There have been a lot of negative ads flying around in the Republican presidential campaign, but none of them from Donald Trump — until now. On Friday morning, the Trump campaign will unveil its first attack ad of the race, targeted at closest GOP rival Ted Cruz on the issue of immigration.

The 60-second ad, entitled "Clear Difference," has no narration. Instead, it is built on clips of what was perhaps Cruz's weakest moment in the campaign so far -- his halting and defensive interview last month with Fox News anchor Bret Baier concerning Cruz's efforts to amend the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill back in 2013.



"It sounded like you wanted the bill to pass," Baier said to Cruz in the December 16 interview.

Cruz, normally the smoothest of communicators, stumbled as he searched for an answer. "Eh, of course I wanted the bill to pass, uh, my amendment to pass…"

It was a particularly damaging moment — and material for future attack ads — because the Gang of Eight bill was anathema to a significant portion of the Republican base when it was under consideration in the Senate, and is perhaps even more so today.

The ad later cuts to clips of Cruz in 2013, proposing his amendments, which would have taken away a path to citizenship but left intact the Gang of Eight's provision to legalize millions of currently illegal immigrants. "I want immigration reform to pass," Cruz said back then, "and that allows those who are here illegally to come in out of the shadows."

The ad then contrasts Cruz's position with Trump's. "People want to take back their country," Trump is shown saying in an ABC interview earlier this month. "We want to do it in a humane way, but we have to have a country."

In a press release accompanying the ad, Trump slammed Cruz repeatedly. "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. "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."

The Trump campaign says it will spend $2 million to run the ad for a week in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

In Iowa, new polling suggests Trump may have re-taken the lead in the Republican race. A CNN poll released Thursday afternoon showed Trump far ahead of Cruz, with 37 points to Cruz's 26. Other recent polls have shown Cruz with a small lead. Whatever the case, Trump and Cruz have pulled away by themselves in Iowa, far ahead of third-place Marco Rubio. Trump maintains substantial leads both in New Hampshire and in South Carolina.