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Gov. Perry Gets Booked At Texas Courthouse After Indictment

Texas Gov. Rick Perry arrives at the Blackwell Thurman Criminal Justice Center on Tuesday in Austin, Texas.
Eric Gay
/
AP
Texas Gov. Rick Perry arrives at the Blackwell Thurman Criminal Justice Center on Tuesday in Austin, Texas.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry went to a courthouse to be booked after being indicted by an Austin grand jury on Friday for alleged abuse of power.

As we've reported, critics say Perry overstepped his authority by carrying out a threat to veto funding for a public corruption office. He had called on Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to step down after a drunken-driving charge, and said he would deny funding from the public corruption office. And that's exactly what he did when she refused to resign.

Perry has been defiant all along, and reiterated his innocence in front of the courthouse Tuesday.

"I'm here today because I believe in the rule of law," he said to a crowd of supporters. He added that what he did was "not only legal, but right."

"I'm going to fight this injustice with every fiber of my being," he said. "And we will prevail."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Dana Farrington is a digital editor coordinating online coverage on the Washington Desk — from daily stories to visual feature projects to the weekly newsletter. She has been with the NPR Politics team since President Trump's inauguration. Before that, she was among NPR's first engagement editors, managing the homepage for NPR.org and the main social accounts. Dana has also worked as a weekend web producer and editor, and has written on a wide range of topics for NPR, including tech and women's health.

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