Former President Donald Trump gave his first television interview since leaving office Wednesday, appearing by phone on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” to discuss the death of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
Hosts Bill Hemmer and Harris Faulkner were discussing the breaking news concerning Limbaugh when Trump called into the show. Hemmer began by asking Trump when he last spoke to Limbaugh. (RELATED: Liberals Reacted As You Can Imagine To Rush Limbaugh’s Death, By Sneering And Celebrating)
“Three or four days ago. I called him just to find out, you know his fight was very, very courageous and he was very, very sick. From diagnosis on it was just something that was not going to be beaten, but you wouldn’t know it. And he is married to an incredible woman, Kathryn, who really, every time I spoke to him he would tell me how great she was. She took such great care,” Trump answered. “He was very brave. I mean he, in theory, could have been gone four months ago, really. He was fighting until the very end. He was a fighter.”
Trump said that Limbaugh was “unique” and “irreplaceable” before adding, “He had an audience that was massive, and you know, he could do something, Bill, and he would get up in the show and would just talk. He wouldn’t take phone calls where people will call in every 2 minutes. That’s sort of easy to do. He would just talk for two hours, three hours. Just talk. And that’s not an easy thing to do.”
“And I once asked him, do you study for the show? And he said actually, I study very hard, which a little bit, Harris, a little bit surprised me. But he was a fantastic man, a fantastic talent, and people, whether they loved him or not, they respected him. They really did,” he continued.
Faulkner went on to play the video of Trump awarding Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the 2020 State of the Union address and then asked Trump if Limbaugh knew the award was coming.
Trump explained that he wanted to surprise Limbaugh, but because of his ongoing health issues related to lung cancer he told him beforehand to make sure he could be at the address to receive the award.
“He came in and it was, as he told me, it was the greatest honor of his life. And everybody in the room, you know, you’re talking about the Republicans and the Democrats. You had half of that room went crazy. You remember the evening well … half went just absolutely crazy, the other half sat totally dead silent, but 100% of that room respected rush,” Trump said.
“He was a unique guy, and he became a friend of mine … 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, great man,” he continued.
Faulkner, Hemmer and Trump continued to discuss their memories of Limbaugh and the impact he made through his career and on the people around him.