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AUSTIN – Several members of the grand jury that indicted Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday that his claim the indictment was based more on politics than substance is unfair and disrespectful to the months of work they put in. The jury, which met weekly for four months, "really tried to keep an open mind and come to a fair decision given all the testimony that we heard," said Janna Bessin, one of the 12 Travis County residents appointed to serve on the grand jury. "It's too bad," Bessin said, calling the criticism unfair. "But I guess that his side's job...

Tuesday night the Houston Chronicle published a story about the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Those grand jurors who spoke with the Chronicle broke the law to do so, and they knew that they were breaking the law. They claimed that they were speaking to the newspaper to counter Gov. Perry’s “spin” on the case.That’s not the job of a grand jury, by the way.One of them is a woman named Rho Chalmers. Chalmers tried to get around her lawbreaking by attempting to build this wall of implausible deniability. Rho Chalmers, who name matches that of...

Rho Chalmers, who disclosed to the Houston Chronicle yesterday that she was a member of the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was an active delegate to the Texas Democratic Party convention during grand jury proceedings. Chalmers’ active participation in Democratic state politics is important because she claimed yesterday to the Houston Chronicle that her decision to indict Perry, a Republican, was not based on politics. “For me, it’s not a political decision,” Chalmers told the newspaper. “That’s what a grand jury is about – take the emotion out of it and look at the facts and make...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to turn himself into authorities Tuesday afternoon at a local Texas jail on the heels of his indictment for alleged abuse of power, a member of the governor's legal team told Fox News. The governor is expected to be processed quickly and to leave. He is not subject to an arrest warrant.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Mr. Snerdley walked in and said, "Boy, this thing with Rick Perry, can you believe what a farce?" It's not a farce, folks. Now, I'm not gonna be getting to Rick Perry right off the bat here, but I wanted to mention something about it to get it on the table. It's not a farce. It isn't a joke. Sadly, it's not even a laughing matter. This is dead serious. Not that he's done anything wrong. What's dead serious about this is the Democrat Party and their ongoing effort to criminalize political differences or opposition. All the...

A Texas judge opted Monday not to issue an arrest warrant against Gov. Rick Perry, but the Republican still faces the unflattering prospect of being booked, fingerprinted and having his mug shot taken — and has assembled a team of high-powered attorneys to fight the two felony counts of abuse of power against him. "This is nothing more than banana republic politics," Tony Buzbee a Houston-based defense attorney who will head a cadre of four lawyers from Texas and Washington defending Perry, said at a news conference. A grand jury in Austin, a liberal bastion in otherwise largely conservative Texas,...

AUSTIN, Texas -- In light of the malicious prosecution of Governor Rick Perry, Republican lawmakers are rushing to jump on the bandwagon opposing the Democrats politically motivated action. But several House Republicans loyal to liberal House Speaker, Joe Straus, bear responsibility for setting the stage leading to the indictments.

As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, a grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on two felony counts late Friday. Perry is the first Texas governor to be indicted in office since 1917. He was indicted for threatening to veto funds for the Public Integrity Unit of Travis County’s district attorney’s office, because the head of that office, District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, had been caught drunk driving, and was later caught on tape abusing her power to try to get out of the DWI charge. Though that office runs out of Travis County, it has statewide jurisdiction over elected officials...

Headline Only: NO ARREST WARRANT TO BE ISSUED FOR TEXAS GOV. RICK PERRY, OFFICIAL SAYS

John and Scott have commented on the indictment of Gov. Rick Perry. As they note, it fits a pattern of politically motivated indictments of prominent Texas Republicans. The Perry indictment also fits a pattern of harassment via the legal process of prominent Republican governors: Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and now Perry. What do these four have in common? Why, they all are (or were) potentially viable candidates for the national office. Invocation of the legal process against Christie may well be warranted. (So too with Bob McDonnell, whom I didn’t include in my list because, although once vaguely...

Joaquin Castro ✔ @JoaquinCastrotx Follow For the sake of Texas, Governor Perry should resign following his indictment on two criminal felony counts involving abuse of office. 5:58 PM - 15 Aug 2014 That didn’t take long. Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro on Friday night called for Gov. Rick Perry to resign “for the sake of Texas” just hours following the announcement of Perry’s indictment on two criminal felony counts involving abuse of office.

They say a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, and this always seemed like hyperbole, until Friday night a Texas grand jury announced an indictment of governor Rick Perry. The “crime” for which Perry faces a sentence of 5 to 99 years in prison is vetoing funding for a state agency. The conventions of reporting — which treat the fact of an indictment as the primary news, and its merit as a secondary analytic question — make it difficult for people reading the news to grasp just how farfetched this indictment is.

They say a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, and this always seemed like hyperbole, until Friday night a Texas grand jury announced an indictment of governor Rick Perry. The “crime” for which Perry faces a sentence of 5 to 99 years in prison is vetoing funding for a state agency. The conventions of reporting — which treat the fact of an indictment as the primary news, and its merit as a secondary analytic question — make it difficult for people reading the news to grasp just how farfetched this indictment is.

Governor Rick Perry refused to fund Lehmberg’s office. So on Friday Democrats decided to make a stand for drunk drivers everywhere and indict Governor Rick Perry. On Saturday Governor Rick Perry held a press conference. Rick stands by his decision. Here’s what the governor had to say about the indictment. “Here’s what I think is really important for the people to understand, not just Texans but this country. And, that is, we have seen an office in the form of the Travis County District Attorney’s office. The lead, legal individual for criminal affairs in this county and overseeing public officials...

In a sign that the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry for abuse of office and coercion may not be having the political effects some have hoped for, Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican junior senator from Texas, has taken to his Facebook page to express support for the governor. Cruz is considered a possible rival to Perry for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. However differences are being set aside, at least for the time being, to rally around Perry.“Unfortunately, there has been a sad history of the Travis County District Attorney's Office engaging in politically-motivated prosecutions, and this...

A Travis County grand jury Friday indicted Gov. Rick Perry on two charges related to his effort last year to force District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her drunken driving arrest.

The Republican governor is accused of abusing his official powers by publicly promising to veto $7.5 million for the state public integrity unit at the Travis County District Attorney's office. He was indicted by an Austin grand jury Friday.