Energy Secretary Rick Perry has informed President Donald Trump that he will resign, Bloomberg first reported Thursday. The New York Times confirmed the news.
The Times and Politico reported earlier this month that Perry’s imminent resignation was expected.
Perry’s impending resignation will come as the energy secretary has been roped into the House impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump’s actions as President.
Perry is one of the so-called “three amigos” who witnesses have reportedly told the inquiry sidelined career diplomats in Ukraine, alongside EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland and former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker.
Perry led the American delegation to the inauguration of the newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration in May. This visit appeared in the anonymous whistleblower complaint about Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine.
Perry, the complaint alleged, “made clear” to Zelensky that he and Trump would not meet until Trump saw how Zelensky “chose to act” in office.
In one call with House Republicans that was later leaked to Axios, Trump actually blamed Perry for pursuing the call between Trump and Zelensky that became the center of the whistleblower’s complaint — and, after that, the beginning of the impeachment inquiry.
“The only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquefied natural gas] plant,” Trump reportedly told the GOP lawmakers. Perry later confirmed that he pushed Trump to connect with Zelensky, without confirming the details about natural gas.
Later, the Associated Press reported that Perry had pushed the Ukrainians to replace the entire board of the natural gas company Naftogaz. A spokesperson for Perry told AP that he did not “advocate for the business interests of any one individual or company.”
The energy secretary has been subpoenaed by the House impeachment inquiry for documents related to its probe. He wouldn’t say in an interview Wednesday whether he would comply with the subpoena or not.
