In Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s first TV ad, released Monday, the candidate renewed his promise to secure the U.S. border with Mexico – making his case using footage of people sprinting across the border in Morocco.
Politifact traced the footage, which is paired with narration promising Trump would “stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for,” to 2014 video of Moroccans crossing over the border into Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa.
Trump’s ad makes no mention of the source of the footage, which Politifact reported came from the Italian network RepubblicaTV. For the campaign’s implication that the footage showed the U.S. border with Mexico, Politifact slapped the claim with its “pants on fire” rating.
The Trump campaign wasn’t particularly moved by the watchdog organization’s findings.
Asked about the footage, Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, told NBC News: “No shit it’s not the Mexican border but that’s what our country is going to look like. This was 1,000 percent on purpose.”
The ad is slated to air in Iowa and New Hampshire for $750,000 and $500,000 ad buys, respectively, NBC reported.
