US Energy Secretary Denies Resignation Report

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Monday dismissed a media report that he was planning to resign in November, saying he had no plans to leave the job.

"Answer is no. I'm here. I am serving," Perry told reporters in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, when asked about a Politico report that he would resign next month.

"They've been writing the story that I was leaving the Department of Energy for at least nine months now. One of these days they'll probably get it right. But it's not today, it's not tomorrow, it's not next month."

Perry also confirmed that he encouraged President Donald Trump to talk to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky about energy issues.

"Absolutely, I asked the president multiple times: Mr. President, we think it is in the United States' and in Ukraine's best interest that you and the president of Ukraine have conversations, that you discuss the options that are there," Perry said.

A July phone call between Trump and Zelensky has triggered an impeachment inquiry into the US leader.

Trump is accused of having abused his powers by withholding US military aid in an attempt to pressure Zelensky into seeking damaging information on political rival Joe Biden.

Perry did not mention Biden at the conference Monday.

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