Judy Woodruff, a senior correspondent at PBS with a long history at the network since 1983, was forced to retract earlier remarks this week in which she claimed that former President Donald Trump hoped the conflict between Israel and Hamas would continue in order to benefit his campaign. Woodruff made her remarks during a live broadcast earlier this week while covering the Democratic National Convention, where she accused Trump of encouraging Israel to abandon a tentative cease-fire agreement with Hamas.
“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,” she reported.
According to the New York Post, Woodruff admitted her mistake but claimed she was simply “clarifying” her remark after reading a series of flimsy reports on an alleged conversation Trump recently had. 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 strongly rejected Woodruff’s initial claim, calling it a “complete lie” in response to inquiries from the Jerusalem Post. Woodruff’s statement was based on an Axios report from August 14th, which cited two sources suggesting that Trump and Netanyahu recently discussed the possibility of delaying or indefinitely pausing cease-fire talks until after the election. Reuters also covered the story but did not include the assertion that Trump encouraged Netanyahu to abandon the negotiations. Netanyahu’s office issued a blanket denial the following day, and both Reuters and Axios reported this denial four days before Woodruff reiterated the original claims. PBS declined to comment on the matter when approached by The Post.
Trump, meanwhile, did say that he spoke with Netanyahu but that he 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, according to The Post. “It has to get over with fast — get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.”
In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week” Sunday program earlier this month, GOP vice-presidential candidate JD Vance (R-OH) used the opportunity to clarify his and the Trump campaign’s positions on several key issues. The Republican senator from Ohio had a heated exchange with ABC anchor Jonathan Karl, during which he corrected Karl’s interpretations and fact-checked him live on air.
One of the most heated exchanges occurred when Vance addressed accusations regarding the Republican position on family rights and gender issues. Vance strongly refuted Karl’s claims that Trump had mischaracterized Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s policies, which could lead to separating children from parents over disagreements on gender reassignment treatments. Vance argued that opposing such interventions was about respecting parental rights and differing viewpoints rather than endorsing state overreach.
“What President Trump said, Jon, is that Tim Walz has supported taking children from their parents if the parents don’t consent to gender reassignment. That is crazy. And by the way, Tim Walz gets on his high horse about mind your own damn business. One way of minding your own damn business, Jon, is to not try to take my children away from me if I have different worldviews than you.”
“That’s not what he’s proposed,” Karl said back. “If you disagree with decisions about gender reassignment, yes, he has proposed that, Jon,” Vance responded. “He absolutely has.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.