(CNN)President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be his nominee for energy secretary, multiple transition sources told CNN Tuesday, which would make him head of an agency he once sought to eliminate.
Perry, twice an aspirant for the White House and for decades a swaggering figure in the Texas Republican Party, returns to the national limelight after his career in politics withered amid scandal and embarrassment.
If confirmed by the Senate, Perry will inherit a department that has focused on promoting clean energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels, but has also seen domestic production of oil explode. And his selection is a nod to the traditional GOP emphasis on energy sources like coal and oil.
I’ve always liked Perry and wished he would have run a better presidential campaign. He’s smart, tough, and conservative. It also helps that he’s an Aggie.
(CNN)Rick Perry said in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, earlier this week shows why gun-free zones are “a bad idea” and said he believes people should be able to take their firearms to the movies.
“I think that it makes a lot of sense to send a message across this country,” Perry said when asked by host Jake Tapper if the former governor believed a way to prevent such violence would be to allow moviegoers to take guns inside. “If we believe in the Second Amendment, and we believe in people’s right to protect themselves and defend themselves, and their families.”
John Russell “Rusty” Houser on Thursday shot 11 people, killing two, in a theater using a handgun he legally purchased from a pawn shop, authorities have said. Houser, who authorities say had a history of legal and mental problems, then turned the gun on himself.
“I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there’s as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette,” Perry said.
