The veteran PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff on Wednesday apologized for on-air comments suggesting there had been a phone call between former President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss a cease-fire deal. Aides to both men denied that such a call had taken place.
The denials came after a news report in Axios last week claimed the two men had spoken about the topic. Mr. Netanyahu’s office quickly denied the call had taken place and Axios updated its story to reflect his denial.
But the report took on new momentum this week, when Ms. Woodruff said during a PBS broadcast on Monday that “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 Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.
On Wednesday, Ms. Woodruff released a statement calling her reference to the reports, which she said were from both Axios and Reuters, “a mistake.”
“In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn’t seen later reporting that both sides denied it,” her statement said. “This was a mistake, and I apologize for it.”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu last met on July 26 at Mr. Trump’s club, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla., in an effort to smooth out their relationship, which was strained after Mr. Netanyahu congratulated President Biden on winning the 2020 election. (Mr. Trump has never conceded he lost.)
Mr. Trump’s campaign spokesman said the two men had not discussed slowing down a possible cease-fire agreement.
“The only thing President Trump has told the prime minister is ‘to get the war over with,’” said Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign communications director. “Any assertion otherwise is fake news.”
A spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu, Omer Dostri, said that reports that Mr. Trump had asked the prime minister to wait on a deal were a “total lie.”
Axios reported last week that the two had discussed the cease-fire in a phone call on Aug. 24, citing two unnamed “U.S. sources.” One of the sources said that Mr. Trump’s call was intended to encourage Mr. Netanyahu to take the deal. Reuters published a report about the Axios account.
A person close to Mr. Trump also denied that the two men had spoken since the July 26 meeting.
Read More: PBS’s Woodruff Calls Comments Suggesting Trump and Netanyahu Discussed Cease-Fire a
