One year after Brian Williams‘ position as one of America’s most trusted newsmen began to unravel, Williams will be back in the anchor chair co-hosting MSNBC’s coverage of the Iowa caucus.
It was one year ago tonight, Jan. 29, 2015, that Williams was at a New York Rangers game, reunited for the first time in 12 years, with Command Sgt. Tim Terpak, who was responsible for Williams and his NBC News team, during a 2003 reporting trip in Iraq. It was the circumstances of that mission, and what actually happened to Williams and the Chinook he was in, that in the ensuing weeks would lead to an on-air apology, a suspension, a removal from his job as anchor of NBC Nightly News, a sit-down interview with Matt Lauer and, finally, a return to the network late last summer as a breaking news anchor for MSNBC.
Williams seamlessly returned to the anchor chair in September, as lead anchor for the network’s coverage of Pope Francis’s U.S. visit. As the 2016 race enters the primary phase, Williams has been tapped to co-anchor prime time politics coverage. His first outing comes Sunday night for 2-hours of pre-Iowa coverage alongside with Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell and other MSNBC hosts.