Seizing on the battle over naming the next Supreme Court justice, Sen. Ted Cruz quickly released a new TV ad Monday slamming Republican presidential rival Donald Trump for his liberal past and warning he can’t be trusted to make the nomination.
As eerie music plays to images of storm clouds gathering above the Supreme Court building, the announcer in the ad lays out what is at stake: “Life, marriage, religious liberty, the Second Amendment. We’re just one Supreme Court justice away from losing them all.”
The 30-second spot cuts to a clip from Mr. Trump’s 1999 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in which he declares himself “very pro-choice,” including supporting partial-birth abortion.
“I am pro-choice in every respect,” the billionaire businessman and reality TV star says in the interview 16 years ago.
The ad closes with a warning from the announcer: “We cannot trust Donald Trump with these serious decisions.”
Mr. Trump has insisted that he changed his views and is now strictly pro-life.
The ad repeated a familiar attack from Mr. Cruz about Mr. Trump’s past as a Democrat and New York liberal. But the vacancy on the high court created by the death Saturday of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia has added urgency to Mr. Cruz’s message.
The abortion issue helped Mr. Cruz attract evangelical voters in Iowa and win that state’s leadoff caucuses, with Mr. Trump finishing second. Mr. Cruz hopes for similar results in South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary Feb. 20.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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