A senior PBS correspondent apologized Wednesday after she falsely told her audience that former President Trump had tried to persuade Israel to back away from a ceasefire amid its ongoing war in Gaza.
Judy Woodruff evaded responsibility for the error by “explaining” that she based her poor information on outside reports she read before broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.
“Reports indicate that former President Trump is on the phone with the prime minister of Israel, urging him not to make a deal now, because he believes it would help the Harris campaign,” Woodruff said at a PBS roundtable.
“Who knows if that will happen or not, but I think the Harris campaign would like President Biden to do what presidents do, which is work on this.”
Woodruff was heavily criticized online for her comment — mostly by those who pointed out that the rumors she was citing had been proven false days before she went on air.
The former NewsHour host said Wednesday she wanted to “clarify” comments she made about ongoing ceasefire talks.
“As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I read in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump’s conversation with the Israeli prime minister.” Woodruff wrote on X.
“At the time of the live broadcast, I repeated the story because I did not see the subsequent report confirming the denial of the news by both parties. This was a mistake and I apologize for it.”
Office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He told the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, That Woodruff’s statements were “a complete lie.”
The Axios story Woodruff referred to was published on August 14, and cited two sources who claimed that Trump, 78, spoke on the phone with Netanyahu, 74, about the Gaza hostage-taking and the ceasefire agreement.
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Reuters republished the story on its website, but neither report alleged that Trump urged Netanyahu to stop making the deal.
The day after the story was published, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement denying that there had been any phone call between the prime minister and Trump.
On the same day, both Axios and Reuters published new stories reflecting the new denial—four days before Woodruff rebroadcast the false information to her live audience.
PBS did not respond to messages from The Post.
But Trump confirmed that he spoke with Netanyahu.
At a news conference, the Republican presidential candidate claimed to have encouraged the prime minister to end the war, but criticized the terms of the proposed ceasefire.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Trump said. “I encouraged him to finish it.”
“This crisis must end quickly – you must achieve your victory and end this crisis. This crisis must stop, and the killing must stop.”
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