NEW YORK, New York -- If NBC anchorman Brian Williams thought a simply apology would be enough, he was dead wrong.
Williams is now facing a firestorm of criticism as well as new allegations about his credibility after admitting a ‘mistake in recalling’ his time in a helicopter in Iraq in 2003. Despite saying his helicopter had been fired upon, Williams now says that was not what happened.
Friday the New York Daily News cited sources inside NBC reporting that the network had launched an internal investigation.
NBC News President Deborah Turness sent the below memo to her staff Friday
Meanwhile the man Williams replaced behind the anchor desk at NBC Nightly News has declined to publicly defend his predecessor.
Thursday the Post cited a source saying Tom Brokaw wanted Williams’ “head on a platter.”
But Friday the Huffington Post reported a statement sent to them from Brokaw.
The email notably stopped short of defending Williams or his actions.
Earlier in the week a lone pilot was defending Williams’ account of his time on the helicopter. But Friday that pilot, Rich Krell, told CNN he was “questioning his own memories.”
CNN media reporter Brian Stelter conducted the original interview with Krell and said on-air that the pilot was no longer standing by his story.
Claims about Williams truthfulness also expanded Friday to include stories he shared while covering Hurricane Katrina.
While on the ground in New Orleans Williams recounted seeing a body float by him in the French Quarter as well as claimed to have caught dysentery from drinking flood waters.
The New Orleans Advocate pointed out Friday that the French Quarter was not impacted by flood waters and cited a former health official who raised doubts about the dysentery claim.
Williams offered an on-air apology Wednesday.