President Trump told a group of television news anchors at the White House on Tuesday that he would participate in this year’s general election debates, despite his misgivings about the commission that oversees them, according to two people with knowledge of his comments.
Mr. Trump also said he hoped that Rush Limbaugh, the right-wing talk radio star who this week announced a diagnosis of advanced lung cancer, would attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address. The president said he was interested in awarding Mr. Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to two people with knowledge of his comments.
According to a person familiar with the discussion, Trump informed anchors he will bestow Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the coming months. Limbaugh has been a staunch ally of the President’s for years, and dined with him at his Palm Beach golf club over the holidays. Once, during an event in the Rose Garden, Trump praised Limbaugh as someone who “can speak for three hours without a phone call.”
The Medal of Freedom is bestowed to “individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” according to the White House.
On his far right and deplorable radio show, Rush Limbaugh announced he has advanced lung cancer.
