President Donald Trump lied about The Apprentice's television ratings because he knew he could, according to former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. Bush famously discussed grabbing women by the "pussy" with Trump, in a video that leaked toward the end of the 2016 presidential election.
Bush told Real Time host Bill Maher Friday night that Trump has no qualms about misrepresenting the truth, especially when it comes to TV ratings. Bush recalled confronting Trump at one point about his numbers, USA Today reported.
"He'd been saying it's No. 1 forever and finally, I'd had enough," Bush told Maher. "I told him, 'Wait a minute, you haven't been No. 1 for like five years — not in any category, not in any demo.' He goes, 'Did you see last Thursday? Last Thursday, 18-49, the last five minutes.' "
Bush added that "Later, when the cameras were off, he said, 'Billy, look, you just tell them and they believe it. That's it: you just tell them and they believe. They just do.'"
Maher sighed, "And that's where we are. He can do that to America now. It's what he does all the time: he just says it and they believe it."
Bush, who is a cousin of former President George W. Bush, lost his job at NBC News after the Access Hollywood interview tape from 2005 leaked. He said after Trump was sworn in as president in January, he spent a weekend at a retreat in northern California, explaining it was "the beginning of just getting over it." He probed Maher, "Do you ever wonder what happens to you if it everything went away: the big career, the big show, the HBO, the whole thing?"
Bush responded to Maher's questions about whether Trump was known as a womanizer by recalling the four times he hosted the Trump-owned Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, claiming that during the shows "Trump would come backstage... reviewing the guard like Kim Jong Un reviews the military. He'd come back with the tie that's too long — past the belt — but yeah, I think we know about Donald Trump. We know who the guy is."
BuzzFeed News reported in 2016 that at least four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant had accused Trump of entering the dressing room while contestants as young as 15 were underdressed. Trump had admitted such behavior in a 2005 interview with radio host Howard Stern, noting: "And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it. You know, I'm inspecting, I want to make sure that everything is good."
Bush said he hasn't spoken to Trump in about four years. "Did the phone ring?" Bush said. "In fairness, he didn't leak the tape, but I didn't want him to call."
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Cristina Silva has written for the Associated Press, the Tampa Bay Times, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, Salon, International Business ... Read more
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