democrats are likely to ask Mick Mulvaney to produce communications involving Perry in a forthcoming subpoena to the White House.
Despite dodging personal scandals while working for the administration, Perry’s was hardly a tenure free of buffoonery. “Perry eagerly took the lead in Trump’s effort to resurrect the struggling coal industry, but his bid to persuade energy regulators to establish financial support for coal power plants was soundly rejected by the bipartisan Federal Energy Regulatory Commission”, Politico reminds you, adding that when “he shifted his attention to promoting US supplies of coal, oil and natural gas to foreign governments, his earnestness often drew mockery, including his references to American natural gas as ‘molecules of US freedom'”.
The Times rather dryly notes that back in April, the Energy Department issued a “Game of Thrones”-themed video in which Perry declared, “A new American energy era is coming”.
Now, “a new era” at the department of American energy “is coming”, probably led by deputy energy secretary Dan Brouillette.
Don’t let it be lost on you that in 2015, Perry called Trump’s MAGA campaign “a cancer on conservatism”. He was right.
He also famously promised to shut down the energy department had his 2012 presidential campaign been successful. During a Republican primary debate, Perry attempted to list the three departments he would close. He remembered Commerce and Education, but came up empty on the third. “I can’t [name] the third one, sorry. Oops”, he said.
I suspect those who have not engaged in wrongdoing on the president’s behalf or have not particularly benefited from any Trump Bump are weighing their commitments to him very carefully now.
He has always been “all hat and no cattle” as we say here in Texas.