AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry has been booked on two felony counts of abuse of power for carrying out a threat to veto funding to state public corruption prosecutors.
Perry, who is mulling a second presidential run in 2016, turned himself in Tuesday at the Travis County courthouse. He vowed he’d fight the charges “with every fiber of my being.”
The Republican is accused of coercion and official oppression for publicly promising to veto $7.5 million for the state public integrity unit run by the Travis County district attorney’s office.
Perry threatened to veto the funding if District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg didn’t resign after a drunken driving conviction.
Lehmberg refused, and Perry carried out the veto, drawing an ethics complaint.
Perry was indicted last week by an Austin grand jury. He’s called the case a political ploy.