Former "Access Hollywood" anchor Billy Bush said Monday night that he was "infuriated" after President Donald Trump was quoted as having denied that it was his voice on the 2005 video that recorded Trump bragging about crude and degrading behavior toward women.
"You can't say that. That is your voice," Bush said in an interview airing late Monday on CBS's "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." "I was there. You were there. That's your voice on the tape."
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.
Bush told Colbert he wrote an op-ed article in The Times on Sunday night reaffirming that it was Trump's voice on the video because Trump's reported denial was "reopening wounds" for many women who have gone public to confirm accusations against Trump.
"All of these women came out with their names and told their detailed accounts," Bush said. "So, when he said this, it infuriated me on the personal front."
Colbert published an extended clip from the interview on Twitter ahead of its airing.
Bush said his reaction was that "20 women don't get together and say: 'You know what would be really fun? Let's take down a powerful guy together, ha ha.' No, they don't."
"And I said, OK, you're reopening wounds on them, too," Bush said. "Enough's enough. Stop playing around with people's lives."
"Access Hollywood" is owned and distributed by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC.
Bush left NBC's "Today" show in October 2016 after he was suspended as the network said it was investigating Bush's laughing and joking with Trump on the tape. In the interview Monday night, Bush said directly that he was "fired," leaving him in a state of "personal shock — fight-or-flight."
