Rick Perry Indicted: Texas Governor Continues to Rally Support for Potential 2016 Presidential Campaign
Despite facing an indictment by a grand jury on two felony counts of abuse, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has continued to press on with his unannounced 2016 presidential campaign.
Last week, the Republican governor was indicted by the Travis County grand jury for allegedly threatening to veto $7.5 million of funding for the state's Public Integrity Unit, which is run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, unless she stepped down because she pleaded guilty to drunk driving.
Perry has not let that stop him from traveling around the country this week, where he paid a visit to Washington, D.C., to talk about immigration and the ongoing conflict in Iraq, reports CBS News.
Starting on Friday, he is scheduled to appear at six events in New Hampshire to talk about the job market and rally up the Republican base for the upcoming midterm elections this November.
Subsequently, he'll attend the Texas A&M vs. University of South Carolina football game in South Carolina and "Victory Tailgate" fundraiser for the state's GOP.
In response to the indictment, Perry has defended his decision to veto the funding.
"I stood up for the rule of law in the state of Texas, and if I had to do it again, I would make exactly the same decision," he said.
"We don't settle political differences with indictments in this country," he said at a news conference at Texas State Capitol on Saturday, reports the WSJ. "This indictment amounts to nothing more than abuse of power."
On Sunday, Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, pointed out that top-notch Democrats, like former Obama adviser David Axelrod, had called the indictment "sketchy."
"Across the board you're seeing people weigh in and reflecting that this is way outside of the norm. This is not the way that we settle differences, political differences in this country," Perry told "Fox News Sunday," CS Monitor reports. "You don't do it with indictments. We settle our political differences at the ballot box."
Perry supporters say that the governor has the right to cut state funding from agencies run by people who will not quit on his demand.
However, critics have called for the governor to resign.
"Governor Rick Perry has brought dishonor to his office, his family and the state of Texas. Texans deserve to have leaders that stand up for what is right and work to help families across Texas," the Texas Democratic Party in a statement said. "We call on Governor Perry to immediately step down from office."
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