[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 187 (Thursday, November 21, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6738-S6739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Dan R. Brouillette

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, every Senator knows the House is now in the 
middle of an impeachment inquiry. Here in this Chamber, the Senate has 
been considering the nomination of Dan Brouillette to be Energy 
Secretary, replacing Rick Perry.
  In my view, questions about Secretary Perry's conduct in Ukraine--and 
what Mr. Brouillette may know about that conduct--tie this nomination 
to the impeachment inquiry in an important way. I have come to believe 
there are several significant unanswered questions about Secretary 
Perry's role in changing the board of a state-owned energy company 
called Naftogaz.
  What Secretary Perry, his campaign donors, and certain crooked 
associates of Rudy Giuliani stood to gain from those changes is 
something the Senate ought to be digging into. We have been hearing 
about Secretary Perry's role in Donald Trump's scheme with respect to 
withholding a meeting and military aid until Ukrainian President 
Zelensky agreed to interfere in the 2020 elections in the United 
States.
  The investigations seem to be piling up. Every time a new piece of 
information comes to light, it raises yet more and more questions about 
schemes that sure look, based on the facts, to be corrupt. Somehow, 
Secretary Perry seems to be making his way out the door without facing 
much, if any, scrutiny. Now the Senate is trying to fast-track his 
replacement.
  I will put it simply: Enough, enough. It is time for the Senate to 
get some answers instead of just saying everything is A-OK at the 
Energy Department.
  I am going to take just a few minutes to explain what this is all 
about. Mr. Perry is famously one of the ``three amigos'' who took 
control of U.S. ties with Ukraine under the direction of the President 
and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Secretary Perry attended 
President Zelensky's inauguration in May. They held a private meeting. 
It has been reported that Secretary Perry pushed President Zelensky to 
fire members of the board of Naftogaz--a Ukrainian energy giant--and 
replace them with Secretary Perry's own political donors.
  At a second meeting with Ukrainian government and energy sector 
officials, Secretary Perry reportedly said the entire board ought to be 
replaced. The Associated Press reported that one person who attended 
the meeting said that ``he was floored by the American requests because 
the person had always viewed the U.S. government `as having a higher 
ethical standard.' ''
  The changes Secretary Perry was seeking lined up with changes sought 
by two shady characters named Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of 
Rudy Giuliani's. They also wanted different leadership at Naftogaz.
  I am going to read now from an Associated Press report.

       As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last 
     spring to investigate one of Donald Trump's main political 
     rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and 
     his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet 
     republic. Their aims were profit, not politics.
       This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted 
     connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new 
     management at the top of Ukraine's massive state gas company. 
     Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies 
     controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with 
     knowledge of their plans.

  Federal prosecutors are now investigating Rudy Giuliani's role. A 
Naftogaz official is reportedly cooperating in the investigation, and 
some of Rick Perry's political donors did get a lucrative oil and gas 
deal in Ukraine after Perry began pressuring the Ukrainian President 
for changes.
  Perry admits he was in contact with Giuliani about Ukraine. It was 
also revealed in impeachment testimony that Perry was seemingly made 
aware in July of the Trump scheme where it seemed like everybody was 
involved in Ukraine.

  To get it straight, I think this is the bottom line: Secretary Perry 
has somehow managed to stay on the fringes of this whole scheme, but it 
sure looks to me like he was right at the heart of serious ethical 
compromises. President Trump has claimed he made the call to Ukraine's 
President that prompted the whistleblower's complaint at Perry's 
request. Everywhere you look in the Ukraine scandal, it looks like 
there is crooked behavior all over.
  I have a hard time believing that Secretary Perry booked his own 
flight for these meetings, sauntered out the back door of the Energy 
Department, and freelanced his own shady Ukraine policy without anybody 
knowing about it.
  That brings me back to the Brouillette nomination. Dan Brouillette is 
currently the Deputy Energy Secretary. He is the No. 2 person at the 
Department. He is the Deputy to the ``amigo.''
  At his confirmation hearing, sitting on the Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee, which I at one time chaired, I thought it was 
important to ask Mr. Brouillette some basic questions about what I have 
outlined here. What I wanted to know wasn't real complicated: Whom did 
Secretary Perry meet with regarding Ukraine and Naftogaz? He was a 
powerful guy, and he wielded major influence over a nation that is 
dependent on aid from the United States as it resists aggression by 
Russia. Who else was in the loop with Secretary Perry?
  Deputy Secretary Brouillette acknowledged in my questions only that 
there were meetings but provided no further details about who took part 
in them. In followup written questions, again, he just wasn't 
forthcoming. He wouldn't provide any answers.
  I am sending a letter to Deputy Secretary Brouillette to give him yet 
another chance to answer basic questions: To whom was Mr. Brouillette 
referring when he acknowledged Perry held meetings on seeking changes 
at Naftogaz; when and where did those meetings take place; to whom 
outside the Department did Secretary Perry speak regarding changes in 
Naftogaz and the substance of those communications; and then, whether 
Department staff were involved in meetings at which changes to Naftogaz 
leadership came up, who the staff were, and what materials were 
produced.
  I will make it clear, I find it implausible the Secretary of Energy 
was unstaffed on all this. I would think, for an important meeting like 
this, Secretary Perry would have individuals from the Department of 
Energy who were involved in these discussions that Mr. Brouillette has 
now acknowledged took place, but we can't get any names. We can't get 
any answers at all.
  I think it is seriously an error for the Senate to just rush to this 
nomination without getting answers to the questions I have outlined. 
Indictments are flying. Investigations reveal major wrongdoing. Every 
stone that gets overturned in this process reveals a lot more generally 
about a rotten scheme. It just seems to me that Secretary Perry is a 
significant figure in this scandal, and he is just trying to get out of 
dodge.
  To me, this ought to be an opportunity for this body, the U.S. 
Senate, to stand up and demand accountability from the Trump 
administration and all of those in the administration who can provide 
information that, I think, provides a modest amount of information--a 
modest amount of information--about discussions that could very well be 
relevant to this whole Ukraine scheme.
  Mr. Giuliani already had associates indicted. Just yesterday, there 
were differences of opinion in the testimony about what Mr. Perry's 
involvement was all about. Practically every day there are unanswered 
questions about this matter. Because I believe the Senate deserves to 
have answers to the questions I have raised, because I think this is 
just accountability 101 to have this information, I will be voting no 
today on cloture. My understanding is that no matter how the Senate is 
recorded today, there will be some opportunity over the holiday break 
for Senators, staff, and those who are doing investigative work on this 
to get more details. I certainly think that without the question I have 
been asking and the modest amount of information they would disclose--
information, frankly, I think Secretary Perry, the Energy Department, 
and the Trump administration could produce quite

[[Page S6739]]

quickly if they didn't want to spend the time stonewalling--I think 
given that, it is not responsible to advance this nomination through an 
affirmative cloture vote today, so I will be voting no. My hope is that 
over the next week or so, we can start to get some answers to these 
basic questions.

  I will tell you, I have just gone through five townhall meetings at 
home in rural and urban areas. Everybody I represent at home thinks 
there ought to be more accountability in Washington, DC, rather than 
less.
  Without answers to the questions I have outlined today, there is no 
question that with respect to accountability, the Senate, by voting 
cloture today, would be settling for less.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I am pleased that at any moment now, we 
will move to invoke cloture on the nomination of Dan Brouillette to be 
Secretary of Energy. As folks know, he is currently serving as our 
Deputy Secretary of Energy. In my view, he has excelled in that role 
since being confirmed by this body in a strong bipartisan vote back in 
August of 2017. He has run the Department on a daily basis. He has been 
helping Secretary Perry set an agenda that has been focused on energy 
security and technological innovation. He has been a good partner of 
the Energy Committee--honest, open, and responsive. I have certainly 
appreciated all of his leadership.
  We commend him to this body. He did very well in his nomination 
hearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I believe he 
will do very well in his new role. I encourage all Members to work with 
us to confirm him as soon as possible today.

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