FTVLive reported that NBC and Comcast Executives would seek the counsel of Tom Brokaw when it came to dealing with the Brian Williams scandal.

And, according to The New Yorker that is exactly what they did.

The magazine writes that Tom Brokaw played a key role in NBC’s decision last night to suspend the news anchor Brian Williams, according to two people involved.

Williams, they said, offered to make a full apology. NBC had begun a probe, led by the network’s investigations editor, Richard Esposito, which, though not complete, had already uncovered “more than one issue of Brian exaggerating,” according to one of the sources. Williams said that he realized the lameness of his apology, made last week, for “exaggerating” the dangers that he encountered in Iraq, in 2003. He assured NBC’s chief executive, Steve Burke, he would look into the camera and offer a compelling explanation of his lapse.

The second conferee said that Williams and his attorney were willing to accept a suspension, but that Williams wanted a declaration by NBC that he would return as an evening-news anchor. Burke, the conferee says, was torn between wanting to take a hard line and feeling compassion for Williams. Brokaw, who turned seventy-five last week, cancelled a Caribbean vacation to heed Burke’s request for advice. Brokaw was concerned about the effects of Williams’s actions on the reputation of the rank and file in the news division.

On Tuesday, Burke summoned Williams and told him that the suspension was non-negotiable.

Brokaw may have stepped down as the Anchor on Nightly News, but the guy still has some big juice at 30 Rock.