Angry Perot Defends Claim of GOP Smear : Campaign: He assails Bush and media for questioning his assertion about plan to ruin daughter’s reputation.

An angry, agitated Ross Perot lashed out Monday at those in the Bush Administration and the news media who have questioned the truthfulness of his contention that he was driven out of the presidential race last July by a secret Republican plot to besmirch the reputation of his daughter.

“I am sick and tired of you all questioning my integrity without any basis for it,” declared Perot. “I don’t have to prove anything to you people.”

Perot’s son and aides were fielding questions from reporters at the candidate’s campaign headquarters when the Texas billionaire unexpectedly came into the room to offer a spirited defense of his own veracity. He said he had been watching the proceedings on television and wanted to set the record straight.

The Texas billionaire, who re-entered the race Oct. 1, acknowledged that he had no proof to support his charges that President Bush’s aides had been plotting a smear campaign to embarrass him and his daughter Carolyn last summer. But he emphasized that his suspicions were heightened because whenever he tried to question Bush’s top aides about the alleged plot, they refused to respond.

“Don’t you find it strange that at the highest levels of the Administration nobody ever called me back and said, ‘Ross, this didn’t happen?’ ” he asked.

Perot also defended his claim that five men believed to be Black Panthers working on behalf of the North Vietnamese were caught stalking his Dallas home about 20 years ago. But when he was asked for additional proof, he replied: “It’s none of your business. It has nothing to do with the presidential campaign.”

Meanwhile, the controversy over Perot’s allegations, which were first broadcast on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, appeared to be sapping some of the momentum that the independent candidate’s campaign had been building in recent days as a result of the positive public reaction to his performance in the presidential debates and his unique campaign commercials.

In Washington, political analyst Doug Bailey said Perot’s discussion of the alleged GOP dirty tricks campaign has only succeeded in reminding voters of reports last summer indicating that Perot was preoccupied by security and often investigated his associates.

“He has brought all that stuff back, and I’m not sure that serves his purpose,” Bailey said.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, responding to the allegations that the GOP was planning a smear campaign, described Perot as “a paranoid person who has delusions.” He said Perot had “latched on to this theory like other people latch on to UFO theories.”

Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton declined to get involved in the dispute, which he portrayed as strictly a clash between Perot and Bush. Clinton, who seemed relieved that it was a controversy that did not involve him, said he would rather discuss the issues.

“I don’t know what to say about it; it’s strange,” he said.

“You don’t interrupt your opponent when he’s making a fool of himself,” said Clinton campaign strategist Paul Begala.

On Sunday, in advance of the “60 Minutes” broadcast, Perot disclosed at a rally in Pittsburgh, Pa., that one of the reasons he dropped out of the race July 16 was because he had received reports that the Bush-Quayle campaign was planning to disrupt the August wedding of his daughter Carolyn and to release a doctored photo of her. Sources said Perot believed that the photo would purport to show his daughter in a sexual encounter with another woman.

Perot said he decided to withdraw from the race even though he had no proof these reports were true. He said he learned of the alleged plot from at least two unnamed high-level Republicans whom he trusted, as well as from Scott Barnes, a man described by the FBI as a publicity hound.

After he dropped out of the race, Perot said, he also received a report that the Republicans were planning to tap the telephone lines he uses to make computerized financial transactions. He said he turned that information over to the FBI, which is still investigating.

Bush Administration officials quickly denied the charges, insisted that the FBI had found no evidence to support them and ridiculed Perot for believing them.

Although Perot said he accepted their denials, he made it clear that he still suspects that the reports may have been true. If the reports were false, he asked, why did Administration officials ignore his repeated private requests for an explanation?

Perot said the President had canceled a meeting with him scheduled for Aug. 4 when he let it be known that he wanted to discuss the matter with Bush. He said that when he questioned a top-level Bush aide--apparently White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III--about the alleged plot, he got no response.

He said he also received no reply when he asked a top GOP official to look into the alleged wiretapping plot.

“On multiple occasions, the Republican Party had a chance to look me in the eye and say, ‘Ross, after you told us about this, we looked into it and there’s not a word of truth to it,’ ” Perot said. “Nobody ever brought it up. Meetings were canceled. People walked away. Nobody every came back. . . . Does that seem normal to you?”

His son, Ross Perot Jr., and James Squires, his former press secretary, confirmed Monday that Perot told them at the time of his withdrawal in July about the alleged plot to embarrass his daughter.

Squires noted that Perot at the time was the subject of many embarrassing news stories, including one alleging that he had investigated a Jewish professor who had dated another daughter while she was in college. He said these stories created an atmosphere in which Perot was prepared for dirty tricks.

“It obviously made him believe that they were going to do it,” he said.

But Fitzwater on Monday questioned why Perot continues to talk about these allegations now, even though he still has no proof of such a plot.

“He’s not offered any evidence,” the press secretary said. “He never saw the (doctored) picture. He won’t tell you who he talked to. The FBI said it’s wrong. Everybody that’s looked into this says there’s nothing to it. And this man who might be President of the United States continues to make these ludicrous charges.”

White House officials also denied Perot’s contention that they never responded when he asked them privately about these allegations. Baker told reporters in Denver, where Bush was campaigning, that the President’s wife, Barbara, assured Perot and his wife, Margot, during the last debate in East Lansing, Mich., that there was no truth to it.

“These are very serious charges,” Baker said. “If you are going to make these charges, you should provide evidence.”

In his tirade against the Administration and the press on Monday, Perot also questioned why some news reporters had ignored evidence that his yard was invaded in the middle of the night 20 years ago by five men believed to be Black Panthers working on behalf of the North Vietnamese.

Perot said the incident occurred after he was warned by the FBI that he had been targeted by this group for his work on behalf of American POWs in Vietnam. But he acknowledged that he never reported the intrusion to the FBI.

He recalled telling two associates, Murphy Martin and Tom Muir, about the incident the morning after the intruders were scared off by a guard dog, which took a bite out of one of them. He said the news media has since suggested that the incident never occurred, even though Martin and Muir have confirmed his story. He declined to name the guard who allegedly witnessed the event.

At the same time, Perot unveiled nine new 30-second and 60-second television commercials on Monday. Like his 30-minute commercials, which have been well-received, these ads show Perot talking about the nation’s problems. Several of them use film clips from the presidential debates.

Perot also aired a new 30-minute commercial Monday night in which he offered advice to Americans on how to create a small business. Much of the advice was drawn from Perot’s own highly successful business ventures.

Among other things, he advised aspiring small business people to write down their plans and dreams, hire people who are experts in their fields, respect even the lowliest, unskilled workers and not become preoccupied with titles.

RELATED STORIES: A14-16