Trump praises LaMalfa after CA congressman’s death: ‘He voted with me at 100%’

President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised Rep. Doug LaMalfa as a loyal conservative voice who “voted with me at 100%” and never wavered in his support.

LaMalfa, who represented California’s 1st Congressional District since 2013, died Tuesday following a medical emergency at Enloe Medical Center in Chico. He was 65.

Speaking to fellow Republicans at a GOP House function at the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center, the president recalled LaMalfa’s unwavering backing of his administration.

“He was with us right from the beginning,” Trump said, extended his condolences to LaMalfa’s wife, Jill, and his family.

Trump’s full remarks on LaMalfa

“And that’s why I want to just say that, before we go any further, I want to express our tremendous sorrow at the loss of a great member, great, great, great member, Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who passed away yesterday, as you probably have heard.

“He was the leader of the Western Caucus, a fierce champion on California water issues. He was great on water. He wanted— ‘Release the water,’ he’d scream at him. And a true defender of American children. He was a defender of everybody. And our hearts go out to his wife, Jill, and his entire family.

“You know, he voted with me 100% of the time. And by the way, he wasn’t a 3 o’clock-in-the-morning person. Do you know what I mean by that? Where the speaker goes, ‘Sir, could you call up, could you call.’ I said, ‘What time is it?’

“’Uh, sir, it’s three in the morning. Could you make a couple of calls?’

“’How many?’

“’Nine.’

“So I’d start calling. I’d start calling, three in the morning. I said— I shouldn’t use any names. I’m just going to create problems. But ‘Hi, Jim,’ and I’m not talking about Jim Jordan. Never had to call three in the morning for him.

“But I said, ‘Hi, Jim, how you doing? Just called to say hello,’ you know, three—

“’OK, sir, sir, you haven’t spoken to me in three years and it’s now three in the morning, so I know what you want. You want my vote.’

“And usually that, almost always they’d give it, but they wanted to be called.

“And with Doug, I never had a call. He was with us right from the beginning.

“I love those guys, I must say. I probably love them the best. You know, the guys that I don’t have to call, they know we’re doing the right thing. I have a couple that are going to be with us all the way, but they just want the call. They want love. They need love. They’re more insecure than most of you. It’s true. No, most of you are secure people. You’re all laughing. The most of you are secure people.

“I had a couple say, ‘”look, I could have Trump call me all the time, I just have to break his ass a little bit’ and he’ll be calling, calling, calling. But I appreciate those. We actually had a little party. We opened up a beautiful section of the White House in the Rose Garden, and we had a party for all of those people that I never speak to and vote for me.

“And, you know, I spoke to Doug, but I didn’t speak to him about, I mean, never had a problem.

“And I was really— I was really saddened by his passing and was thinking about not even doing the speech in his honor, but then I decided that I have to do it in his honor. I’ll do it in his honor because he would have wanted it that way. He would have wanted it that way. He would have said, ‘Do that speech. Are you. Are you kidding me? Do the speech.’ Big guy.

“But he was a fantastic person. Man, that was a quick one. I don’t know. I don’t know quite yet what happened, but, boy, it’s a tough one. He was just with us.

“He was our friend, all of us, every one of us.”