Perry tells Trump he will resign as energy secretary

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has reportedly said he would resign only one day before the deadline set for him to turn over documents in the impeachment probe to Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Perry, one of the administration’s original cabinet secretaries, notified President Donald Trump of his decision on Thursday, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The former Texas governor has recently come under pressure in the House impeachment inquiry over his discussions with Ukraine, with White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney saying on Thursday that Trump had directed him to work on Ukraine policy with the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani

House Democrats, spearheaded by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, launched last month the impeachment inquiry of Trump after a whistleblower’s disclosure of the president’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which Trump allegedly sought Ukraine’s help to smear Biden.

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Trump reportedly urged Zelensky about eight times during the phone call to work with Giuliani to investigate government corruption involving Biden and his son, Hunter.

The US president dismissed the Ukraine allegations as another witch-hunt attempting to smear his already tarnished reputation and damage his popularity as the Americans get closer to the 2020 presidential election.

Perry, whose resignation had been anticipated for several weeks, said earlier this week that he had no plans to resign, despite a media report that he was expected to announce his resignation in November.

Meanwhile, Trump told an event in Texas later on Thursday that Perry would resign by the end of the year.

“Rick and I have been talking for six months. In fact, I thought he might go a bit sooner,” Trump said. “But he’s got some very big plans. He’s going to be very successful. We have his successor. We’ll announce it pretty soon.”

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