Mediaite reports former NBC reporter Billy Bush snapped after being ribbed for not calling out Donald Trump for bragging over his power to sexually assault women.
Bush was the interviewer behind the “Grab ‘em by the p——" Access Hollywood tape that made Trump famous for being a handsy lout.
“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. I don’t even wait,” Trump told Bush in 2016. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p——. You can do any of that,” Trump said.
Podcast host Jim Acosta pointed out that Bush can be heard laughing in response to Trump’s claims.
“When you think about that day and the stuff that is said on this video and, and, you know, you seem to be laughing along with what he's saying and so on. … Obviously you regret that. Um, what goes through your mind?”
“If you want to say that I failed in that regard, you have every right,” Bush said, but he lost his temper after further grilling from Acosta. “... If people want to say that I’m a terrible person for being in that room and not doing more in this situation then good for you, you high and mighty person, you self-righteous warrior. Good for you.”
“But Billy, I mean, is it being high and mighty?” Acosta asked.
Bush responded that Acosta was “just getting p----- off that [Trump] got away with it, so you’re mad at me? Like, come on, give me a break!”
“I mean, but, you know, that you’re gonna have the folks who say, you had your shot in that moment to tell him, stop acting like a piece of s——,” Acosta persisted. “You’re acting like piece of s——. I guess you would have been fired. You would have been thrown out? I don’t know.”
Bush, the nephew of George H.W. Bush, responded that Acosta was saying these things to trigger online commentary.
“I love you. Jim, and I know you’re doing your job because I can see the comments rolling in there and they’re like, ‘Jim you gotta hold him account. You gotta do it.’ But Jim, if you and I were offline right now, I don’t think you’d be going too hard at me because I think you know it was a s—— situation to be in. A very s—— situation to be in.”
“Yeah. But in hindsight, I mean, all of these women who have said that he assaulted them. The allegations—you mentioned that you would work with him on some pageants. There are allegations about fluid behavior at pageants,” Acosta later prodded.
“He's got a long history. I'm sure he's done all kinds of things. I don't know. But I've definitely engaged you long enough on this topic,” Bush said.