When the Brian Williams scandal was first brought to light, NBC chose to suspend him for six months before placing him in its cable news division. During that time, Lester Holt thought the anchoring position would be temporary, but after it became permanent, he opened up about the situation with the New York Daily News.
“There were times that I tried not to read anything that was written about this whole situation, so of course I read everything,” Holt said.” At some point I didn’t know what to believe, but ultimately it kept coming back to keeping my head focused on the broadcast.”
Holt and Williams also finally spoke after the anchoring switch was made official. “It was a conversation that we both had been craving but didn’t know how to initiate,” Holt said of the situation. “The bottom line is that we expressed our friendship to each other. We acknowledged that while some might see this as awkward, nothing that has transpired was between the two of us. We are friends and the best way to characterize it is that Brian and I are good,” (via The Daily News).