Beleaguered "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams announced he is temporarily stepping away from the show because, he said, it has become "painfully apparent" his self-aggrandizing stories of questionable heroism are a distraction.
In a memo to NBC News staff released by the network, the anchorman said as managing editor of "NBC Nightly News" he is taking himself off the broadcast for several days.
NBC News declined to comment further. Williams, however, said he would be back.
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"In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions," Williams said in his memo. "Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us."
NBC News President Deborah Turness said Friday that an internal investigation had been launched after questions arose over Williams' false on-air statements that he was in a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while in Iraq in 2003. Williams apologized for those statements Wednesday.
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But since then, the story has only grown – with new allegations of similar tall tales.
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Since Williams' apology, questions also have been raised about his claim that he saw a body or bodies in the Hurricane Katrina floodwaters that hit New Orleans in 2005.
His remarks in a 2006 interview drew suspicion because there was relatively little flooding in New Orleans' French Quarter, the area where Williams was staying. A person at NBC confirmed that Williams stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, which is in an area where a news photographer and a law enforcement official said they saw bodies.
