After national outrage over misleading comments about his time in Iraq, NBC’s Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is now taking a temporary leave of absence. This time away from the anchor desk has not stopped the growing scrutiny of other boastful claims he has made in his past.
He is now under fire for his inconsistent story about saving puppies from a house on fire.
In an interview with Esquire in 2005, Williams touted, “All I ever did as a volunteer fireman was once save two puppies.”
But in 2011, Williams told another puppy-saving tale. This time, he bravely saved only one puppy — not two — as a teenage volunteer firefighter in New Jersey.
“I remember one such house fire — the structure was fully involved with flames and smoke. I was wearing a breathing apparatus, conducting a search on my hands and knees, when I felt something warm, squishy and furry on the floor of a closet. I instinctively tucked it in my coat. When I got outside, I saw two small eyes staring up at me, and I returned the 3-week-old (and very scared) puppy to its grateful owners,” he told USA Weekend.
In addition to his dueling versions of alleged heroics over a puppy, he has claimed to have caught dysentery from drinking the water while reporting on Hurricane Katrina and saw a body float by in the largely dry high ground area of the French Quarter during the hurricane.
Williams also gave differing accounts in 2008 and 2013 about his interview with Nelson Mandela.