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In his first published interview, Williams, the anchor of
top-rated "NBC Nightly News," said he assumed the helicopter
took damage. Williams took himself off the air on Saturday as
the Comcast Corp-owned network investigates his claims that he
rode in a helicopter that was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade
during the first days of the Iraq War in 2003.
"It's very basic I would not have chosen to make this mistake,"
Williams told the newspaper on Feb 4. Stars and Stripes first
reported on a number of soldiers who disputed the claims, saying
Williams was not on or anywhere near the helicopter that was
hit.
The claims have threatened to erode the credibility of the
55-year-old who has anchored "Nightly News" since 2004 and
helped maintain its top spot among network newscasts for most of
that time.
The scandal has also stoked a wider debate about the role of a
news anchor in a world where the relevance of a nightly network
broadcast has waned in the Internet age.
"Because I knew we had all come under fire, I guess I had
assumed that all of the airframes took some damage because we
all went down," Williams said in the interview published on
Monday.
"I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to
conflate one aircraft from the other," he added.
Williams' apology last week, in which he said he misremembered
the event, was widely mocked and derided.
Backlash against Williams first gained steam on social media
after a Jan. 30 "Nightly News" segment in which Williams retold
the false story.
Williams had frequently told his version of events since first
reporting it in March 2003, and his retellings over the years
have often differed.
Unlike the buttoned-up public image of many network anchors,
Williams frequently appears on television away from his anchor
chair, hosting NBC's late night sketch comedy show "Saturday
Night Live" in 2007 and appearing often on shows like Jimmy
Fallon's "The Tonight Show" on the network.
On Sunday, Williams called off a scheduled Thursday appearance
on David Letterman's "Late Show."
Williams is also facing scrutiny over statements he made about
Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
(Editing by Mary Milliken, Christian Plumb and Lisa Shumaker)
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