Brian Williams Apologizes For Stretching The Truth About Iraq War Trip — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Brian Williams the host of NBC uh
2. 0:02Nightly News has been caught in a lie
3. 0:04concerning his time covering the war in
4. 0:06Iraq and for many it's causing them to
5. 0:09question how trustworthy this very
6. 0:11well-respected journalist in fact is uh
7. 0:14so basically it has to do with uh his
8. 0:16air travel in a helicopter while in Iraq
9. 0:18back in 2003 and the details of an
10. 0:21attack against that air Convoy so why
11. 0:24don't we jump back a few years to him
12. 0:26retelling the story uh this is audio of
13. 0:28him on David Letterman in 2013
14. 0:30this was uh me 10 years ago and a young
15. 0:34command sergeant major uh I was in Iraq
16. 0:38we were in uh some helicopters what we
17. 0:41didn't know was we were north of the
18. 0:43invasion we were the northernmost
19. 0:46Americans in Iraq we were going to drop
20. 0:48some Bridge portions across the
21. 0:50Euphrates so the third infantry could
22. 0:52cross on them uh two of our four
23. 0:54helicopters were hit by ground fire
24. 0:56including the one I was in RPG and and
25. 1:00AK-47 what happens the minute everybody
26. 1:02realizes you've been hit uh we figure
27. 1:04out how to land safely and we did we
28. 1:07landed very quickly and hard and we put
29. 1:09down and we were stuck four birds in the
30. 1:13middle of the desert and we were North
31. 1:16out ahead of the other Americans oh my
32. 1:19so as a as a as a guy as a journalist
33. 1:22what do you think this is a great
34. 1:23position to be in or holy crap I got to
35. 1:25get out of here I uh more toward the
36. 1:28holy crap
37. 1:31yeah so we got hit we sat down everyone
38. 1:33was okay our captain took a Purple Heart
39. 1:35injury to his ear in the cockpit um but
40. 1:38we were alone they started Distributing
41. 1:40weapons we heard a noise and it was
42. 1:43Bradley Fighting vehicles and Abram's
43. 1:45tanks coming they happened to spot us
44. 1:48this was the invasion the US invasion
45. 1:51they saw us they surrounded us for 3
46. 1:53days during the sandstorm that was so
47. 1:56big it suspended the war effort it was
48. 1:58called Orange Crush and they got us out
49. 2:01of there alive and this you were on the
50. 2:03ground in in combat for 3 Days
51. 2:05unbeknownst to anyone back here now uh
52. 2:08just so that you don't think that this
53. 2:09was a one-time thing because we are
54. 2:11going to sort of debate how much of a
55. 2:12slip of of the tongue it was uh here is
56. 2:15and also how untrue it is too and
57. 2:17whether what elements of it are true or
58. 2:19untrue uh here he is uh talking about
59. 2:21the same event with Alec Baldwin as much
60. 2:24as we're like pinch me pinch me pinch me
61. 2:26one of the ways we succeeded was we just
62. 2:28jumped out of the plane and we pulled
63. 2:29the rip we just took it one step at a
64. 2:31time and we turn around next thing you
65. 2:33know we're skating yeah there's the I
66. 2:36got this syndrome I I guess I do say to
67. 2:39myself and to others yes I can I've got
68. 2:42this and I don't know where that
69. 2:44unbridled confidence came from and I've
70. 2:47done some ridiculously stupid things
71. 2:50under that Banner like being in a
72. 2:52helicopter I had no business being in in
73. 2:54Iraq with rounds coming into the
74. 2:57airframe but I you think you would die
75. 3:01uh briefly sure there have been probably
76. 3:05more yeah but do you tell yourself
77. 3:09that's the job oh absolutely you have my
78. 3:13job and not go and sense and cover and
79. 3:16feel these dual Wars that we have asked
80. 3:21these millions of terrific Americans to
81. 3:24go fight and they've raised their hands
82. 3:26and volunteered for the honor of it
83. 3:28would be uh
84. 3:30malpractice now uh apparently some of
85. 3:33the details of the story are in fact not
86. 3:35true that has come up and so Brian
87. 3:37Williams uh just I believe yesterday uh
88. 3:40went on the air and admitted that there
89. 3:41were elements of it which were not
90. 3:42perfectly true here is his apology on
91. 3:46this broadcast last week in an effort to
92. 3:48honor and thank a veteran who protected
93. 3:50me and so many others after a ground
94. 3:53fire incident in the desert during the
95. 3:55Iraq War Invasion I made a mistake in
96. 3:58recalling the event events of 12 years
97. 4:01ago it did not take long to hear from
98. 4:03some brave men and women in the air
99. 4:05Crews who were also in that desert I
100. 4:08want to apologize I said I was traveling
101. 4:11in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire
102. 4:14I was instead in a following aircraft we
103. 4:17all landed after the groundfire incident
104. 4:20and spent two harrowing nights in a
105. 4:22sandstorm in the Iraq desert this was a
106. 4:26bungled attempt by me to thank one
107. 4:29special vet veteran and by extension are
108. 4:31brave military men and women veterans
109. 4:33everywhere those who have served while I
110. 4:35did not I hope they know they have my
111. 4:38greatest respect and also now my
112. 4:42apology so some details apparently not
113. 4:44true he was not actually in a helicopter
114. 4:46that was hit by RPG or AK-47 fire but he
115. 4:49was at least traveling along the same
116. 4:51path now well that that's being disputed
117. 4:53Now Rich Krell who is a pilot uh of that
118. 4:56said that in fact he is siding with
119. 4:58Williams he was there uh he was in the
120. 5:01chanook that was ahead of or behind him
121. 5:03said that their plane was in fact hit by
122. 5:05gunfire Brian Williams plane was it was
123. 5:07not hit by an RPG and that's where he's
124. 5:09wrong it was hit by ground fire uh they
125. 5:11were the cargo were assembled pieces of
126. 5:14bridge Steel Bridge that were being
127. 5:17transported that was the cargo they were
128. 5:18transporting and gunfire hit that cargo
129. 5:21did not hit the plane or the chopper
130. 5:24that that Williams was on so there is
131. 5:26another side of the story and the pilot
132. 5:27is saying that everything about what
133. 5:29Williams is saying is accurate except
134. 5:31for the fact that it wasn't RPG fire it
135. 5:33was it was ground fire well so if that's
136. 5:35the case then why in his apology didn't
137. 5:38he that part very clear like he seemed
138. 5:40to be backing off much more from the
139. 5:42entire story than he was well he was
140. 5:43because there were a number of people
141. 5:45that were saying you're misremembering
142. 5:46this or you're misstating something or
143. 5:48you're inventing something so uh in that
144. 5:50case if you have this sort of
145. 5:52preponderance of people saying that
146. 5:53you'll remember the Swift boats and John
147. 5:55KY a lot of people remember things in
148. 5:57war there's a book called The Fog of War
149. 6:00documentary about mnam so when the The
150. 6:02Fog of war is a thing that you don't
151. 6:05remember every specificity of it of
152. 6:06course he came in there for a few days
153. 6:08as a journalist not as a as a a soldier
154. 6:12uh and he never made any I mean bones
155. 6:14about that like he was sort of
156. 6:15parachuting in checking it out and was
157. 6:17hoping to get not literally but hoping
158. 6:19to get out of there sooner than he did
159. 6:21but the mere fact that there's a pilot
160. 6:23who was on one of those helicopters
161. 6:25saying that what Williams has said is
162. 6:27true mhm refuting the other soldiers
163. 6:30there as well sort of gives a little
164. 6:32Credence to Brian Williams remembering
165. 6:34it in the way that he did I mean I'm not
166. 6:36going to know it's RPG if I'm in a
167. 6:38helicopter that's getting hit even if my
168. 6:39cargo is getting hit sticking out the
169. 6:41back I'm going to say I was shot at
170. 6:43right so I've been going back and forth
171. 6:45on this all day because right before we
172. 6:46started I said to you guys look we're
173. 6:47people that talk for a living so I'm
174. 6:49always hesitant to jump on someone
175. 6:51that's that maybe recounted something
176. 6:53incorrectly or something like that so
177. 6:55first off I think that distinction is
178. 6:56good and he actually sort of did make
179. 6:58that distinction in the interview with
180. 6:59Alec Baldwin because he said rounds
181. 7:01coming into the airframe rounds coming
182. 7:03into the airframe does sound more like
183. 7:05gunfire than an RPG so he did at least
184. 7:08in that interview maybe the lie was a
185. 7:09little less or his misremembering or
186. 7:11whatever you want to call it was a
187. 7:12little bit less that being said you know
188. 7:14we've all made factual errors right
189. 7:17would we all own up to that like when
190. 7:18we've been on camera we've probably all
191. 7:20made factual errors I know I have we've
192. 7:22all probably misspoken right we've all
193. 7:24definitely misspoken you thought you
194. 7:26were saying one thing it may have come
195. 7:27out inarticulately or whatever us to do
196. 7:29that about my Vietnam record all the
197. 7:31time you were very good there by the way
198. 7:34uh that being said again the first story
199. 7:37the Letterman story sounds like a madeup
200. 7:39story the way he's telling it has this
201. 7:42lore to it and even the going to the
202. 7:44Alec Balon thing there's this ah I'm I'm
203. 7:47brave or I don't know where this comes
204. 7:49from that I can do these sort of
205. 7:50things little self-important he's better
206. 7:54at articulating a story than almost
207. 7:57anybody in America right I mean of the
208. 7:59job he has we're deferring to him you
209. 8:01think he would get the thing that he was
210. 8:03involved in correctly but I don't see
211. 8:05where he got it so wildly incorrectly I
212. 8:07I agree with you and he is acknowledging
213. 8:09that I didn't that he didn't get it
214. 8:10correctly but it's not like he made it
215. 8:12up out of whole cloth and you know he
216. 8:15was wait a second Brian Williams was
217. 8:17never in IR Rock he was never shot at he
218. 8:19was never in a schnook and he was never
219. 8:21stuck in a sandstorm for two days turns
220. 8:23out there aren't actually helicopters
221. 8:24right exactly it's not like it's not
222. 8:27like Williams is saying that I'm you
223. 8:28know listen I like Brian Williams you
224. 8:30know I I don't know him I've met him I
225. 8:32don't know him I like the job he does I
226. 8:34think he's a guy I like getting the news
227. 8:36from but that being said he's also has a
228. 8:40record of Truth telling and I don't
229. 8:41think this is such a a departure from
230. 8:44that now that I've heard what the pilot
231. 8:46said well that's yeah I agree with you
232. 8:48I'm making the distinction between the
233. 8:50the bullets and the RPG I do think
234. 8:51that's important I'm just saying in the
235. 8:52Letterman story there's an element to
236. 8:54the way he tells the story that does
237. 8:57sort of elevate his importance in the
238. 8:59whole thing and I get it he's on letter
239. 9:01and that's what you do on panel and you
240. 9:02have to make you know and and man he he
241. 9:04was scared he was going to die you tell
242. 9:06that story well right right so yeah no
243. 9:08no so right so I'm not I'm not doing the
244. 9:10fullon attack on him but I would say
245. 9:12that if if there's another instance of
246. 9:14this I don't think you should be F
247. 9:15they're going digging and one of the
248. 9:17other things NBC did a a
249. 9:19huge uh volume of reporting on Hillary
250. 9:22Clinton misstating her presence in
251. 9:25Bosnia and what it was like getting into
252. 9:27Bosnia Landing under gunfire
253. 9:30and and NBC was ruthless in their
254. 9:32pursuit of that story I don't this
255. 9:35doesn't even come close to that in my
256. 9:37estimation what what Williams is saying
257. 9:39he really was up there he according to
258. 9:41the pilot his plane his Chopper what are
259. 9:43you going to say when you come back from
260. 9:45that Johnny oh they were shot at my uh
261. 9:47at my helicopter I would have made an
262. 9:50injury that looks like bullet wound and
263. 9:52then I would use that to get free drinks
264. 9:54at bars right um yeah now I think an
265. 9:57important distinction to make the the
266. 9:59reason that I wanted to talk about this
267. 10:00is that we criticize very often members
268. 10:02of the media in all different networks
269. 10:04but especially Fox News and I was trying
270. 10:06to think if it had been o riy or if it
271. 10:07had been Greg Gutfeld who' been telling
272. 10:09the story I think that we would be
273. 10:11highly critical of them for for fudging
274. 10:13even little facts like this the
275. 10:16distinction I suppose is that if you
276. 10:18were to say that you'd been injured and
277. 10:20use that directly to boost your own
278. 10:22credibility which isn't something that
279. 10:23Brian Williams necessarily needs to do
280. 10:25he is a credible figure yeah um that
281. 10:27would be more dishonest and especially
282. 10:29if you were to use your experience to go
283. 10:31on and talk with authority and advise
284. 10:34the US government to engage in further
285. 10:36military conflicts like if you were to
286. 10:37use that to get some some sort of
287. 10:40respectability and then go off and and
288. 10:42be a hawk I think that that would be a
289. 10:43bigger issue Brian Williams he doesn't
290. 10:45have that position so it doesn't seem
291. 10:47like he's using it for much else than
292. 10:49being interesting this doesn't speak to
293. 10:51any kind of hypocrisy either at its
294. 10:53worst this doesn't speak to hypocrisy
295. 10:55the way the lies and the fabrication of
296. 10:59facts and numbers does when you're
297. 11:00talking about you know people in news
298. 11:02who do that that sort of thing when it
299. 11:04happens so I I think that's a little
300. 11:05different here yeah I'd go with that I
301. 11:08did feel a little bit uncomfortable
302. 11:09though uh seeing that David Letterman
303. 11:11after hearing the story it wasn't in the
304. 11:12clip said I have to treat you now with
305. 11:14renewed respect that again I think that
306. 11:18he would have said that even if the ACC
307. 11:19the fully accurate story had been told
308. 11:21but said that if Brian Williams said I
309. 11:24jumped in a tub of Jello-O once letter
310. 11:26would have also said I have to treat you
311. 11:27with renew at worst what we're saying is
312. 11:30here that he's just being a
313. 11:31self-important celebrity really his that
314. 11:34the story got uh expanded upon you're
315. 11:38even saying not that much which I'm I'm
316. 11:40willing to go on that but it got his
317. 11:42importance in the story got expanded
318. 11:44upon enough that he's just making
319. 11:45himself feel a little more important and
320. 11:47that's what you do when you're on these
321. 11:48panel things and he's of course going to
322. 11:50be held to a different standard than if
323. 11:52you had uh you know somebody from uh Big
324. 11:55Bang Theory or whatever else whatever
325. 11:57else they're putting on also this is
326. 11:59happens when you go on one of those
327. 12:00shows you go in with a segment producer
328. 12:02the segment producer is like here's what
329. 12:04we want to talk about anything you want
330. 12:05to talk about yeah you know uh I want to
331. 12:07talk about the fact that when it was
332. 12:092013 I want to talk about uh uh the
333. 12:11election last year what that means I
334. 12:13want to talk about my experience in the
335. 12:15War uh Dave also wants to talk to you
336. 12:17about what it's like doing the news now
337. 12:18as more people are getting the news from
338. 12:19elsewhere okay great we have a segment
339. 12:21three topics boom he comes out there hey
340. 12:23so you were uh in Iraq once right he's
341. 12:25going to tell the story the story and
342. 12:28its true is an amazing story for anyone
343. 12:31to tell so uh and he's saying it to as
344. 12:34he said to talk about a specific veteran
345. 12:36and by extension a lot of other veterans
346. 12:38I think his motives were pure here I
347. 12:40don't think that he was trying to he
348. 12:41doesn't he's got the number one rated
349. 12:43this is why I don't think they're going
350. 12:44to get rid of him anyway number one
351. 12:45rated newscast in America more people
352. 12:47get their News ran Williams why why
353. 12:50that's right because he tells great
354. 12:52stories made up story but you know we
355. 12:54forget that more people watch and get
356. 12:56their news from Brian Williams than all
357. 12:57those cable shows combin yeah exactly a
358. 13:00a given night so you sort of already
359. 13:02made clear that you think both because
360. 13:04of the actual elements of of of the
361. 13:06story but also because of the huge money
362. 13:08that he brings in for that organization
363. 13:10he's unlikely to lose his job as a
364. 13:12result of this because you have the
365. 13:14pilot an honorable Air Force Marine I
366. 13:16don't know what what branch he's with
367. 13:18I'm guessing Air Force but I'm probably
368. 13:20wrong because I don't know enough about
369. 13:21it could be Army who whoa are you
370. 13:22misspeaking right now because you are
371. 13:25yeah that's true he was a he was the
372. 13:27co-pilot the yeah yeah I would say this
373. 13:30look if if sorry if he uh if this causes
374. 13:32people that watch NBC News to have
375. 13:33slightly more distrust of the mainstream
376. 13:35news whether it's right or wrong I would
377. 13:38say that that basically is fine