Entertainment

Barbara Walters apologizes for helping Assad aide

Wednesday, June 06, 2012
In this image released by ABC, host Barbara Walters is pictured on the new set for the daytime talkshow The View, on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011 in New York. The show will start its 15th season on Tuesday, Sept. 6. (AP Photo/ABC, Ida Mae Astute)

In this image released by ABC, host Barbara Walters is pictured on the new set for the daytime talkshow "The View," on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011 in New York. The show will start it's 15th season on Tuesday, Sept. 6. (AP Photo/ABC, Ida Mae Astute)

Barbara Walters is apologizing for trying to help a former aide to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad land a job or get into college in the United States.

Sheherazad Jaafari is the daughter of the Syrian ambassador to the United States and a one-time press aide to Assad. Jaafari played a role in Walters' landing an interview with the Syrian president in December.

After the interview, Walters acknowledged sending letters to try to help Jaafari land a job or get into a college in the U.S. She says Jaafari asked for a job at ABC News, but Walters refused, saying it was a conflict of interest.

But Walters says she realizes the help she offered Jaafari was also a conflict and "I regret that."

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