Billy Bush claims ABC had a ’75-person division’ to ‘get’ Donald Trump during 2016 election.
April 4 2026, Published 4:43 p.m. ET
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Billy Bush appeared on a recent episode of Sean Hannity’s podcast.
“It was dedicated to basically getting [Trump]. And all the big network news all have different voices [over politics],” Bush continued.
Bush and the president, 79, have quite the interesting relationship, as the broadcaster was fired from NBC’s Today in 2016 after a tape of him talking with the politician in a 2005 interview resurfaced.
During the conversation two decades ago, Trump and Bush had a very NSFW chat about groping women.
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Donald Trump and Billy Bush’s 2005 ‘Access Hollywood’ Talk Altered the Journalist’s Career
Billy Bush explained how ABC was instrumental in the 2016 election.
Bush then looked back on the aftermath of the debacle during Hannity’s podcast.
“I drank like a fish, and, finally, after four months of, you know, drinking like crazy and just trying to numb, I went to a place called the Hoffman Process. And, ironically enough, it was Trump’s first day in the Oval Office [in 2017] — that was the day I checked in to a mental health retreat for nine days, like no phones, no nothing,” the journalist said.
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Billy Bush detailed his mental health after being fired from ‘Today’ in 2016.
“It was all this was — just put one foot in front of the other. … And, look, the positive in all of it is — and people do say you’ll be better than ever when you get through it. And, at the time, you want to say, ‘Shut the f— up. You are crazy. Like, you have no idea what you’re talking about,’” he continued.
“But the reason why they say it, and why it’s an axiom that’s been around as long as time, is that it is true,” Bush looked back.
Billy Bush Was Fired From ‘Today’ in 2016 Due to the Tape
Donald Trump first came into presidential office in 2016.
The former Extra host also candidly opened up about how the fallout from the 2005 Access Hollywood convo led to him losing the Today job in an interview with Rob Lowe last year.
“I did everything I could think of to keep myself from jumping off the building, ’cause I’m like — Rob, I was about to get a huge paycheck, my first really big paycheck,” Bush confessed. “I’m at the Today show. They still have money. They’re the last thing in linear television with real money on the news side.”
