AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry was defiant Tuesday as he was booked on abuse-of-power charges, telling dozens of cheering supporters that he would “fight this injustice with every fiber of my being.”

The Republican, who is mulling a second presidential run in 2016, was indicted after carrying out a threat to veto funding for state public corruption prosecutors. He has long called the case a political ploy.

“And we will prevail,” Perry said before walking inside the Travis County courthouse, where he set off a metal detector but didn’t break stride as he headed toward an office to have his fingerprints and mug shot taken.

In less than 10 minutes, the longest serving governor in Texas history was outside again.

“We don’t resolve political disputes or policy differences by indictments,” he said. “We don’t criminalize policy disagreements. We will prevail.”

And he isn’t letting the case keep him from traveling to the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina over the next two weeks. After his 2012 presidential bid flopped, he opted not to seek re-election as governor – leaving him more time to focus on rehabilitating his image nationally.

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If convicted, Perry could face 109 years in prison – though no one disputes that Perry has the right to veto any measures passed by the state Legislature.

But the complaint against Perry alleges that by threatening a veto and trying to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign, he coerced her. The Republican judge assigned to the case has assigned a San Antonio-based special prosecutor who insists the case is stronger than it may appear.

Perry’s team of high-powered attorneys are being paid with state funds.

Top Republicans have been especially quick to defend Perry, since a jail video following Lehmberg’s April 2013 arrest showed her slurring her words, shouting at staffers to call the sheriff, kicking a cell door and sticking her tongue out. Her blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit for driving.


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