In the wake of recent reports that U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry intends to resign by the end of 2019, President Donald Trump on Friday revealed that he already has a replacement in mind to take over Perry’s cabinet position.
Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette will replace Perry upon his resignation, according to Politico .
Aside from experience gained in his current position as Perry’s number two, Brouillette has served on the board of Louisiana State Mineral and Energy, led policy teams at USAA and Ford Motor Company, and was former Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin’s chief of staff.
Trump praised Brouillette and his experience in a tweet after announcing his future promotion.
“Dan’s experience in the sector is unparalleled. A total professional, I have no doubt that Dan will do a great job!” Trump tweeted on Friday.
Brouillette reportedly has a reputation for being a pragmatic policy red tape-breaker in Washington, D.C. While working during former President George W. Bush’s administration, Brouillette was touted as a key person who helped lay the groundwork for what would become the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which helped bolster the Energy Department’s research and development authority.
Tauzin praised Brouillette’s ambition for helping the bill successfully pass both chambers of Congress on the heels of several failures.
“We had tried a number of times to do that, and it was only when I brought Dan in as chief of staff that we succeeded,” Tauzin said.
Trump’s seeming sense of urgency to have a replacement lined up to take Perry’s position comes as the energy secretary has emerged as a central figure in a House-led impeachment inquiry into the president’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Perry was the latest Trump official who refused to comply with a House-issued subpoena, after Democrats gave the former Texas governor until Friday to turn over any documents and information related to their impeachment investigation.
Perry’s office issued a letter to House Democrats at the compliance deadline echoing what Trump and other White House allies have consistently stated — that the impeachment inquiry isn’t valid without a proper vote in the House of Representatives.
“As the Supreme Court has long recognized, a Congressional committee cannot exercise the investigative power of the full House of Representatives unless it has that power through proper delegation,” the letter read.
House Democrats and critics claim the president used the July 25 phone call to Zelensky to pressure the leader into launching an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in a quid pro quo situation.
But Perry on Friday told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer that he doesn’t believe that was the case.
“There was no quid pro quo in the sense of what those folks out there would like for it to be,” Perry said.
