Perry defends urging Trump to make call in impeachment focus

Outgoing U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Saturday that he asked President Donald Trump to make the phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry because it was “important” for the country’s energy needs and had nothing to do with former Vice President Joe Biden or his son Hunter. Perry told The Associated Press that he urged Trump to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to offer Ukraine “an alternative to Russian gas” and said he never once heard the word Biden or Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that once employed Biden’s son. The impeachment inquiry is investigating whether Trump was withholding military aid unless Zelenskiy went public with a promise to investigate the Bidens.