Rick Perry, former Texas governor turned Trump-era energy secretary, teased the possibility of his third campaign for the White House during a TV appearance on Sunday.
The Republican told CNNthat he has not “written off” the idea of once more throwing his ten-gallon hat into the ring against former president, and his old boss, Donald Trump.
Mr Perry said that “a lot of time” remains before he needs to decide whether to declare his candidacy, adding that he isn’t yet on board with Mr Trump’s bid for a second term.
“If you’ll recall, I didn’t announce for president in 2011 until August, so we’ve got a lot of time left,” he told anchor Jim Acosta.
Asked whether he thinks the twice-impeached and indicted Mr Trump should be the GOP’s nominee against Joe Biden next year, he replied: “I’m still trying to sort that out for myself.”
Mr Perry added that Mr Trump “may get to hear me call him names again”, referring to primary debate clashes between the two men during the 2016 cycle.
“It’s early in the process, I think, for any of us to sit back and say, ‘I’m for this person or that person,’” Mr Perry said. “It certainly is something that I haven’t taken off the table, but the chances of it happening are probably a little bit slim.”
“There’s a lot of time left, and we’ll see how this all works out,” he added.
Mr Perry ran for president in the 2012 and 2016 elections. And despite infamously forgetting that he called for eliminating the Department of Energy during one 2011 debate, he was nonetheless tapped by Mr Trump to run that department in his administration.
The Texan was confirmed to that post shortly after Mr Trump was sworn in. He stepped down in 2019 amid controversy surrounding his role in the former president’s effort to use US military aid to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into announcing sham investigations into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Mr Perry also drew scrutiny for his actions in the run-up to January 6 attack on the US Capitol. A House Select Committee investigating the attack unearthed a text message that Mr Perry had sent to chief-of-staff Mark Meadows, advocating for state legislatures to ignore the popular vote and send pro-Trump electors to return the former president to the White House against the will of voters.
