Rep. Elijah Cummings’ body will lie in state at Capitol next week
The body of Rep. Elijah Cummings will lie in state in the National Statuary Hall of the US Capitol next week, the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday.
A formal memorial service for the Maryland Democrat is scheduled for Thursday morning, also in Statuary Hall, for all members of Congress, Cummings’ family and invited guests. The service will be followed by a public viewing.
Cummings, a key figure leading investigations into President Donald Trump, died Thursday morning at age 68. He had represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District since 1996 and served as the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, one of the panels involved in the impeachment inquiry of Trump.
“In the House, Elijah was our North Star,” Pelosi said. “He was a leader of towering character and integrity, whose stirring voice and steadfast values pushed the Congress and country to rise always to a higher purpose.”
Many prominent leaders from both sides of the aisle remembered the congressman for his commitment to the country.
Even Trump, who had called Cummings a “brutal bully” in July and criticized his district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” reflected on the representative’s legacy.
“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,” he said in a Tweet.
The Baltimore Sun reported that Cummings’ funeral will be held in Baltimore next Friday at the church where he worshiped for nearly 40 years, citing a spokeswoman for the New Psalmist Baptist Church.
