“Like that Old Testament prophet, he stood against the corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel,” Hillary Clinton said, to a roar of applause from the congregation. “And he looked out for the vulnerable among us. He lifted up the next generation of leaders. And he even worked a few miracles.”
Cummings, D-Md., who was serving his 13th term in the House of Representatives, died last week in Baltimore at 68. As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, he earned the ire of Trump for his support of impeachment and investigations into the president’s finances.
Trump did not attend the funeral.
Even from his hospital bed, Cummings was said to be joining impeachment strategy discussions with colleagues. Hillary Clinton alluded to that determination, even in his final days, in her remarks Friday.
“Toward the end of his life, he said, ‘I am begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on, because if you want to have a democracy intact for your children, and your children’s children, and generations yet unborn, we have got to guard this moment,’ ” she said. “‘This is our watch.’ ”
She added: “‘When we are dancing with the angels, the question will be asked,’ he said, ‘In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?’ ”
Cummings’ body lay in state in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, where he was praised by lawmakers from both parties. He was the first African American lawmaker to receive that honor.
Bill Clinton pointed to Cummings’ bipartisan friendships as proof of his commitment to a free and diverse society.
“No matter how hard he fought or how passionately he argued, he tried to treat everyone the way he wanted to be treated,” the former president said. “The way he thought Americans should be treated. You can’t run a free society if you have to hate everybody you disagree with.”
In addition to the Clintons, other prominent politicians who spoke at his funeral were former President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a presidential candidate.
“Elijah wrote his funeral program and decided who he wanted to do what,” Bishop Walter Scott Thomas, the pastor, said after Warren and Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, read from the Bible. “Some of you may be wondering why you are not doing anything, so I wanted to give you clarity.”
The funeral was held at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, where Cummings could usually be seen seated in the front row Sundays.
“I love this man,” Bill Clinton said, gesturing toward the coffin. “I loved every minute I ever spent with him, every conversation I ever had with him. I loved his booming voice. But we should hear him now at the quiet times of night, when we get worried, and we get discouraged, and we don’t know if we can believe anymore.”
Again referring to the story of the prophet Elijah, Bill Clinton said Americans should remember Cummings as “a still, small voice that keeps us going, keeps us grateful, keeps us happy and keeps us moving.”
Cummings was raised in Baltimore by parents who were former sharecroppers in South Carolina. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, earned a law degree at the University of Maryland and was first elected to Congress in 1996.
Cummings used his power as the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to mount muscular investigations of the Trump administration. In the past year, Cummings issued subpoenas for Trump’s financial records (the president sued him in response) and summoned the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to testify about hush money payments to women who claimed to have had an affair with Trump.
In an interview with The New York Times in May, Cummings urged the president to commit his life to public service.
“I want to send a message that we have one life to live, Mr. President,” he replied. “This is no dress rehearsal. And that the American people simply want to live their lives without fear of their leaders. And we, as leaders, have a duty and a responsibility to keep our promise to them when we ran for office and won — and that is to make their lives better. While we’re all on this Earth, that’s my message.”
Cummings was revered in his district and widely respected on Capitol Hill for his integrity and moral vision, which Hillary Clinton alluded to in her remarks. She called him “a fierce champion for truth, justice and kindness in every part of his life.”
“His integrity and character, his can-do spirit, made him a guiding light in the Congress,” she said. “He pushed back against the abuse of power. He was unwavering in his defense of our democracy. He had little tolerance for those who put party ahead of country or partisanship above truth.”
This article originally appeared in
.