Even though his vast number of opponents are obviously out to “harm” him, outgoing U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he doesn’t think President Donald Trump will be impeached over allegations he pressured Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son.
“People so dislike this president in a political way that they will spend whatever it takes, even to the point of giving up their own reputations, to try to harm him.”
The impeachment inquiry brought by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is looking into the allegations — which Trump has of course denied and railed against — for just the fourth time in U.S. history. House committees are looking to determine if Trump’s call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky violated the presidential oath of office by seeking foreign aid to investigate and damage a political opponent.
Biden, the former vice president under Barack Obama, is the front-runner in the Democratic primary, the winner of which will face Trump in the 2020 elections.
In Dubai over the weekend, Perry told CNBC he doesn’t think Trump will be impeached.
“No, not at all. This is as a big a ‘chasing the ghost’ as I’ve seen before,” Perry said. “People so dislike this president in a political way that they will spend whatever it takes, even to the point of giving up their own reputations, to try to harm him.”
Perry, who has met with the Ukrainians a number of times, said the goal was simply to give the country an energy supplier other than Russia.
When asked if Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, had become a liability and is only hurting the president, Perry said “I don’t know,” before adding that presidents take advice from outside their administrations all the time, as they should.
Trump said previously that the phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry was made at the behest of Perry, which his department confirmed but said it was only to discuss energy security.
Perry was hit with a subpoena by the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees. The committees’ demands for testimony and documents related to the phone call missed an Oct. 18 deadline and Perry said he doesn’t yet know if he’ll comply, and will heed the advice of Trump’s White House lawyers.
Perry has served as energy secretary since 2017 and will leave the administration at the end of the year.
