YouTube/screenshot
A scene from the ad.
Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, launched his first attack ad on Friday, going Cruz for supposedly being in favor of "amnesty."
According to the Trump campaign, the new commercial featured footage of Cruz "in a confused state" during a Fox News interview, in which he was pressed about an amendment to an immigration-reform bill.
"Ted Cruz is a total hypocrite and, until recently, a Canadian citizen who may not even have a legal right to run for president," Trump said in a statement accompanying the video. (Many legal experts dispute Trump's claim about Cruz's eligibility to be president.)
Trump continued: "Had I not brought up the subject of illegal immigration, an issue which Ted Cruz is very weak on, nobody would even be talking about it. I will build a great wall, and Mexico will pay for it."
The new attack ad was only the latest salvo in an increasingly hostile back-and-forth between Trump and Cruz as the February 1 Iowa caucus approaches. On Thursday, Cruz highlighted a two-year-old Trump tweet to argue that it was Trump who supported "amnesty."
The Trump campaign said that the attack ad will run in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.