Brian Williams has fessed up — and the "NBC Nightly News" anchor now deserves the benefit of the doubt in his embarrassing Chopper-gate scandal, says renowned economist Larry Kudlow, who works for NBC's business channel, CNBC.
"I know Brian. I've known him for a long time and I think highly of him. I may not always agree with him, but he's a first rate professional newscaster," Kudlow said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"He made a mistake. He attributes it to the fog of war. Then, he realized after someone [pointed it out], that it was a mistake and he fessed up.
"He said he apologized and he was wrong. That's a standup way to deal with it. I don't know the details."
On Wednesday, Williams recanted his astonishing claim of being aboard a helicopter forced down by a rocket-propelled grenade during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
On his nightly half-hour newscast, Williams said he was sorry for making "a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. I want to apologize."
Earlier,
Williams told Stars and Stripes: "I would not have chosen to make this mistake. I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another."
Crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes Williams was nowhere near that aircraft — or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that came under fire. Instead, he arrived about an hour after the incident on another helicopter that took no fire.
"I doubt frankly if he was trying to hide anything when he said he made a mistake in the fog of war," said Kudlow, a CNBC senior contributor and host of the syndicated radio program "The Larry Kudlow Show."
"I'm willing to give him more than the benefit of the doubt."
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