Longtime anchor Brian Williams signs off from NBC after 28 years

Brian Williams signed off for the last time at NBC on Thursday night, reflecting on his 28 years with the network.

>> PHOTOS: Brian Williams through the years

Williams, 62, the host of MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour” and a former anchor for “NBC Nightly News” before a scandal cost him his job, used his final moments on the air to send a warning about the future of democracy.

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“The truth is I’m not a liberal or a conservative. I’m an institutionalist,” he said. “I believe in this place and my love of country I yield to no one. But the darkness on the edge of town has spread to the main roads and highways and neighborhoods. It’s now at the local bar, and the bowling alley, at the school board, in the grocery store. And it must be acknowledged and answered for.

“Grown men and women, who swore an oath to our Constitution, elected by their constituents, possessing the kind of college degrees I could only dream of, have decided to join the mob and become something they are not, while hoping we somehow forget who they were,” Williams continued. “They’ve decided to burn it all down with us inside.”

Williams announced in November that he would be leaving NBC. Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC, wrote in a note to staff at the time that Williams “has informed us he would like to take the coming months to spend time with his family.”

In 2015, Williams’ role as lead anchor on NBC’s “Nightly News” was cut short when he was found to have exaggerated his role in some stories.

Williams apologized on the air for telling an account of a 2003 helicopter mission during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Williams had told the story several times, and at first, told it correctly: that a rocket-propelled grenade struck a helicopter that was traveling ahead of his. Later, Williams said he was on the helicopter that was struck.

>> Brian Williams says he is leaving NBC after 28 years with the network

After other stories Williams told began to be called into question, he was suspended for six months. Eventually, he was replaced as lead anchor by Lester Holt.

Williams then moved to MSNBC, where he began hosting the news talk show “The 11th Hour.”

Williams has not revealed his future plans, but in a November note to staff members at NBC, he wrote that he expects to “pop up again somewhere.”

The anchor said as much Thursday night.

“I will probably find it impossible to be silent and stay away from you (the viewer) and lights and cameras,” Williams said. “After I experiment with relaxation and find out what I’ve missed and what’s out there.”

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