Rio: Matt Lauer HiJacked The Story, Did Billy Bush Get The Shaft?

Insiders say Today's Matt Lauer hijacked new colleague Billy Bush’s Ryan Lochte scoop when Lauer landed his own exclusive interview with the dodgy swimmer on Wednesday night from the Rio Olympics after Bush broke the story.

According to The NY Post, Bush — who just joined “Today” from “Access Hollywood” — nailed the scoop of the games in Rio on Sunday when he randomly ran into Lochte while shopping with “Access Hollywood” co-host Kit Hoover and interviewed the swimmer on an iPhone about being the alleged victim in a dramatic robbery.

But on Wednesday, as the story exploded, NBC Olympics host Bob Costas introduced an update on the Lochte story, because the swimmer’s tale seemed fishy — but it wasn’t Bush who was introduced, but instead Lauer, who reported he had just done his own interview with Lochte on the phone.

Buzz around NBC is that Bush was expected to do a follow-up, but Lauer swooped in. “Matt has a history of demanding interviews, and it’s Billy’s first big story as anchor,” said an insider. “It was his story. NBC snubbed Billy and let Matt do it. Billy got burned.”