Melania Trump presents Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh

Donald Trump added a showbiz flavour to his State of the Union address by having his wife Melania present a prestigious medal.

First lady Melania Trump presents radio personality Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the State of the Union address. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump, the former reality TV star, added a showbiz flavour to his State of the Union address by having his wife Melania present the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour, to the divisive conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who this week announced he had advanced lung cancer.

The two sat next to each other in the House of Representatives visitors’ gallery. A bearded Limbaugh stood and saluted the President as the award was announced. Mr Trump said the diagnosis was not good news, but added: “What is good news is that he is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet.”

Mr Trump thanked Limbaugh for “decades of tireless devotion to our country” and said the award recognised the millions of people a day Limbaugh inspired, as well as his charity work.

The President has praised Limbaugh on Twitter as a “major star” and a “great guy who truly gets it”.

Mr Trump spoke of Limbaugh earlier during the traditional off-the-record lunch with TV anchors at the White House on the day of the State of the Union address to give them a preview of what he planned to discuss.

Over celery soup, fish and coconut macaroons, the President spoke at length about Limbaugh, and Iran, which he said had come closer to war with the US “than you thought”.

The President’s comment on Iran came after one attendee asked him how close the US came to going to war with Iran last month, after the US killed top ­Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.

Iran responded with a missile barrage on Iraqi bases housing US and allied military forces. The ­Iranian strikes didn’t result in any deaths.

Mr Trump didn’t elaborate on why war with Iran was “closer than you thought”.

The President also reiterated his previous comments describing head injuries suffered by US service members during the strikes, telling anchors he had seen worse injuries, according to one source. Last month, he said the head injuries weren’t “very serious” but this prompted angry replies from ­veterans.

At one point, NBC anchor Chuck Todd mentioned the ­exclusion of CNN, whose anchors had attended the lunch for decades, including in recent years under the Trump administration.

Mr Trump replied that “MSDNC” — a term he has used for MSNBC to suggest it is run by the Democratic National Committee — wasn’t there, either.

Mr Trump told anchors he would address the subject of impeachment in more detail after Wednesday’s Senate vote (Thursday AEDT), which is expected to acquit him on abuse-of-power and obstruction-of-congress charges.

He also told them he wasn’t bitter about impeachment, which he has decried as a partisan hoax during the past four months.

The Wall Street Journal, AP