Texas Gov. Rick Perry's indictment makes him the third potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate accused of abusing the power of his office, complicating the party's search to find someone to take on Democrat Hillary Clinton, if she runs.
Perry, 64, was charged Friday on two felony counts by a Texas grand jury investigating his decision to cut off funding for the state's Public Integrity Unit, which was examining a cancer research-funding program championed by the governor.
Perry called the counts "outrageous" and made no apologies for his 2013 veto.
Perry made it clear he will finish his term that ends in January and said it was the investigation against him — and not his actions — that amounted to an abuse of power.
"We don't settle political differences with indictments in this country," Perry told reporters outside his office in the Texas Capitol. "It is outrageous that someone would use political theatrics to rip away at the very fabric of our state's constitution."
His legal problems follow continuing investigations involving Governors Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and could bolster the prospects of other Republicans contemplating White House runs, including U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
In the party's wide-open 2016 primary field, governors were viewed by Republican leaders as having an edge because of the low political standing of members of Congress. Now, Christie is facing multiple probes of politically motivated lane closures and traffic jams in September created by his administration. Walker has seen six former associates or aides convicted on charges ranging from doing political work on government time to stealing public funds.
The indictment itself isn't likely to affect Perry's presidential ambitions, said Dan Schnur, director of the University of Southern California's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics in Los Angeles.
