[6] Pete Williams was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming, where his mother, "Bennie," was a teacher and later a realtor, and his father, Louis, was a dentist.

When pressed by reporters, Cheney refused to dismiss Williams (a civilian employee) despite the department's then-ban on LGBT members of the military.

[17] As NBC justice correspondent, Williams has interviewed United States Attorneys General John Ashcroft,[18] Alberto Gonzales,[19] and Eric Holder,[20] as well as FBI Director Christopher Wray.

[21] In covering the Boston Marathon bombing for MSNBC and NBC News, Williams earned praise from various media analysts for choosing to report events in a restrained, cautionary fashion.

In contrast with the Associated Press and CNN, Williams refused to report a later-retracted claim that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had arrested a suspect for the bombing.

[22] For Politico, Dylan Byers commented: "On a major story that has been defined by inaccurate and conflicting reports and wild speculation, Williams has been calm, diligent and correct.

[25] In covering the April 2021 United States Capitol car attack, Pete Williams claimed the assailant was a "White Man" before any knowledge of the driver was released by authorities.

The assailant turned out to be Noah Green, a mentally ill Black man who was a self-described "follower of [Louis] Farrakhan".

"[29] Williams was named the recipient of the 2018 John F. Hogan Award, presented annually by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).