Today: Brian Williams Sits Down with Matt Lauer

Brian Williams (NBC photo)

In his first interview since being suspended from NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams admitted to and apologized for past mistakes, telling Today's Matt Lauer, "I said things that weren't true."

"It has been torture," Williams said, of the months since he was suspended. "Looking back, it has been absolutely necessary. I have discovered a lot of things. I have been listening to and watching what amounts to the black box recordings from my career. I've gone back through everything — basically 20 years of public utterances."

An extensive review by NBCUniversal into Williams' reporting in the field and commentary from a period of more than 10 years found that he made a number of inaccurate statements about his role and experiences in covering events in the field. Williams, who has been suspended since February, opened up about what he says has been a difficult period.

"I was reading these newspaper stories, not liking the person I was reading about, wanting — I would have given anything to get to the end of the story and have it be about someone else, but it was about me. These statements I made, I own this; I own up to this and I have to go through and see and try to figure out how it happened."



On Thursday, NBC announced that Williams would not return as the anchor of Nightly News, naming Lester Holt as the show's permanent anchor. Williams will join MSNBC, where he was an anchor from 1996-2004, as an anchor of breaking news and special reports, beginning in mid-August.