After decades spent interrogating top U.S. officials on issues from Watergate to Iraq, legendary Washington reporter Helen Thomas abruptly resigned Monday amid a growing controversy over comments she made about Israel.
The 89-year-old Thomas, dean of the White House press corps, gave up her front-row seat at the daily White House press briefings, from which she levelled tough questions at several successive administrations.
But her own answers in an interview at a recent White House event have set off a storm of outrage as the videotaped remarks spread online.
In a May 27 video first published on the web site RabbiLive.com, Thomas says Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine," suggesting they go to Germany, Poland or the U.S.
The clip was eventually posted to YouTube, where it has garnered more than 1 million views in the past four days.
Thomas apologized for the comments, but they nonetheless put a sudden end to her long and fruitful career as a political reporter. A member of the old guard of journalism, Thomas first covered the White House for United Press International and most recently worked as a Washington columnist for Hearst News.
Hearst confirmed Thomas's resignation Monday shortly after White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called her remarks "offensive and reprehensible".
The White House Correspondents Association also denounced her comments as "indefensible."
Thomas's public relations agency, Nine Speakers, later cut its ties with her over the scandal. But even as it took steps to distance itself from Thomas, the agency lauded her as "a trailblazer for women," a nod to her role in breaking glass ceilings in the field of journalism.
Thomas, who fought hard to have women admitted to the National Press Club, was the organization's first female officer and the first female president of the White House Correspondents' Association.
With files from The Canadian Press
