US Conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh dies at 70

Rush Limbaugh, conservative US talk radio host since the 1980s and honoured by President Donald Trump, has died at the age of 70.

According to a report by CNN, Limbaugh's wife Kathryn made the announcement on his radio show on Wednesday (local time). He had been suffering from lung cancer since last year.

"I know that I am most certainly not the Limbaugh that you tuned in to listen to today...I, like you, very much wish Rush was behind this golden microphone right now," Kathryn said on his radio show.

"It is with profound sadness I must share with you directly that our beloved Rush, my wonderful husband, passed away this morning due to complications from lung cancer," she added.

Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom on February 4, 2020, just a day after the host of the nationally syndicated radio program "The Rush Limbaugh Show," announced that he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, Sputnik reported.

In a condolence message, Trump said: "The great Rush Limbaugh has passed away to a better place, free from physical pain and hostility. Rush was a patriot, a defender of Liberty and someone who believed in all the greatness our country stands for."

"Rush was a friend to myself and millions of Americans. He will be missed greatly," he added.

For 32 years, Limbaugh had hosted "The Rush Limbaugh Show," a nationally-syndicated program with millions of loyal listeners that transfigured him into a partisan force and polarizing figure in American politics, CNN said.

( With inputs from ANI )