Brian Williams Joins MSNBC After Losing Nightly News Role

Brian Williams will not return to his role at NBC Nightly News but instead join the cable news network MSNBC to cover breaking news.

The anchor was suspended in February after reports that he had embellished his recollections about the Iraq war.

Lester Holt, who had been filling in during Brian Williams’ suspension, will take over the slot permanently.

He becomes the first African-American man to lead a top evening news program.

Brian Williams said of viewers on June 18: “I’m determined to earn back their trust.”

He is scheduled to appear on the Today show on June 19 to further explain his new role.

Brian Williams, who was the face of NBC’s Nightly News since 2004, often spoke on chats shows of being shot down in a helicopter in Iraq.

But in early 2015, veterans who were aboard the helicopter began refuting his account over social media. Brian Williams and the network were forced to apologize.

“I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,” Brian Williams said in February.

“I want to apologize. I said I was travelling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] fire. I was instead in a following aircraft.”

An internal NBC investigation found Brian Williams may have embellished other stories.

Brian Williams had signed a five-year contract in 2014 before the scandal.

For the past few weeks, Brian Williams and NBC Universal – the network’s corporate parent – have been negotiating new terms for the embattled newsman.