‘I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump on Thursday paid a heartfelt tribute to his frequent congressional nemesis, the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, who died overnight at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore.
My warmest condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings. I got to see first hand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader. His work and voice on so many fronts will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2019
As chairman of the House Oversight Committee since January, Cummings had been one of the leading investigators into a broad swath of prospective scandals for which he hoped to impeach the president.
He was known for having issued frequent subpoenas to White House staff while attempting to pry into the Trump’s finances and tax records, but those were largely disregarded by the Trump administration, which maintained that they served no legislative purpose.
Trump prodded his political sparring partner in July to focus less on his political fishing expeditions and more on serving his Baltimore district, some of which had fallen into disrepair.
Last month, Democrats finally undertook the effort, launching a formal probe into a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
But Cummings, who was said to have been facing an extended illness, never saw his efforts come into fruition.
Trump noted that his work would be “very hard, if not impossible, to replace.”
Other Republicans—including those who served with Cummings on the Oversight Committee, shared in the outpouring of condolences.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the committee’s ranking minority member, retweeted an official statement from the Oversight Committee Republicans’s Twitter account, saying that he showed an “unyielding passion and purpose” in his work.
Ranking Member @Jim_Jordan’s Statement on the Passing of Chairman Elijah Cummings. pic.twitter.com/YgEXA5UgIB
— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) October 17, 2019
Jordan also sent condolences to Cummings’ family and staff. “Their loyalty and affinity for him speaks volumes about his character,” he said.