INDIANAPOLIS -- A Serbian newsmagazine now says it may have been the victim of a hoax in an interview it thought it conducted with Republican Donald Trump and his Indiana state director, Suzie Jaworowski.
Newsweek published a story Thursday citing an interview in Serbian newsmagazine Nedeljnik in which Trump allegedly apologized for U.S. bombings in Serbia.
MORE | Trump, IN state director Suzie Jaworowski say supposed apology for Serbian bombings is a 'hoax'
The Trump campaign, and Jaworowski, immediately denied that such an apology was made or that any interview ever took place with Nedeljnik.
On Friday, Newsweek published a statement from Nedeljnik stating that the outlet was led to believe it had secured an interview with Trump via email through a man named Vladimir Rajcic, a Serbian-American who reportedly claimed ties to Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
Nedeljnik's statement claims Rajcic offered "proof of being close to" Pence, but didn't say what that proof was.
It also admits to the possibility that the newsmagazine may have been the victim of a hoax:
We are trying to explain how all this came to be. Could it be that the Trump campaign got scared when the media outlets ran a story in which he apologizes to Serbs who were the "bad guys" in the 90's?
It wouldn't be the first time that Trump and his aides got caught in a lie.
There is, of course, another possibility, and we are looking into it in order to retain our credibility.
That's a simple enough answer: we were hoaxed by Mr Rajcic, although he remains adamant that the interview was genuine.
If this is the case, we take all the blame. We chose to believe a person who gave us all the proof that we asked, and we weren't professional enough to doubt it.
Jaworowski told RTV6 Thursday that she was never involved in setting up an interview between Trump and anyone, and has "no idea" why or how her name came up in the Serbian outlet's article.
