Donald Trump is targeting GOP presidential rival Ted Cruz on immigration in the real estate tycoon’s first real attack ad of his campaign, a little over a week before the Iowa caucuses.
The 60-second ad released Friday, titled “Clear Difference,” paints Cruz as flipping his position on immigration, accusing the Texas senator of being “pro amnesty.”
{mosads}The ad opens with Fox News anchor Bret Baier pressing Cruz in a December interview about Cruz’s comments on immigration reform in 2013, stating, “It sounded like you wanted the bill to pass.”
Cruz, who is normally sharp in his comebacks, stumbled through his answer, “Of course I wanted the bill to pass — my amendment to pass.” Baier interjected, “You said the bill.”
“What my amendment did is take citizenship off the table, but it doesn’t mean, what it doesn’t mean is that I supported other aspects of the bill,” Cruz continued.
“What is he talking about?” text in the Trump ad flashes across the screen as the video shifts to Cruz’s 2013 remarks saying, “I want immigration reform to pass and that allows those who are here illegally to come out of the shadows.”
Text in the ad overlaid on video of Trump says he will “end illegal immigration” and “secure our borders.”
Trump’s campaign said it would spend $2 million to run the ad for two weeks in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, according to The Washington Examiner.
Cruz has responded with an ad slamming Trump on eminent domain, using Trump’s own remarks that he considers it “wonderful.” The ad says Trump has used it to make himself “rich,” mentioning his efforts to “bulldoze the home of an elderly widow” for a casino parking lot.
Cruz and his allies are seizing on the issue of eminent domain to find a contrast with Trump heading into the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa.
Trump immediately fired back, tweeting a defense of eminent domain on Friday morning: