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The 2015 Controversy That Ended Brian Williams' 'Nightly News' Tenure, Revisited
TV Insider ^ | February 4, 2025 | Dan Clarendon

Posted on 05/24/2025 11:10:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

The controversy related to his recollections of his time covering the Iraq War. In January 2023, Williams told NBC viewers he had been traveling with four U.S. Army helicopters forced to land to avoid enemy fire and then trapped by a sandstorm.

That much was true, but over the next dozen years, Williams made it seem like he was closer to the action than he actually was, that the helicopter in which he was riding was shot down. Eyewitnesses, however, said other helicopters were hit and that Williams' helicopter arrived at the scene an hour later.

In a timeline of statements from Williams, CNN Business shows how his story morphed over the years — and strayed further from the truth.

In a 2003 NBC News report, he said, "On the ground, we learn the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky."

In a 2005 appearance on Tim Russert's CNBC Show, Williams said, "The helicopter in front of us was hit. A pickup truck stopped on the road, pulled a tarp back; a guy got up, fired an RPG, rocket-propelled grenade. ... And it beautifully pierced the tail rotor of the Chinook in front of us."

In 2007, Williams suggested in a television segment that he was in one of the helicopters that encountered enemy fire, recalling "when the Chinook helicopters we were traveling in at the start of the Iraq War were fired on and forced down for three days in a stretch of hostile desert in a sandstorm."

(Excerpt) Read more at tvinsider.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: brianwilliams; mediawingofthednc; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills
from the FRchives:


1 posted on 05/24/2025 11:10:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
Never should have been on the air in the first place.

2 posted on 05/24/2025 11:11:44 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
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To: SunkenCiv
On the plus side, the lies Williams told inspired hundreds of funny memes.


3 posted on 05/24/2025 11:18:25 AM PDT by Leaning Right (It’s morning in America. Again.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Hey, a little respect for the guy who almost prevented WWII. Honest, he was talking to Admiral Yamamoto at a DC cocktail party when he sez, “Don’t do it, Isoroku! You’ll awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve!” “Hey, that’s pretty catchy,” sez the Admiral, “Imma steal that one.”


4 posted on 05/24/2025 11:23:03 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill

LOL!


5 posted on 05/24/2025 11:27:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
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To: SunkenCiv

How is what he did any different than Hillary or Joe? They skated but he was fired. Seems a dbl standard at best. So am I to believe the dems have a liar outcome hierarchy? Some will remain untouched while others are punished?


6 posted on 05/24/2025 11:34:05 AM PDT by 556x45
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To: SunkenCiv

And yet “Da Nang Dick” Blumenthal sits in Congress.


7 posted on 05/24/2025 11:36:23 AM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (⭐⭐To the Left, The Truth is Right Wing Violence⭐⭐)
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To: SunkenCiv

“A former manager of the swanky hotel where Brian Williams stayed during Hurricane Katrina demolished his claims that he saw a body float by — and laughed off his assertion that gangs were roaming the hallways.”

https://pagesix.com/2015/02/09/brian-williams-didnt-see-any-bodies-floating-says-nola-hotel-manager/


8 posted on 05/24/2025 12:22:46 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: SunkenCiv

Didn’t he get 3 Purple Hearts for that? Oh wait, that was some other leftist prick.


9 posted on 05/24/2025 12:23:03 PM PDT by 230FMJ (From my cold, dead hands.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Eyewitnesses, however, said other helicopters were hit and that Williams' helicopter arrived at the scene an hour later.

Kinda like that "shooting survivor" hogg they keep telling us about.

10 posted on 05/24/2025 12:47:55 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: SunkenCiv
And it beautifully pierced the tail rotor of the Chinook in front of us."

Might have pierced the aft rotor, but a Chinook has no tail rotor.

11 posted on 05/25/2025 4:37:56 PM PDT by xone ( )
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