Rick Perry is not cooperating with the impeachment inquiry — for now

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U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry won't testify in the House impeachment inquiry, the Energy Department announced Friday. Perry, who is expected to resign by the end of the year, was asked to participate in a closed-door deposition next week, but he's now the latest White House official to refuse to cooperate with the inquiry.

Perry — along with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former special representative to Ukraine — was put in charge of the Trump administration's Kyiv policy after the removal of Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in May, so the House was no doubt hoping he would shed some light on things like President Trump's interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and any possible requests to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. (Perry has insisted the Bidens have never come up in his conversations with Ukrainian officials nor with Trump, per CNN.) But it was to no avail. The Energy Department did indicate, however, that Perry would consider complying with the investigation in an open hearing.

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"If the committee is interested in conducting a serious proceeding they are welcome to send for the secretary's consideration an invitation to participate in an open hearing where the department's counsel can be present and the American people can witness," Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hines said. Read more at Reuters and CNN.