Rick Perry

Dear Commons Community,

On Thursday, Rick Perry made it official that he was resigning by the end of the year as Secretary of Energy amid the Ukraine scandal rocking President Trump.  The former Texas governor’s entanglements in the scandal came to the surface earlier this month when sources familiar with the situation told Axios that during a recent conference call with House Republicans, Trump said Perry had arranged his July 25th call with Zelensky.

Perry also told The Wall Street Journal this week that Trump directed him to communicate with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani about alleged corruption in Ukraine, showing how closely Perry is connected to Trump’s dealings with the foreign power.

An assistant to Rick Perry said yesterday that the outgoing Energy Secretary won’t comply with a subpoena from the House of Representatives as part of its impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.  The subpoena had also requested documents that Perry is refusing to provide.

In a letter to the three House Democrats who issued the subpoena last week, Assistant Secretary of Energy Melissa Burnison said the Energy Department is “unable to comply with your request for documents and communications at this time” and argued that items requested “are potentially protected by executive privilege” and thus require careful review before they can be shared.

Secretary Perry is getting out before he becomes completely complicit in the impeachment investigation.  He was trying to work out a lucrative energy deal for several Texas-based corporations when President Trump told him he had to go through Rudy Giuliani to negotiate it  with the Ukraine government.  Giulani screwed the whole deal up for Perry, for Trump and for everyone else involved.

They deserve to be in the same cell block when this is all over!

Tony

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