DC Trawler

Did Somebody At NBC Leak The Access Hollywood Trump Tape To Oust Billy Bush?

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Let’s face it… wouldn’t you?

Mara Siegler and Emily Smith, Page Six:

The infamous “Access Hollywood” tape — in which President Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women by the hoo-ha — was an inside job, leaked by an NBC News staffer on Billy Bush’s own “Today” show, multiple sources tell Page Six.

“The tape was leaked by the NBC News division, by somebody at the ‘Today’ show,” says one source…

“The leaked tape served a dual purpose: It helped get Bush out of the way — Matt Lauer didn’t like him and felt he was a liability — and NBC thought it would derail Trump,” says the source.

Well, they got it half-right, at least.

I can’t really bring myself to feel bad for Billy Bush in all this, but it does seem unjust. As Stephen Miller (the Heat Street guy, not the Trump guy) asked back in October:

Why is Billy Bush being thrown under the bus, when Donald Trump – whose bad behavior was widely known at NBC – suffered no consequences for the more than a decade when he was one of NBC’s biggest stars?

The most obvious answer is that Trump made a lot of money for NBC, so they let him do whatever he wanted. And now we have another piece of the puzzle: In all the years that Trump was working at NBC and doing that stuff, he never presented a direct threat to Matt Lauer.

Too late now, Matt!