From USA today:
In a phone interview with Fox News' Harris Faulkner and Bill Hemmer, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he last talked to Limbaugh “three or four days ago. His fight was very, very courageous and he was very, very sick.”
Trump said he first met Limbaugh after he began his 2016 presidential campaign and the two got along personally. "He was with me right from the beginning," Trump said of the talk show host.
“Rush is irreplaceable, unique. He had an audience that was massive. … He would get up in the show and just talk. He wouldn’t take phone calls, where people would call in every two minutes. That’s sort of easy to do. He would just talk for two hours or three hours, just talk," Trump said. "That’s not an easy thing to do. I once asked him, I said, ‘Do you study for the show?’ He said, ‘Actually, I study very hard,’ which a little bit surprised me. He was a fantastic man, a fantastic talent. People, whether they loved him or not, they respected him. They really did.”
Fox confined its questions to Limbaugh's death. But at several points, Trump repeated his protests of his election loss to President Joe Biden, claiming Limbaugh agreed with his protests. "Rush felt we won, and he was quite angry about it," Trump claimed.
The former president also issued a statement following his Fox interview where he and Melania Trump offered their "deepest condolences."
"His honor, courage, strength, and loyalty will never be replaced. Rush was a patriot, a defender of Liberty, and someone who believed in all of the greatness our Country stands for," Trump said. "He will be missed greatly."
Former Vice President Mike Pence also called into Fox News to speak about Limbaugh's legacy, noting "the country will never forget Rush Limbaugh."
"When I served in the House of Representatives, he was our greatest champion when we were fighting a rearguard action for conservative values in Republican and Democrat administrations. … When I was governor of Indiana and when I served as vice president, he was the anchor of conservatism," Pence said. "He gave voice to a movement and to the ideals that have always made America great and have been making America great again."
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., called Limbaugh "a true American legend"
on Twitter.
Bill O'Reilly reflected on Limbaugh's iconic career.
"The legacy of Rush Limbaugh is clear: the most successful radio broadcaster in history. Mr. Limbaugh provided a conservative balance against the dangerous left wing corporate media machine," he
tweeted.
Rush Limbaugh dies at 70: Donald Trump, Bill O'Reilly, more react