Former President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush cast their votes for Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's election, radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed.

"I'm told that George W. Bush and Laura Bush voted for Hillary Clinton today," Limbaugh said on his Tuesday program.

A spokesman for the former president said in May that Bush planned to abstain from participating in the election, telling the Texas Tribune that he "does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign." The family elder, President George H.W. Bush, also said he did not plan to participate.

Limbaugh ascribed the purported vote partly to the acrimonious primary campaign that saw Donald Trump defeat Bush's younger brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, but also to what he said was a "club" mentality.

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"On one level, it's personal. Remember what Trump said about Jeb. And Trump has had some unkind things to say about George W. Bush," Limbaugh noted. "But aside from that, think about party loyalty, think about issues, think about the direction of the country. How does anybody vote for Hillary Clinton?

"I submit to you that if you're in the club, and by the club I mean the establishment, if you are among the few elites in Washington and New York that actually, for lack of a better term, run the country, you're going to hang together with other club members," Limbaugh said. "That's how I think this happens.

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"Hillary Clinton's not seen as a Democrat... She may be, on one intramural level, an opponent, but she's certainly not an enemy when somebody outside the club happens to be running," he added. "Members of the club … they're going to hang together to preserve the existence of the club and its exclusivity."

Freddy Ford, a spokesman for the former president, claimed in a statement late Tuesday that both Bush and his wife abstained from voting in the presidential election. "Rush is wrong and should apologize," Ford said.