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PBS journalist sorry for repeating story Trump was pushing Netanyahu to delay hostage talks until after US election

By AP 22 August 2024, 7:18 am 9 Edit
File: Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of "PBS Newshour," takes part in a panel discussion during the 2018 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California, on July 31, 2018. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
File: Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of "PBS Newshour," takes part in a panel discussion during the 2018 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California, on July 31, 2018. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Veteran PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff apologizes for comments she had made on the air regarding former president Donald Trump and negotiations for a ceasefire-hostage release deal 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 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put off talks until after the US election in the belief that a deal could help Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign.

But Woodruff says in a post on X that she had not seen later reporting that the story had been denied by the Trump campaign and Israel. She says her remarks had not been based on any original reporting on her part.

“This was a mistake, and I apologize for it,” Woodruff says.

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.

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