Billy Bush, then co-host of Access Hollywood, was part of a 2005 conversation leaked to several news outlets today in which Donald Trump, then the host of The Apprentice, talks crudely about trying to have sex with a married woman.
“I did try and f— her. She was married,” Trump is overheard saying. “I moved on her very heavily.”
“When you’re a star, you can do anything,” Trump says. In a statement not long after stories appeared in the Washington Post and elsewhere, Trump called the conversation “locker room banter. I apologize if anyone was offended,” Trump says in a rare apology.
Overhead in that same audio, was Billy Bush, now the co-host of the third hour of the Today show. Bush and Trump along with several others are on an Access Hollywood tour bus, taping a segment which includes Days of our Lives actress Arianne Zucker. What they may not have know is that their audio was being recorded, even though they’re not on camera.
“Sheesh your girl’s hot as shit. The girl in the purple,” Bush says referring to Zucker, who is outside the bus. “Yes, the Donald has scored,” Bush declares.
Both NBC News and MSNBC are reporting on the tape, despite the fact that it involves one of their own. Bush has not yet commented. It will be interesting to see how the story is covered on the Today show tomorrow and how Bush is referenced. For those wondering about his Twitter account, Bush deactivated it after the Olympics after he found himself in the middle of the Ryan Lochte mess.
The Clinton campaign responded on Twitter:
This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president. https://t.co/RwhW7yeFI2
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 7, 2016
More: As for who leaked the tape, Page Six talked to Access Hollywood ep Rob Silverstein who says it wasn’t him: “I am the last person in the world who would release that tape. Trust me. Let’s remember that. No chance. Don’t even infer it’s me. I don’t know who leaked it. I have no idea.”
More: Statement from Billy Bush:
“Obviously I’m embarrassed and ashamed. It’s no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago – I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I’m very sorry.”