AUSTIN, Texas (TheBlaze/AP) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Saturday that the indictment against him was an "outrageous" abuse of power and vowed to fight it.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a news conference on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014, in Austin, Texas. at the indictment against him was an "outrageous" abuse of power and vowed to fight it. (Image source: AP/Austin American-Statesman, Rodolfo Gonzalez)
"It is outrageous that some would use partisan political theatrics to rip away at the very fabric of our state's constitution," Perry said at a news conference. "This indictment amounts to nothing more than abuse of power and I cannot and I will not allow that to happen."
Perry spoke a day after a grand jury indicted the Republican on two felony counts of abuse of power for making good on a veto threat.
The governor called his indictment "a farce of a prosecution," that it would be "revealed for what it is" and that those responsible would be held accountable.
"I intend to fight against those who would erode our state's constitution and laws purely for political purposes and I intend to win," Perry said.
The possible 2016 presidential hopeful is dismissing the charges as nakedly political. Perry is the first Texas governor since 1917 to be indicted.
The indictments are related to Perry vetoing funding for a Travis County unit investigating public corruption last year because the Democratic official heading the office refused to resign after being convicted of drunken driving.
The investigative unit is based in Austin, a heavily Democratic city where the grand jury was seated. The rest of Texas is heavily Republican.
Here's Perry's full statement to the media:
