Judy Woodruff issues apology following Trump Gaza comments

Judy Woodruff, a senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, apologized on Wednesday after comments about former President Trump’s role in negotiating the Gaza ceasefire drew criticism.

“Former President Trump reportedly had a call with the Israeli prime minister urging him not to make a deal right now because he believes it would favor the Harris campaign,” Woodruff said Monday during a broadcast from the Democratic National Convention.

Woodruff added that Harris likely wants Biden to move quickly on a ceasefire agreement so her team can benefit from the results.

in X’s post, Woodruff said Wednesday he wanted to clarify his remarks.

“As I said, this was not based on my original reporting. I was referring to reports I read in Axios and Reuters that former President Trump had spoken with the Israeli prime minister,” Woodruff said. “The reason I repeated that story in the moment on live TV was because I had not seen subsequent reports denying it by both sides.”

“This was a mistake and we apologize,” she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office Jerusalem Post On Wednesday, he called Woodruff’s comments a “total lie.”

Woodruff’s comments came in response to Axios and Reuters reports about a conversation between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Axios reported last week that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu discussed the hostage situation and a ceasefire agreement. Later reported Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office denied the conversation.

Reuters reported. Similar informationCiting Axios, the article did not say that President Trump urged Netanyahu not to accept the deal.

In a statement to The Hill, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chang denied that the former president wanted to delay ceasefire negotiations.

“PBS is making up fake news. The only thing President Trump has ever said to the prime minister is ‘end the war’. Any other claims are fake news,” Chang said.