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Veteran Journalist Apologizes for Spreading Fake News About Trump, Netanyahu

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  August 23, 2024 8:00 AM

While reporting at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, “PBS NewsHour” senior correspondent Judy Woodruff claimed former President Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tried talking him out of a ceasefire deal.

“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,” Woodruff said. 

The statement Woodruff made was found to be false on two accounts. Firstly, the phone call conversation that Woodruff referred to had never taken place and was based on a false report that had circulated on news media outlets Axios and Reuters.

Additionally, the false report that circulated did not mention that Trump had urged Netanyahu to decline a ceasefire deal. 

Instead, the false Axios report cited two US sources. One source said the reported call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal but stressed he did not know if this was indeed what the former president told Netanyahu.(Jerusalem Post)

The Trump campaign denied the report and Netanyahu called it a “complete lie," prompting the apology from Woodruff, whose Monday comments came four days after both Reuters ran a story about Netanyahu denying the report and Axios updated its piece.

"I want to clarify my remarks on the PBS News special on Monday night about the ongoing cease fire talks in the Middle East," she wrote on X. "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."