Former "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush confirmed again that it was Donald Trump's voice on the famous 2005 video that recorded Trump bragging about crude and degrading behavior toward women.
The New York Times reported last week that Trump has told at least one U.S. senator and other people that he didn't believe the voice on the tape was his — even though he directly confirmed the remarks and apologized for them a month before the presidential election last year.
"Of course he said it," the former "Access Hollywood" and "Today" show personality said in an op-ed published Sunday in The New York Times.
The video shows Trump, who was the star of "The Apprentice," riding on an "Access Hollywood" bus with then-host Bush. At one point, Trump describes trying to have sex with a married woman. He also brags about women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous.
"When you're a star, they let you do it," Trump says. "You can do anything."
"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. We now know better," Bush said in the op-ed.
In an appearance taped Monday for CBS' "Late Show With Stephen Colbert," Bush addressed the president: "That is your voice. I was there, you were there, that's your voice on the tape."
U.S. & World
The recording of the lewd conversation between Bush and Trump emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump later said he never did any of the actions described on the tape, and dismissed his words as locker room talk.
David Bossie, the Trump campaign aide who says he played the tape for Trump when it surfaced, said on "Meet the Press" Sunday that "it's clear" that the voice on the tape is Trump's, and said he doesn't think Trump disputes it, either.
In the waning days of the presidential election, more than a dozen women came forward to say that Trump had sexually assaulted or harassed them over the years. He denied it.
But Bush said he believes the women, and he felt the need to write the piece following reports that Trump had privately suggested that the "Access Hollywood" tape was not authentic.
"I can only imagine how it has reopened the wounds of the women who came forward with their stories about him, and did not receive enough attention," Bush said. "This country is currently trying to reconcile itself to years of power abuse and sexual misconduct. Its leader is wantonly poking the bear."
On Colbert's show, Bush added: "Enough's enough. Stop playing around with people's lives."
Bush, who had recently been hired as co-host of the "Today" show, lost his job following the release of the tape. He wrote in the Times op-ed that he has since gone through a lot of soul searching.
"None of us were guilty of knowingly enabling our future president," he said. "But all of us were guilty of sacrificing a bit of ourselves in the name of success."
"Access Hollywood" is owned and distributed by NBCUniversal, the parent company of this website.
