Cummings eulogized as `fierce champion'
BALTIMORE — Rep. Elijah Cummings was eulogized as a leader with the fiery moral conviction of an Old Testament prophet Friday at a funeral that brought former presidents and ordinary people alike to the Baltimore church where t he congressman worshipped for four decades.
“Our Elijah was a fierce champion of truth, justice and kindness in every part of his life ,” said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who took the stage at the New Psalmist Baptist Church to rousing applause.
Cummings, a black sharecropper's son and civil rights leader who rose to power in Washington over two decades ago with his sonorous voice and powerful oratory, di ed of long standing health problems Oct. 17 at age 68 while locked in political combat with President Donald Trump.
The Baltimore Democrat led multiple investigation soft he president, who recently lashed out at Cummings' district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”
In what sounded like a reference to the impeachment inquiry against Trump, former President Bill Clinton told the crowd, “We all know now that, at l east until certain things happen, his legacy is how ardently he honored his oath to protect and defend t he Constitution of the United States.”
“He knew that without the Constitution, the laws that were passed under it, the rights that were guaranteed by it and the abuses it was designed to prevent ... he would not have been in Congress ,” Clinton said, “and so he said to himself ,` I am certain every day, I will not l et this promise be sullied.'”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who as Democratic leader is overseeing the impeachment drive, took note in her eulogy of the bipartisan crowd at the church and said Cummings had the ability to work with both his fellow Democrats and with Republicans.
“Our Elijah always made a seat at the table for others,” she said.
Former President Ba rack Ob am are called Cummings' humble beginnings, saying: “His life validates the things we tell ourselves about what's possible in this country, not guaranteed, but possible.”
Cummings's widow, Maya Rockey moore Cummings, told the crowd Trump's recent jabs hurt her husband.