'Mr President, I've got a few scores to settle': Outed CIA agent targets Trump in glossy new campaign ad
Valerie Plame's ad is a little like an action film
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Your support makes all the difference.A former CIA agent whose career was ended by a man later pardoned by Donald Trump has vowed to "settle scores" with the president in a glossy advert for her campaign for Congress.
In the action-packed movie-inspired commercial, Valerie Plame, whose identity was revealed in a political scandal during the the George W Bush administration, describes her family’s history of military service and affirms her position as a direct opposition to the Trump administration.
“I was an undercover CIA operative,” she says. “My assignment was preventing rogue states and terrorists from getting nuclear weapons.”
Ms Plame, who is running as a Democrat in New Mexico, then highlights Mr Trump’s 2018 pardon of Scooter Libby, a top aide to former vice president Dick Cheney who was convicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice following Ms Plame’s identity leak.
After driving a car backwards and around in a Fast and the Furious-esque circle, Ms Plame, who wears turquoise jewellery in the spot in a nod to New Mexico’s signature gem, ends with a direct challenge to Mr Trump.
“I’ve got a few scores to settle,” she says to the camera before breaking into a smile.
Ms Plame announced her candidacy in May, listing the high cost of healthcare as a major issue. She has since endorsed the Green New Deal, calling climate change an “existential threat”. Her campaign is also heavily focused on rebuilding the American public education system and supporting clean energy jobs.
She moved from Washington DC to New Mexico with her family following her outing in 2003. Her identity was revealed in an effort to discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson IV, who had publicly questioned the George W Bush administration’s reasons for beginning the Iraq War.
She has since written a memoir, called Fair Game, which was made into a movie in 2010. She’s also released two novels with themes around spies.
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