Trump launches television campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest developments in the 2016 presidential campaign (all times EST):

11:30 a.m.

Jeb Bush is hinting strongly that his closing argument to New Hampshire voters will be about U.S. military buildup specifically aimed at defeating the Islamic State group.

In a new television advertisement Monday, the former Florida governor, whose campaign rests on how he competes in the leadoff primary next month, features excerpts from a speech he delivered last month in South Carolina. The ad debuted as he gears up for a three-day campaign trip in New Hampshire beginning Tuesday.

Bush has called for a broad international coalition led by the United States and Arab nations to destroy the group, now rooted in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region. The group claimed responsibility for the November bombings and shootings in Paris in which roughly 130 were killed. U.S. residents, said to have been loyal to the militant group, were also responsible for the deadly shootings in San Bernadino, Calif. last month.

Though Bush is not a military veteran, he has been traveling throughout New Hampshire frequently with retired military veterans and Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, to boost his national security credentials. The ad features footage from a speech gave at the Military College of the South, known as the Citadel, in Charleston South Carolina last month.

Bush is scheduled to campaign in Dover Tuesday.

9:45 a.m.

Marco Rubio is lashing out at Republican rivals in a New Hampshire speech focused on national security.

The Florida Republican declined to call them out by name in the Monday morning address, but said some Republican presidential candidates would weaken the nation's military and intelligence programs designed to prevent terrorism.

"They talk tough," Rubio said in prepared remarks, "yet they would strip us of the ability to keep our people safe."

The shot, and others like it, was a clear reference to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Cruz in particular has emerged as a top competitor to Rubio with Iowa's leadoff caucuses less than a month away. Cruz has called for limits on U.S. intervention abroad, while Rubio has aligned himself with his party's national security hawks.

The Florida senator is looking to strengthen the U.S. government's intelligence gathering programs at home. He also said in the Monday address he has "no qualms" about treating Americans as enemy combatants if they betray their country by refusing to disclose "actionable information" about terrorist threats.

8:40 a.m.

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie will lay out the case for his candidacy in a speech Monday that will paint him not only as the only candidate who understands the anger felt by GOP voters, but the only one who has the experience to fix what's broken.

"It's not enough to just express anger--we must also elect someone who knows how to get things done," the New Jersey governor will say, according to excerpts released by his campaign early Monday.

The speech appears aimed at trying to sell Christie as a less risky alternative to Trump.

It takes numerous veiled shots at the billionaire businessman who dominated the race in late 2015.

"These times and these challenges demand a grown-up," the preview detailed.

Christie closed out the year with growing momentum in early-voting New Hampshire.

He'll also call on the Republican Party to unite behind a single candidate and focus on defeating Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

8:30 a.m.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's first television campaign ad features dark images of the San Bernardino shooters, body bags, and images of masked men and sets a tone of unapologetic strength.

The ad is the billionaire businessman's first foray into the world of television advertising after spending 2015 dominating polls and headlines while largely avoiding major spending.

"The politicians can pretend it's something else. But Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism. That's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we can figure out what's going on," a narrator says.

The ad continues by saying that Trump will "quickly cut the head off ISIS and take their oil," using an acronym for the Islamic State group. "He'll stop illegal immigrants by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for."

It ends with Trump, at one of his rallies, vowing to "make America great again."

The ad will begin airing in Iowa and New Hampshire on Tuesday, Trump's campaign said in a statement.

7:00 a.m.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has debuted his first campaign ad, which is set to air in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

The billionaire businessman said in a statement Monday he will begin spending at least $2 million dollars per week on his campaign, with $1.1 million allocated to television ads in Iowa and close to $1 million on TV ads in New Hampshire

The initial ad, scheduled to begin airing on Tuesday, focuses on key issues including national security and illegal immigration.

Trump has already aired radio ads in the first three primary states. The Iowa caucus — the first in early voting — is scheduled for Feb. 1.