--- title: Brian Williams: 'I Don’t Know What Screwed Up in My Mind' description: The NBC anchor explains what went wrong in an interview canonical: https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-09T20:35:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:22.084Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Brian Williams: 'I Don’t Know What Screwed Up in My Mind' og:description: The NBC anchor explains what went wrong in a Feb. 4 interview og:url: https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5877eee6dd537836/69877dc8e20a87e88da84f30/brian-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The New York Comedy Festival And The Bob Woodruff Foundation Present The 8th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Event og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brian Williams: 'I Don’t Know What Screwed Up in My Mind' twitter:description: The NBC anchor explains what went wrong in a Feb. 4 interview twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5877eee6dd537836/69877dc8e20a87e88da84f30/brian-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Brian Williams: 'I Don’t Know What Screwed Up in My Mind' > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Brian Williams Steps Back From Anchoring Nightly News [Watch (HLS stream): Brian Williams Steps Back From Anchoring Nightly News](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bIzTekD2.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2015-02-08. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is taking a few days away from the news desk after falsely recounting his experience in the Iraq War._  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Feb 9, 2015 8:35 PM UTC  NBC News Anchor Brian Williams speaks onstage at The New York Comedy Festival and The Bob Woodruff Foundation present the 8th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 5, 2014 in New York City. NBC News Anchor Brian Williams speaks onstage at The New York Comedy Festival and The Bob Woodruff Foundation present the 8th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 5, 2014 in New York City.Monica Schipper—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Feb 9, 2015 8:35 PM UTC NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams says [he isn’t sure what caused him to misremember his disputed account](http://www.stripes.com/news/us/in-his-words-brian-williams-interview-with-stars-and-stripes-1.328590#.VNkOaJw3TBo.twitter) of having his helicopter shot down while reporting in Iraq in 2003. _Stars and Stripes_, a military news site, released the transcript and audio recording of its Feb. 4 interview with Williams, [who has temporarily left his show for “several days”](http://press.nbcnews.com/2015/02/07/a-personal-note-from-brian-williams/) while NBC investigates the incident. The interview, completed five days ago, is purportedly the only time Williams has answered questions about how he came to tell a story that was later debunked as false. “I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams says. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft from the other.” [Williams apologized](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/business/brian-williamss-apology-over-iraq-account-is-challenged.html?%5Fr=0) last Wednesday for his story—the same day the interview was carried out—after some soldiers who accompanied him on the trip came forward to say his helicopter was behind the one that came under fire. In the interview, he attributes some of the disputed account to his lack of experience on the field. “I’m going to have a far different recollection than the professionals,” he said. “It was my first engagement of the war and remember I was — we were all I think scared. I have yet to meet the veteran who doesn’t admit to cinching up a little bit when it starts, and it all became a fog of getting down on the ground…All we knew is we had been fired upon.” You can hear the audio clips from the _Stars and Stripes_ [interview](http://www.stripes.com/news/us/in-his-words-brian-williams-interview-with-stars-and-stripes-1.328590#.VNkOaJw3TBo.twitter) here: _Read next:_ [_Operation Anchor Shield: Why NBC News and Brian Williams Need to Open Up, Now_](http://time.com/3700844/brian-williams-investigation-iraq/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/"},"headline":"Brian Williams: 'I Don’t Know What Screwed Up in My Mind'","datePublished":"2015-02-09T20:35:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:22.084Z","description":"The NBC anchor explains what went wrong in a Feb. 4 interview","url":"https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/","keywords":["Military","Television","Media","Brian Williams"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5877eee6dd537836/69877dc8e20a87e88da84f30/brian-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5877eee6dd537836/69877dc8e20a87e88da84f30/brian-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The New York Comedy Festival And The Bob Woodruff Foundation Present The 8th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Event","caption":"The New York Comedy Festival And The Bob Woodruff Foundation Present The 8th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Event","creditText":"Monica Schipper—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/","name":"Brian Williams: 'I Don’t Know What Screwed Up in My Mind'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Brian Williams Steps Back From Anchoring Nightly News","description":"NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is taking a few days away from the news desk after falsely recounting his experience in the Iraq War.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bIzTekD2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-08T15:54:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bIzTekD2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/","duration":"PT52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3701668/brian-williams-stars-and-stripes-interview/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```