Trump honors Cummings in a tweet after attacking him all summer
President Donald Trump on Thursday mourned the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings in a deferential tweet that diverged markedly from the racially charged insults he had hurled at the Democratic lawmaker over the summer.
“My warmest condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings,” he wrote online. “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!”
That message from the president came less than three months after Trump began unleashing a torrent of vitriolic social media posts and public statements targeting the Maryland representative, who oversaw several investigations into the administration as chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee.
Among those disparaging comments, Trump described the African-American Cummings as “racist” and “a brutal bully,” charging that he “has done a very poor job” representing his constituents and “has failed badly!”
Trump also characterized Cummings’ predominantly black, Baltimore-based congressional district as “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being” would want to live.
The president later accused Cummings and other Baltimore political leaders of stealing and mismanaging federal funds, and claimed that his sustained attacks on the city had bolstered his African American support.
That same week, Trump faced bipartisan criticism for his seemingly glib response to the news that Cummings’ residence in West Baltimore had been burglarized. “Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!” Trump tweeted at the time.
Cummings passed away early Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital due to complications from longstanding health challenges, his office announced in a statement. He was 68.
Cummings had represented Maryland's 7th Congressional District for more than two decades, and at the time of his death, he was one of three House Democratic committee chiefs guiding the impeachment inquiry into Trump’s conduct.
