Presenter fired over lewd Trump tape claims he has changed and hopes for TV return

THE NEWS co-host who was fired following the release of a tape in which he was heard having a lewd conversation with Donald Trump is hoping to return to screens.

Billy Bush, formerly co-host of NBC’s told

the past months have “been a rollercoaster” that included an apology to his three daughters.

Bush said his then 15-year-old daughter, Mary, called him in tears from her boarding school when the news broke, and asked him why he could be heard laughing at the things Mr Trump was saying on the old tape.

“It hit really hard, and I stopped for a second, and I said, ‘I have no answer for that that’s any good. I am really sorry. That was dad in a bad moment a long time ago’,” Bush said.

The 2005 tapes featuring Mr Trump’s vulgar and sexually charged comments emerged a month before the November elections, rocking his campaign and prompting condemnation from politicians on both side of the aisle.

In a videotaped apology, Mr Trump declared he was wrong but also dismissed the revelations as “nothing more than a distraction” from a decade ago.

He later said he never did any of the actions described on the tape, and dismissed his words as “locker-room talk”.

Mr Bush, who had recently been hired as co-host of the

show, lost his job. He said he went through a lot of soul-searching and spent seven days on a spiritual retreat with no phones. He reads, meditates and is doing yoga.

“I have changed in a way that I think will make me better at my job,” Bush said.

“I’ve come out of this with a deeper understanding of how women can connect to the feeling of having to fight extra hard for an even playing field.”