Crossposted on Newsbusters.
With Brian Williams’ reputation now tarnished by his Iraq war tall-tales it’s going to be awfully awkward for NBC News to allow him to cover any stories involving public figures caught in lies. At the very least his days of “precinct captain for” NBC’s “Truth Squad” are probably over.
Williams served in that role during NBC News’s live coverage of the 2004 presidential and vice presidential debates. In its coverage of the October 5, 2004 vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, the then anchor-in-waiting was introduced by Tom Brokaw this way:
“We’ve been keeping track of the facts or the non-facts during the course of the debate as well. And the precinct captain for our Truth Squad in Cleveland, here’s NBC's Brian Williams for us now.”
Williams went on to fact check various statements by the two vice presidential candidates. He also played that role in the presidential debates between George W. Bush and John Kerry.
Over the years the Nightly News anchor has covered many stories that involved the lies of public figures. From Mark McGwire’s confessing he lied about using steroids to disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair’s resignation the following is a compilation of Williams’ now cringe-inducing soundbites from those stories.