Perry under the bus

October 7

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Monday contradicted news reports of his impending resignation from last week, and disputed new reports of his involvement in Trump administration activities with Ukrainian government officials at the heart of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Perry’s comments at a Vilnius, Lithuania press conference are his first since Thursday’s reports from Politico and The Washington Post, citing multiple anonymous sources saying that he intended to resign in November. “They’ve been writing the story that I was leaving the Department of Energy for at least nine months now,” Perry said.

“One of these days they'll probably get it right. But it’s not today. It’s not tomorrow. It’s not next month,” he added, directly contradicting last week’s reports.

[...]

In a Friday interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Perry said that during conversations with Trump officials including attorney and key Ukraine scandal figure Rudy Giuliani, state department official Kurt Volker, U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland and others, “not once, as God as my witness, not once was a Biden name, not the former vice president, not his son, ever mentioned.”

No public evidence has emerged indicating that Perry was involved in Trump’s demand for an investigation into the Biden family.

[...]

But over the weekend, a new Associated Press report highlighted Perry’s involvement in another Trump administration effort in Ukraine, to force state natural-gas company Naftogaz to appoint two U.S. businessmen with ties to Donald Trump to its advisory board.

[...]

Perry took time in his Monday press conference to dispute the AP report. “The idea that the AP story basically said that we said, ‘You put these people on there’ is just not correct. That was a totally dreamed-up story, best I can tell,” he said. “We gave recommendations at the request of the Ukrainian government and will continue to.”

Perry also acknowledged that reports that Trump, in a Friday call with Republican lawmakers, had named Perry as the instigator of his June phone call with Zelenskiy were "true.” But he characterized that conversation as being centered on advancing U.S. energy industry interests in Ukraine, including the potential for liquefied natural gas exports.

  Green Tech Media

October 17

Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced Thursday that he will leave his job by the end of the year, saying that under President Donald Trump the nation is nearing energy independence.

[...]

In a letter to Trump, Perry made no mention of Ukraine and exalted policy successes that have led to increased production and exports of oil and natural gas.

"The U.S. private sector is leading the world in energy production, exploration and exports," Perry said. "Today, when the world looks for energy, they can now think of America first."

Trump said Perry "has done a fantastic job" at Energy, "but it was time" for him to leave.

  Yahoo

Oh, it was time, alright.

[Perry] was traveling with Trump to Texas when he notified the president of his decision aboard Air Force One.

And what they mean by that is when Trump notified him "it was time."

Trump said he already knows who will succeed Perry, but declined to identify the person.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment.

House Democrats have subpoenaed Perry for documents related to a Ukrainian state-owned energy company as well as his involvement in a July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The lawmakers set a Friday deadline.

[...]

The Associated Press reported this month that a circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted their connections to Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as they sought to install new management at the top of Ukraine's state-owned gas company last spring.

The plan hit a snag after Zelinskiy's election, but Perry took up the effort to install a friendlier management team at the company, Naftogaz. Perry attended Zelinskiy's May 2019 inauguration as the administration's senior representative and met privately with Zelinskiy. He has denied any wrongdoing.

We have an entire corrupt political apparatus that thinks there's nothing wrong with unconstitutional activity and other crimes.

How I wish Molly Ivins were still here.