Texas Gov. Rick Perry is firing back at critics following his indictment by a grand jury on two felony counts of abuse of power and coercion for allegedly trying to pressure a public official to resign.

The Travis County grand jury indictment issued Friday stems from the Republican governor's threat to veto $7.5 million of funding for the state's Public Integrity Unit, which is run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, unless she stepped down after she pleaded guilty to drunk driving.

Lehmberg's office investigates statewide allegations of corruption in politics and government. However, Perry, a potential GOP candidate in the 2016 presidential election, promised to block Texas from funding the unit while Lehmberg remained in charge, reports the Washington Post.

"The person charged with ultimate responsibility of that unit has lost the public's confidence," Perry said at the time of his veto, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In response, Texans for Public Justice, a liberal watchdog group, filed an ethics complaint, alleging that Perry had broken the law by trying to coerce Lehmberg into resigning by using the threat of slashing her office's funding.

However, Perry defended his decision to veto the funding.

"I stood up for the rule of law in the state of Texas, and if I had to do it again, I would make exactly the same decision," he said. 

"We don't settle political differences with indictments in this country," he said at a news conference at Texas State Capitol on Saturday, reports the WSJ. "This indictment amounts to nothing more than abuse of power."

On Sunday, Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, pointed out that top-notch Democrats, like former Obama adviser David Axelrod, had called the indictment "sketchy."

"Across the board you're seeing people weigh in and reflecting that this is way outside of the norm. This is not the way that we settle differences, political differences in this country," Perry told "Fox News Sunday," CS Monitor reports. "You don't do it with indictments. We settle our political differences at the ballot box."

Perry supporters say that the governor has the right to cut state funding from agencies run by people who will not quit on his demand.

His attorney David L. Botsford called the indictment a "political abuse of the court system." He added that the action "violated the separation of powers" and "sets a dangerous precedent by allowing a grand jury to punish the exercise of a lawful and constitutional authority afforded to the Texas governor," reports CNN.

However, critics have called for the governor to resign.

"Governor Rick Perry has brought dishonor to his office, his family and the state of Texas. Texans deserve to have leaders that stand up for what is right and work to help families across Texas," said the Texas Democratic Party in a statement. "We call on Governor Perry to immediately step down from office."