Former President Donald Trump called into Fox News for his first interview since leaving the White House to offer praise of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh shortly after his death was announced on Wednesday.
The 45th president, who presented Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his 2020 State of the Union address, talked about that emotional moment, which came shortly after the radio host announced his cancer diagnosis.
“It was a great honor to do so when we gave the Medal of Freedom. It was something special, it was an incredible night. We gave it during the State of the Union address, and it was especially — half the room, half the room went crazy, and the other half the room, they knew he should get it, but it was special and he was special,” Trump said.
Trump said he last spoke to Limbaugh “three or four days ago,” adding that “his fight was very, very courageous, and he was very, very sick.” Limbaugh’s cancer was “something that was not going to be beaten,” he said.
Limbaugh died at the age of 70 Wednesday morning at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, his wife, Kathryn Adams Limbaugh, announced on his radio show.
Trump explained that he didn’t really know Limbaugh well until his political career began.
“He was a unique guy, and he became a friend of mine. You know, I didn’t know Rush at all, I had essentially never met Rush, and then when we came down the escalator, he liked my rather controversial speech, I made that speech that was a little bit on the controversial side, and he loved it, and he was, without ever having met him or talked to him or had lunch with him or asked him, he was with me right from the beginning, and he liked what I said, and he agreed with what I said, and he was just a great gentleman — great man,” Trump said.
Limbaugh is survived by Kathryn, whom he married in 2010. Limbaugh’s fourth wife, the couple never had children.
