Billy Bush claims ‘everyone’ at NBC knew about Donald Trump ‘grab them by the p****’ tape

‘I was comfortable it wasn’t going to be weaponised,’ says Bush in interview with Gayle King

Billy Bush has claimed that “everybody” at NBC knew about the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Donald Trump was heard bragging about grabbing women “by the p****”.

Bush spoke to Gayle King in an interview for CBS as he prepared to return to television as the host of Extra, the syndicated entertainment show.

Almost three years have passed since the explosive Access Hollywood tape surfaced amid the 2016 presidential campaign, costing Bush his job as a Today show co-host.

The segment was taped in 2005, as Bush and Mr Trump went to film a segment for Access Hollywood, a programme owned by NBCUniversal, the media conglomerate of which NBC is a division.

Bush told King in his recent interview that he believes the tape has been “weaponised” – something he wasn’t initially expecting.

“You knew there was a tape,” King told Bush during their sit-down.

“Everybody did,” Bush replied.

“I didn’t,” King told him, to which Bush responded: “Everybody at the network.”

He added: “And I was comfortable that it wasn’t going to be weaponised.”

Bush claimed he was initially told he wouldn’t be fired and that he only found out he was, in fact, being sacked when he went to leave for work and was told the vehicle that was supposed to take him there had been cancelled.

Looking back on his mindset in 2005, Bush told King: “It was my first year as the co-host of this show. You know, you want people to like you and you [get] a little eager.”

Mr Trump dismissed his remarks on Access Hollywood as “locker-room talk”. He went on to win the presidential election the following month.

The Independent has contacted NBC for comment.