Keller: Putting Trump, Harris attack ads to the truth test

The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.

BOSTON - In the race for president, the attack ads are coming fast and furious.

"It's hard to believe, but it's true," says the voice-over in a Trump for President ad that's airing nationwide. "Even the liberal media was shocked - Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners and illegal aliens."

Trump ad on Harris, transgender inmates

That would be Vice President Kamala Harris they're referencing. And yes, it's hard to believe because it's very misleading.

The Trump ad uses a 2020 interview clip, in which Harris says she supports gender-affirming surgery for transgender prisoners who can demonstrate that their mental health depends on it. "Every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access," she said.

But they edit out the rest of her statement: "Every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access to the medical care that they desired and need."

That's what the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution requires, multiple courts have ruled. And there are just a few known cases of prisoners and none of "illegal aliens" receiving gender-affirming surgery.

Harris ad on Trump, Putin ties

Meanwhile, Harris is out with an attack ad of her own.

"Trump will always choose Putin over the American people, and now we have evidence," says the narrator over citations of reporter Bob Woodward's new book, "War."

"He secretly sent Putin COVID tests while withholding them from sick and dying Americans." Then the ad cuts to footage of then-President Trump saying, "so I said to my people, slow the testing down, please!"

Woodward also claims in his book that Trump has spoken with Putin multiple times since leaving the White House. But that's based on a single unnamed source and is - along with the COVID test claim - vehemently denied by the Trump campaign. For now, at least, it's Woodward's word against Trump's.

The Trump campaign is spending millions to air that ad because gender identity is a topic that galvanizes the right and, they believe, can raise doubts about Harris in the minds of other voters. It's so touchy the Harris campaign has refused to say that she's running on the same positions she took in that interview four years ago.

And as for the Harris ad, polls show a huge majority of Americans have a very negative view of Putin, so refreshing voters' suspicions about the ties between him and Trump also makes political sense.