Another Brian Williams tale has come under scrutiny.
As the Washington Post points out, Williams told two different versions of a story about covering the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. In one interview, he said he was nearly hit by rockets while flying in a helicopter over northern Israel. However, when he had originally written about the experience, that detail never came up. In fact, he only described activity that occurred nowhere near his helicopter.
He also told the Daily Show that rockets were "1,500 feet beneath us."
Doubts about Williams' trustworthiness have emerged ever since he admitted last week that he conflated details in his reporting in Iraq. In numerous interviews and in a recent broadcast, Williams claimed he was aboard a helicopter that was hit and forced down by RPG fire during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Williams later told Stars and Stripes he had misremembered the events. The admission, and on-air apology, occurred after several crew members who were on the aircraft that was hit came forward.
Amidst a media firestorm, NBC is investigating Williams' Iraq coverage and his Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Williams is taking a temporary leave of absence from the network, and cancelled a planned appearance on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman."
Other anecdotes Williams has told over the years are getting the magnifying glass treatment as well, including a tale he repeatedly shared about being mugged at gunpoint back in the 1970s.
During a 2005 story in Esquire and a profile in New Jersey Monthly three years later, Williams talked about how he was robbed while selling Christmas trees out of the back of a truck to help a church in Red Bank, N.J. However, longtime residents say they doubt the story is true.
“I find it hard to believe anyone was held up in this area in the ’70s. It was very safe," Danny Murphy, former owner of Danny's restaurant, told Pagesix.com. "I doubt he was robbed at gunpoint," Les Carbone, 85, told The Daily Mail. "I was born in Red Bank, there were no crimes like that. Tell Brian Williams to stop lying.'
No proof refuting Williams' story of the alleged mugging has surfaced, though.