Matt Lauer Originally Denied Sexual Assault Allegations When Approached by NBC

New details on the firing of Matt Lauer have come to light as NBC News continues their investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct.

Executives revealed that when Lauer was first confronted about the accusations levelled against him, the anchor denied any wrongdoing. When asked if there was any chance that there was a case against him, Lauer said he “could not think of anything at all.“

In addition, a report from Today Saturday morning confirmed that NBC News executives were aware of the investigations into Lauer’s off-screen activity being conducted by two other reporters.

“Top executives at NBC News learned that two other news outlets were working on articles about sexual misconduct involving the former TV co-host, several weeks before an accuser came forward,” Today reported this morning. NBC News has said that at the time, there were no formal reports or anything to go on, so they took Lauer at his word.

However, when someone did reach out to Human Resources at NBC last week, Lauer was dealt with swiftly. After the report of sexual misconduct was filed on Monday evening, Lauer was fired by Wednesday morning. This may account for NBC News Executive Andew Lack’s statement that they had reason to believe this was a pattern of behavior.

This morning, NBC News also made it clear that there would be no settlement with Lauer. They say the anchor — who was making an annual salary of $25 million — was fired with cause, and would receive no severance of any kind. The network is conducting an investigation into Lauer’s years of alleged misconduct and the circumstances surround his termination.