“PBS NewsHour” senior correspondent Judy Woodruff issued an apology Wednesday after her comments about former President Trump’s role in Gaza cease-fire talks sparked criticism.
“The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the prime minister of Israel urging him not to cut a deal right now because … it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign,” Woodruff said while broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention on Monday.
Woodruff added she thinks Vice President Harris would like President Biden to work on a cease-fire deal quickly so her campaign could benefit from the results.
In a post on social platform X, Woodruff said Wednesday she wanted to clarify her comments.
“As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister,” Woodruff wrote. “In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it.”
“This was a mistake and I apologize for it,” she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday that Woodruff’s statements were a “complete lie.”
Woodruff’s comments follow reports by Axios and Reuters about conversations between Trump and Netanyahu.
Axios reported last week that Trump and Netanyahu spoke about a hostage and cease-fire deal, but it later reported that Netanyahu’s office denied the conversation.
Reuters reported similar information, citing Axios. The stories did not report that Trump urged Netanyahu to not take a deal.
In a statement to The Hill, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung denied that the former president wanted to delay cease-fire talks.
“PBS is making up fake stories. The only thing President Trump has told the Prime Minister previously is ‘to get the war over with.’ Any assertion otherwise is fake news,” Cheung said.