Billy Bush: Trump indulging in ‘revisionist history’ over ‘Access Hollywood’ tape

Former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush pushed back against President Trump’s reported claim that the voice in the infamous 2005 backstage tape from the show was not him, accusing the president in an op-ed in The New York Times of engaging in “revisionist history.”

“President Trump is currently indulging in some revisionist history, reportedly telling allies, including at least one United States senator, that the voice on the tape is not his. This has hit a raw nerve in me,” Bush wrote in the op-ed. 

Bush was referring to recent reports that Trump had told a senator earlier this year that the voice on the recording, in which Trump is heard bragging about groping women and Bush is heard laughing, wasn’t authentic.  

“He said it. ‘Grab ‘em by the p—-,'” Bush wrote in the op-ed. 

{mosads}

“Of course he said it. And we laughed along, without a single doubt that this was hypothetical hot air from America’s highest-rated bloviator. Along with Donald Trump and me, there were seven other guys present on the bus at the time, and every single one of us assumed we were listening to a crass standup act. He was performing. Surely, we thought, none of this was real,” Bush continued.

“We now know better,” he added.

The op-ed comes over a year after the tape was leaked during the 2016 campaign. Trump publicly acknowledged during the campaign that it was his voice on the recording, and apologized for the comments, dismissing them as “locker room talk.”

Bush was fired from his NBC post shortly after the tape was released, and has kept a low profile since. 

However, he is set to appear on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday, where he will most likely answer questions about the tape, as well as the firing of his former NBC colleague former “Today” host Matt Lauer over sexual misconduct allegations. 

Bush hosted the third hour of the morning show from May 2016 to October 2016 before he was fired.