Members of the George W. Bush administration, in an infamous act of political retribution, forced Valerie Plame Wilson into the public spotlight 12 years ago when they outed her as a covert CIA operative. Now she says GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign is trying to recruit her for a new bit of political intrigue.
Plame Wilson, who moved to Santa Fe nine years ago, said Friday that a Trump campaign official offered her what was characterized as a chance to get back at former Bush administration adviser Karl Rove, a political adversary of the billionaire businessman as he seeks the GOP nomination for president.
In a Facebook posting, Plame Wilson wrote, “Okay…this actually happened…someone from the Trump camp contacted me to see if I would give The Donald my support as a way of getting back at Karl Rove. You can’t make this stuff up, folks!”
Plame Wilson said she received a short email Thursday that asked her to contact the Trump campaign to aid his candidacy and to get “Justice for Mr. Rove.”
Requests to the Trump campaign for comment were not returned Friday.
“I kind of lost the thread there,” she said of the emailed approach. “Maybe I’m slow, but I don’t get the connection.”
Rove was a top White House adviser when her identity as a CIA operative was leaked to the media as part of an effort to rebut allegations by her husband — administration critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson — that the White House manipulated intelligence to make a case for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
In recent weeks, Rove and Trump have been trading shots in the media.
A post on Trump’s Twitter profile in July read, “Why do people listen to clown @KarlRove on @FoxNews? Spent $430M & lost all races—a Bushy!”
Rove — the architect in George W. Bush’s rise through the ranks from Texas politics — sent his own jab whistling by the real estate mogul’s jaw on the eve of Thursday’s Republican candidate debate. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Rove undercut Trump’s conservative credentials with a list of changes in positions that painted him as liberal and out of step with the GOP’s core values.
While Trump is competing for the nomination with Bush’s brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — and thwarting such a campaign might be seen by political observers as a victory for one treated so harshly by the former president’s staff — Plame Wilson would be an unlikely Trump supporter.
“He’s so over the top, and arrogant and nasty,” Plame Wilson said in a telephone interview Friday with The New Mexican. She wouldn’t be surprised, she said, to see negative comments about her on Trump’s Twitter feed.
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is more to Plame Wilson’s liking and, if asked, she and her husband would serve as surrogate speakers on the campaign trail for the former secretary of state, she said.
Plame Wilson described Clinton as someone who could “walk through fire.”
As a CIA operative, Plame Wilson worked against nuclear proliferation. In her private life, she continues to be active in efforts to eliminate such weapons. A recent viral video in which she appeared has been viewed more than 2.5 million times, she said.
While she understands that many are drawn to the Trump campaign because of his blunt style, Plame Wilson said she believes that could eventually spell doom for the campaign.
“I’m just a citizen watching it all,” she said.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/plame-wilson-trump-campaign-reached-out-for-her-support/article_e786a99b-0386-5939-b469-a553017d4cde.html
