While NBC at large is keeping silent after anchor Brian Williams admitted to telling an inaccurate tale for 12 years about being shot down during the Iraq War, one prominent NBC News host isn’t shying away from talking, giving a peek underneath the 30 Rock umbrella as tensions continue to rise from within.
Reacting for the first time, “Meet The Press” moderator Chuck Todd told TheDC’s Matt K. Lewis that the “NBC Nightly News” anchor is “mortified” by the recent revelations, adding that what’s “stinging him the most” is that the last group of people he wants to offend are veterans.
Todd told Lewis on the columnist’s podcast Thursday afternoon in a wide ranging discussion.
“I’m uncomfortable talking about it, simply because I haven’t talked to Brian personally yet. I kind of would rather talk to him first,” Todd said hesitantly. “I know Brian is mortified by this, and even more mortified because the last group of people he wants to offend are veterans, and that’s stinging him the most.”
“It’s a friend of mine making a mistake here. He apologized for that mistake,” Todd told Lewis. “No ones having a harder time dealing with it than Brian.” (RELATED: NBC’s Brian Williams Recants, Apologizes For Telling False War Story)
“I gotta think, and I think we all feel this way: I don’t think anybody wants to have their entire career based judgments, have it be judged on their worst day or on their worst mistake,” Todd said. “You want to be judged on the totality of your career, the totality of your character, the totality of your credibility. If everybody were perfect, they wouldn’t be human.”
Williams was caught in a firestorm after angry servicemen called him out over his false claims on Facebook, saying they remember the incident in question and Williams being in a back up helicopter that was 30-45 minutes behind the chopper that was actually downed. (RELATED: Brian Williams Told David Letterman His False Helicopter Story In Vivid Detail)
The “Nightly News” anchor apologized initially on Facebook to the false story, and offered a subsequent apology on air Wednesday night to his viewers and to veterans. He was seen later Wednesday at the New York Rangers game sitting next to actor Tom Hanks.
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