Obama to speak at Cummings’ funeral service, spokeswoman says

Former President Barack Obama will speak Friday at the funeral service in Baltimore of Elijah Cummings, the Baltimore congressman, committee chairman and civil rights advocate who died a week ago.

Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill said Wednesday night that the 44th president will attend the service at New Psalmist Baptist Church and “at the request of Mrs. Rockeymoore-Cummings [Cummings’ widow], he will deliver remarks about the remarkable life and legacy of one of this country’s finest public servants.”

In a statement, Obama said then that he was “heartbroken” over the loss of Cummings, 68, whom the former two-term president called “steely yet compassionate, principled yet open to new perspectives. It’s a tribute to his native Baltimore that one of its own brought such character, tact, and resolve into the halls of power every day.”

It was uncertain whether Obama would attend the service until Hill confirmed his plans Wednesday night.

The longtime pastor of the Lochearn church, Bishop Walter S. Thomas Jr., will deliver the eulogy. The church seats 4,000 people and Thomas predicted the church would be “overflowing.”

On Thursday, the late congressman will lie in state in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol.

Among those addressing the service will be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland.

The public will be allowed in afterward to pay its respects from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m., via the Capitol Visitor Center.