Billy Bush lawyer: Bush risked firing if he rebuked Trump

In this Sept. 26, 2016 photo released by NBC, co-host Billy Bush appears on the “Today” show in New York. Bush says he’s “embarrassed and ashamed” by a 2005 conversation he had with Donald Trump in which Trump made lewd comments about women. Bush, then a host of the entertainment news show “Access Hollywood,” was chatting with Trump as the businessman waited to make a cameo appearance on a soap opera. In a statement Friday, Oct. 7, Bush says he was younger and less mature when the incident occurred, adding that he “acted foolishly in playing along.” (Peter Kramer/NBC via AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An attorney for Billy Bush is defending the TV personality’s part in a lewd 2005 exchange with Donald Trump.

Marshall Grossman told The Hollywood Reporter that Bush would have been fired from his then-job with “Access Hollywood” if he’d been passive or told Trump to shut up.

Grossman noted Bush was a NBC Universal employee talking with NBC’s “The Apprentice” star.

The attorney, who was quoted by the trade paper online Thursday, declined comment when reached by phone.

Bush, who joined NBC News’ “Today” as a co-host in recent months, was suspended after the tape became public last week. NBC is said to be privately negotiating his exit.

Both NBC and “Access Hollywood” declined to comment on the report. A publicist for Bush didn’t immediately respond when asked for comment.