Juan Williams: NPR Chief Attacked Him after Firing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Juan Williams says comments that NPR's chief executive made after his firing amount to a personal attack.

Appearing on ABC's Good Morning America, the journalist says he thinks that NPR CEO Vivian Schiller attacked him because she had a weak argument to justify his firing.

"I think it's a very weak case," he said Friday. "And so ultimately what I think she had to do then is to make it an ad hominem or personal attack."

Williams was fired by NPR after saying Monday that he gets nervous on planes when he sees people in Muslim dress.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller said Thursday that controversial opinions should not come from NPR reporters or news analysts. She also said that whatever feelings Williams has about Muslims should be between him and "his psychiatrist or his publicist — take your pick." She later apologized for the comment on NPR's website.

___

Associated Press Writers Greg Bluestein in Atlanta, Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Tom Foreman Jr. in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.