Perry doubles down on defense

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) took his defense of actions that resulted in an indictment to the morning talk shows on Sunday, and cited former Obama adviser David Axelrod’s support.

Perry was indicted Friday for allegedly abusing his power in threatening to veto money for a public corruption unit unless its overseer, Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, resigned following a drunk driving arrest. She refused and Perry vetoed the money.

{mosads}“I had lost confidence in her, the public had lost confidence in her and I did what every governor has done for decades, which is make a decision on whether or not it was the proper use of state money to go to that agency and I vetoed it,” Perry said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I stood up for the rule of law in the state of Texas. If I had to do it again I would make exactly the same decision.”

On Saturday, Axelrod, a former White House senior adviser to President Obama, tweeted that the indictment “seems pretty sketchy.” 

Unless he was demonstrably trying to scrap the ethics unit for other than his stated reason, Perry indictment seems pretty sketchy.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 16, 2014

Perry quoted that tweet and added, “I think across the board you hear people… reflecting that this is way outside of the norm, this is not the way that we settle differences, political differences in this country.”

Asked about his trips to Iowa, stoking speculation that he will run for president again in 2016, Perry said he was focused on the midterms and helping the Republican Senate candidate in Iowa, Joni Ernst. 

“I hope that I can be very helpful between now and the fourth of November so that  Joni Ernst will go to the Senate,” he said.

“Between now and November the fourth is what I’m focused on, 2016 will take care of itself,” he added.