Internal Investigation Into Brian Williams Finds At Least 11 More Reporting 'Embellishments'

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It's not a great week for Brian Williams.

Williams has been off the air since February, when it came to light there was a major discrepancy in his description of getting bombed out of the sky in Iraq -- the discrepancy being that it never actually happened.

Now, an internal investigation by NBC has turned up at least 11 more examples of lies, misrepresentations, and embellishments in Williams' reporting, according to the Washington Post.


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A New York Times report on Friday said sources close to the investigation confirmed they had found about half a dozen instances in which Williams "is thought to have fabricated, misrepresented or embellished his accounts."

On Saturday, the Washington Post said that number was up to at least 11.

Some of the events in question include Williams' reporting from Tahrir Square in Cairo during the Arab Spring, a missile attack in Lebanon in 2006, and his story about receiving a piece of a helicopter that crashed during an attempt on Osama bin Laden's life in 2011.

A couple of specific incidents were mentioned by the Times and the Post:

In an interview with The Daily Show in February 2011, Williams described a harrowing moment during his coverage of the Arab Spring uprising. He told a story in which he made eye contact with the head of a pro-government group who was on horseback, and said he saw them use whips on people. But video footage from that time shows that Williams was observing from a balcony, not on the street.


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In 2007, Williams said rockets passed "just beneath" a helicopter he was riding in over Lebanon while covering Israel's attack against Hezbollah in the region. But when he blogged about the same story for NBC, the proximity of the missiles was absent from the story.

The investigation is not over yet, and it's unknown whether NBC News will use its findings to justify terminating Williams. But it doesn't look good for his future in news.

Watch Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly tackle the Brian Williams scandal: