NEW: Top Reporter Forced To Apologize In Disgrace After Spewing Lie About Trump

A leading reporter at PBS is backtracking on previous remarks where she told a live audience that former President Donald Trump was hoping to see the war between Israel and Hamas continue to benefit his campaign.

Judy Woodruff, a senior correspondent with experience at the network as far back as 1983, should have known better when she accused President Trump of encouraging Israel to back out of a tentative cease-fire agreement with Hamas. The remark was made before an audience and panel of guests earlier this week while covering the Democratic National Convention. On the Monday episode, Woodruff told her colleagues, “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. Who knows whether that will come about or not, but I have to think that the Harris campaign would like for President Biden to do what presidents do, which is work on that one.”

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Woodruff admitted her mistake but stated she was merely “clarifying” her remark after reading a series of flimsy reporting on an alleged conversation that Trump recently had, according to the New York Post. Critics online faulted the senior reporter for failing to fact-check the claim which had been debunked days earlier. Further, her clarification did not come on-air, but on X. “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 spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister. 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,” Woodruff wrote on Wednesday afternoon.

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

The office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back forcefully in response to Woodruff’s original claim, calling it a “complete lie,” in response to questions from the Jerusalem Post. Woodruff’s statement was based on a report by Axios dated August 14th citing two sources claiming Trump and Netanyahu recently spoke and broached the idea of delaying or indefinitely pausing cease-fire talks until after the election. Reuters shared the story on its site but did not include the claim that Trump encouraged Netanyahu to walk away from the bargaining table. Netanyahu’s office issued a blanket denial one day later, and both outlets reported on the denial four days before Woodruff repeated the original reports. PBS declined a request for comment from the Post.

President Trump maintained that he spoke with Netanyahu but encouraged him to come to a fair deal with Hamas and criticized the current terms under discussion. “He knows what he’s doing, I did encourage him to get this over with,” Trump said, the outlet reported. “It has to get over with fast — get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.”

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