Billy Bush: I'm Not Angry With Trump

Billy Bush has returned to television nearly three years after the Access Hollywood tape scandal, a kind of "reckoning" he now says he needed. The first episode aired on Monday, during which Bush said he had grown ever since the "Access Hollywood" tape leaked.

"I got taken out, but I wasn't the target", Bush continued. "It happened, like so often things do these days, like that", he said, snapping his fingers. "Took the vehicle to the airport, got on the plane, and boom". "Everybody did", said Bush (at which point King insisted that she didn't know about it). He also claimed "everyone" at NBC knew of the tape's existence before it was released, but "I was comfortable that it wasn't going to be weaponized". Weaponized?" asked King. "Oh, sure. "I'm especially interested in seeing them own it and get back up". Don't worry about it. When the recording surfaced in October 2016 during the presidential election, Bush lost his new job on the Today show and retreated from the public eye after apologizing for what he had said. "It's not you. You didn't say anything'". "And the driver said, 'I'm sorry, they've canceled the auto.' I said, 'Oh, that must be a mistake.' I called my lawyer, and I said 'Uh are we okay?' And he said, 'Nope'".

"No, I mean, he was being him", Bush said of Trump's 2005 leaked commentary.

"It was my first year as the co-host of the show", he said of his life in 2005. And I hope that they look forward to sitting with me, because they know, "Well, there's one person that's not gonna be gettin" super-judge-y on me from their perch.' ... "I became a very different guy, so the guy that got fired, no question, was a very different guy". When King pressed Bush about why he went along with Trump's remarks in 2005, he said it was to avoid losing him as a guest.

Bush went on to say that before the scandal, "I think I needed to grow up a bit, even though I was in my 40s", although as an example of his growing up, he cited now being less angry when things go "wrong". "You're a little anxious around him because you just want [the interview] to end well and get out".

Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood" interviews Donald Trump at a "Celebrity Apprentice" red carpet event at Trump Tower in NY on January 20, 2015.