From Dallas Morning News
NEW YORK — Former Gov. Rick Perry is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Energy Department, according to news reports early Tuesday.
The former Republican campaign rivals met for about 90 minutes Monday. It’s unclear when the pick, reported by NBC News and ABC News, will be announced.
Energy is the department that Perry vowed to eliminate during the 2012 campaign but couldn’t remember in his infamous “oops” moment — a memory lapse during a 2011 GOP debate that hobbled his presidential ambitions. It’s unclear whether his mission in Trump’s administration would include disbanding the department.
Perry is expected to face scrutiny over his ties to the energy industry. When he left office, he joined the corporate boards of two companies run by Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren. And in his long Texas political career, he drew significant campaign donations from energy executives.
On Monday afternoon, Perry strode past reporters and photographers at Trump Tower, boarding an elevator without making eye contact. He returned to the lobby about 90 minutes later and bumped into retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, waiting for an elevator back upstairs. They chatted briefly. Perry flashed a thumbs-up to a passer-by. Then he walked off, again without talking with reporters.
He ignored a shouted question about whether he still wants to abolish the Energy Department.
Perry had his first interview at Trump Tower on Nov. 21, stoking rumors that Trump might find a spot in his administration for a man who, during the GOP primaries, called him a “cancer on conservatism.” Perry threw his support to Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Texan, as the field narrowed, but eventually came around and served as an enthusiastic campaign surrogate for Trump.
On Saturday, Perry and Trump met again at the Army-Navy football game.
He had stiff competition for the energy post.
Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, both Democrats, were also high on the list, which also reportedly included Dallas investor Ray Washburne. He’s a top financier for the Republican Party and the Trump campaign who also watched the Army-Navy game with Trump.
Manchin ascended the elevator at Trump Tower on Monday afternoon, shortly after Washburne left.
Washburne is a member of the transition team, a confidant of incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and a frequent visitor to Trump headquarters. He spent roughly an hour in the midtown skyscraper, accompanied by Tommy Hicks, another Dallas investor and campaign fund-raiser who is friends with Trump’s son Don Jr. He returned later.
Heitkamp is reportedly on Trump’s list for agriculture secretary, too. Luring her to join the Cabinet could yield big benefits for Republicans, who hold just 52 of 100 Senate seats. Her state is firmly Republican, and the party would have a good chance to pick up the seat in a special election.
Perry was Texas’ longest-serving governor. He left office in early 2015.
On his first trek to Trump Tower, last month, speculation raged that Trump was eyeing him for a number of Cabinet spots including Defense, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs. Perry was state agriculture commissioner before he became lieutenant governor, and he’s an Air Force veteran. Trump aides said afterward that they had discussed homeland and border security and immigration policy, along with military issues and the fight against ISIS.
Trump ended up picking retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for Pentagon chief.
Much of the Energy Department’s efforts in recent years have been focused on nuclear energy and handling and disposal of fissile material.
Obama’s energy chiefs have been top-rate scientists. The current secretary, Ernest Moniz, who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal, is a nuclear physicist who taught at MIT. He succeeded Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu, a Stanford University physicist who previously directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Trump aides would not confirm Perry’s selection in a daily transition briefing call Tuesday morning, but they told reporters to “stay tuned” for an announcement and said they are “big fans” of the former governor.
Though the aides said there will be a number of reforms that Trump will consider in office, they did not commit to following through on Perry’s suggestion of eliminating the department.
“It’s [Trump’s] agenda that’s being implemented, not somebody else’s,” said Trump spokesman Sean Spicer. “It’s not a vice-versa thing where we’re buying into their agenda. They’re buying into our agenda.”
Nevertheless, the conservative Club for Growth encouraged Perry to move forward with his proposal, describing the department as “little more than the government’s own venture capital firm.”
“Rick Perry will be a strong advocate for free-market energy policies, and the most important pro-growth step he could take at the Energy Department would be to fulfill his 2012 campaign pledge to eliminate it,” said Club for Growth president David McIntosh in a written statement.
Rep. Joe Barton, an Ennis Republican and longtime member of the House energy committee, called Perry “an excellent choice” to head the department in a written statement.
“Perry possesses a very strong energy background and has a track record of proven executive leadership,” Barton said. “I have known Rick Perry since we were classmates at Texas A&M University, and he has always been a man of character. America is an energy superpower, and Governor Perry’s expertise will be a valuable asset to the administration.”
