REPORT: Rick Perry Plans To Step Down As DOE Secretary At The End Of The Year

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is preparing to step down as the Department of Energy secretary at the end of the year, Politico reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources.

Perry’s decision to leave has been in the works for months, anonymous sources tell reporters. They say Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette is expected to replace Perry, who’s managed to stay above the fray in President Donald Trump’s turbulent first term.

Perry led the U.S. delegation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration in May, according to a whistleblower who claims the president tried to strong-arm Ukraine into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden. Perry replaced Vice President Mike Pence as U.S. delegation.

DOE spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes directed the Daily Caller News Foundation to a past comment she made about the report. 

“While the Beltway media has breathlessly reported on rumors of Secretary Perry’s departure for months, he is still the Secretary of Energy and a proud member of President Trump’s Cabinet. One day the media will be right. Today is not that day,” Hynes said in the statement.

This is not the first time the media have suggested Perry was close to resigning. Bloomberg reported in April that Perry was completing his exit strategy from the Trump administration — the report was based on anonymous sources, who at the time said Perry’s resignation was not imminent. The DOE denied the report at the time.

“He is happy where he is serving President [Donald] Trump and leading the Department of Energy,” Hynes said on Twitter followers on April 17 .

Perry, who was a Trump critic during the 2016 election, unsuccessful attempted to push energy regulators into supporting coal power plants. He shifted course shortly thereafter, turning] his attention to promoting U.S. natural gas to foreign governments as a way of rebutting Russia’s dominance in that sector.