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Brian Williams Admits, ‘I Told Stories That Were Wrong’

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Brian Williams’ interview with Today’s Matt Lauer was a tale of two words: one he wouldn’t say (“lies”) and one he used repeatedly (“ego”).

NBC announced Thursday that the former Nightly News anchor and managing editor has officially lost his chair to Lester Holt, and will become a breaking news anchor for MSNBC. Williams followed the news on Friday with an interview with Matt Lauer, which ran in part on the Today show with more to come on Nightly News. While Lauer pressed him to admit to the public that he had knowingly lied about his experiences (most famously the helicopter incident in Iraq in 2003), Williams couldn’t bring himself to use the L-word, instead saying phrases like “I said things that were wrong” and “I said things that weren’t true.”

NBC conducted an internal investigation on Williams after the uproar over the Iraq exaggeration, and reportedly found 10 to 12 other incidents where he had stretched the truth, usually not in the anchor chair but at extracurricular events like late-night talk show appearances and public speeches. After reviewing the findings, Williams said: “It had to have been ego that made me think I had to be sharper, funnier, quicker than anybody else. Put myself closer to the action, having been at the action in the beginning.”

Williams emphasized several times that it was not his intent to willingly mislead people, offering as an explanation, “this came from clearly a bad place, a bad urge inside me.” Now he says he wants to be held to a harsher standard than ever to win back his viewers’ trust.

On his move to MSNBC, Williams said, “Was it my first choice? No. Obviously I wanted to return to my old job. I thought we had had a great 10-year run.” But he’s “very happy” to be returning to work in a breaking news capacity, reporting on the kinds of stories where “you can feel people tuning in.”

On the promotion of Lester Holt, Williams said, “No one is more deserving.”

See Brian Williams Through The Years

Brian Williams Senior Year 1977Mater Dei High School, New Monmouth, NJAs the Editorial Editor for the school newspaperCredit: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library
Brian Williams was the Editorial Editor for his school newspaper seen here on the far right during his Senior Year at Mater Dei High School in New Monmouth, N.J. in 1977.Seth Poppel—Yearbook Library
GEORGE W. BUSH SPEAKS WITH MEDIA MEMBERS ABOARD HIS CAMPAIGN PLANE.
From Left: Brian Williams, President George W. Bush and AP writer Glenn Johnson talk aboard Bush's campaign plane in Florence S.C. on Feb. 17, 2000.Reuters
BROKAW SIGNS OFF
From Left: Brian Williams poses with NBC Anchor Tom Brokaw in New York City prior to Brokaw's last broadcast on Dec. 1, 2004. Richard Drew—AP
TV KATRINA COVERAGE
Brian Williams during a break in the "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" show in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. Dwaine Scott—NBC/AP
NBC News
Brian Williams reports from Camp Liberty in Baghdad on March 8, 2007.Jeff Riggins—NBC/Getty Images
Inside the Obama White House: Brian Williams Reports
From Left: President Barack Obama and Brian Williams takes a look at what happens in the White House and the West Wing during a day in the life of the Obama administration on May 29, 2009.Subrata De—NBC/Getty Images
Saturday Night Live
From Left: Amy Poehler, Brian Williams and Seth Meyers on 'Saturday Night LIve' on Nov. 3, 2007.Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon - Season 1
Jimmy Fallon and Brian Williams "Slow Jam the News" on 'The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon' on Dec. 2, 2014.Douglas Gorenstein—NBC/Getty Images
"Girls" Season Four Premiere - After Party
From Left: Brian Williams, Allison Williams and Jane Stoddard Williams attend the "Girls" season four series premiere after party at The Museum of Natural History on Jan. 5, 2015.Jamie McCarthy—Getty Images
On Jan, 29, 2015, Brian Williams accompanied Army Command Sergeant Major Tim Terpak, pictured here next to Williams, to a hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York City
Brian Williams embraces Army Command Sergeant Major Tim Terpak at a hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York on Jan. 29, 2015, where Terpak was honored. Williams admitted to conflating events when describing his experiences in combat with Terpak during the Iraq war. On Feb. 10, he was suspended without pay for six months.James Devaney—GC Images

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