Brian Williams said on Friday that he never intentionally lied to viewers, in the first interview he’s given since it was discovered months ago that he had repeatedly told bogus stories on air.
The former anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News” sat down with his NBC colleague and “Today” show host Matt Lauer for two days to talk about his suspension, his months in exile and his explanation for the tall tales he told on air.
“I was reading these newspaper stories, not liking the person I was reading about,” Williams said of his own scandal. “I own this, I own up to this.”
The former anchor’s credibility began to unravel in February after Stars and Stripes questioned a story that the anchor had told multiple times: that he was in a helicopter that was hit by a rocket propelled grenade while covering the Iraq War in 2003.
He was later suspended, and his past statements and other reporting were investigated internally by NBC. On Thursday, he was replaced permanently on “The Nightly News” by veteran journalist Lester Holt, who had been filling in as anchor following the suspension. Williams was reassigned to an upcoming role at the network’s cable channel, MSNBC.
When directly challenged by Lauer about how he could tell the story of the helicopter several times without knowing it was false, Williams held firm in saying that he had not intentionally lied at any point.
“I was not trying to mislead people,” Williams said.
Lauer tried again and asked Williams if he had knowingly told stories that were not true.
“No,” Williams said. “It came from a bad place. It came from a sloppy choice of words.”
“I told stories that were not true,” he continued. “I never intended to. It got mixed up, it got turned around in my mind.”
He told Lauer that he “said things that were wrong,” but did not say he lied.
Williams repeatedly attributed the false stories to problems with his “ego” and wanting to look “sharper, funnier” than he really was.
He did not specify what other stories had come under scrutiny during his internal investigation by NBC. He sad there would “new rules of the road” going forward.
“I am sorry for what happened here,” he said at the close of the interview. “I am different as a result, and I expect to be held to a different standard.”
Watch the full interview, courtesy of NBC News:
