Trump loses another piece, Perry energy secretary resigns

2019-10-18T04:35:06.372Z

US energy secretary Rick Perry announced his resignation to President Donald Trump. The news was confirmed by the president himself, visiting Texas: "Very soon - Trump added - we will announce the successor". On the timing of the communication a little thriller was born: Trump's staff revealed that he wanted to be the president to announce it in Dallas, tonight, during a rally, instead the news was circulated in advance. It is not yet clear whether the minister will leave office in the next few days or towards the end of the year, added Trump. Perry, who joined the administration in 2017, had been at the center of rumors for possible resignations for months, but in recent weeks the situation has become tense. Perry became a key figure in the Ukraine case that broke out after a CIA informant revealed a phone call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky during which he was asked to investigate the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, and son Hunter. But it was Trump's declaration, on October 4th, that put Perry in an embarrassing situation: the president had revealed to the Republican leaders of the House that he had made the famous phone call to Zelensky only because the Energy Secretary had asked him for it. "Not many people know - the president confessed, according to the Axios agency - but I didn't want to make that phone call. The only reason is that Rick (Perry, ed) asked me. It was for something related to a plant of natural liquid gas ". Since that time Perry has been isolated within the administration. The resignation arrived a few hours after the statements made by the presidential chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who confirmed that Trump had asked the minister to collaborate with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on policies related to Ukraine. However, Mulvaney denied that the work was part of a "foreign shadow policy". The energy secretary, who has always denied having put pressure on Zelensky, had met the Ukrainian president three times.