Veteran PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff apologized on Wednesday for comments she had made on the air regarding former President Donald Trump and negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
Woodruff, during PBS’ Democratic national convention coverage on Monday, repeated a story she had read in Axios and Reuters that Trump had allegedly been encouraging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put off peace talks until after the U.S. election in the belief that a deal could help Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign.
But Woodruff said in a post on X Wednesday that she had not seen later reporting that the story had been denied by the Trump campaign and Israel. She said her remarks had not been based on any original reporting on her part.
I want to clarify my remarks on the PBS News special on Monday night about the ongoing cease fire talks in the Middle East. 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…
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) August 21, 2024
“This was a mistake, and I apologize for it,” Woodruff said.
Woodruff’s long career in journalism has included time at CNN and NBC News. She was host of PBS’ “NewsHour” between 2013 and 2022, before stepping down for a reporting project.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.