re: Billy Bush - a notion that goes against common thinking

[Princess Turandot]

22. According to the Washington Post, NBC/Access H-wood were working on a story...

about the tape, which they were planning to release early this upcoming week, which of course would have been after the 2nd debate.

My guess is that someone in one of those organizations with access to the tape offered it to David Fahrenthold to get it on the record before the debate. Fahrenthold had the story vetted and out in about 4 hours, which makes me wonder whether NBC was deliberately holding it back in order to not set off a bombshell in advance of Sunday. They didn't need to do much to establish its bonafides. (Perhaps their attorneys are more cautious than WaPo's are.)

I doubt if it had anything to do with Billy Bush, who also sounded like a horse's ass on the recording, playing stooge to Trump. And sadly, I suspect that the conversation may not have been all that remarkable/unusual to the parties involved for them to immediately recall it after 11 years.