Former President Trump's campaign launched an ad in New Hampshire attacking former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Thursday.
The ad is the first time Trump has gone after Haley on New Hampshire airwaves, and it comes just weeks ahead of the state's January 23 primary. The ad largely seeks to connect Haley's positions with those of President Biden.
It argues that there are "confirmed warnings of terrorists sneaking in through our southern border."
"Yet Haley joined Biden in opposing Trump’s visitor ban from terrorist nations. Haley’s weakness puts us in grave danger. Trump’s strength protects us," it continues.
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Haley has risen significantly in polls in recent weeks, with several surveys showing her eclipsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second place in the race. Trump, however, maintains a commanding lead over the rest of the field.
Haley's campaign issued an extensive response to Trump's ad on Thursday, rebutting each point made in the 30-second block. They argued that the two central claims in the ad – that Haley opposed Trump's border wall and his so-called "Muslim ban" – are lies.
"Haley supported banning travel for people from countries with serious terrorist activity, but opposed religious tests. Trump himself dropped his support for a Muslim ban that was widely panned as unconstitutional in favor of a travel ban from countries posing a national security risk. The Supreme Court upheld the third version of Trump’s ban specifically because "the text says nothing about religion," Haley's campaign wrote.
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Haley's team pointed to her comments on the border wall, saying she never opposed the building of the wall, but she did oppose the wall being the only solution.
"Don’t say you’re just going to build a wall. Because a wall is not going to do it. You’ve got to have commitment of ground troops, equipment, money, all of that to bring it together. Then you’re being serious about tackling illegal immigration," Haley's team wrote.
"All the lame nicknames in the world don’t change the fact that Donald Trump is clearly terrified of Nikki Haley’s momentum," Haley communications director Nachama Soloveichik said in a statement. "Nikki passed one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration bills in the country back when Trump was still a Democrat. Trump should spend more time explaining why he never fulfilled his signature promise to build a wall instead of desperately trying to mislead voters with easily debunked ads."
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The ad buy comes as most eyes remain focused on Iowa, where GOP voters will make their choice on January 15. Fox News will also be hosting town halls on women's issues with Haley and DeSantis on January 8 and 9.
Fox will also hold a town hall with Trump on January 10.
