Elijah Cummings, a longserving Democratic congressman who was a central figure in efforts to impeach US President Donald Trump, has died at the age of 68.
Cummings, a popular and well-respected former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, passed away at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital “due to complications concerning longstanding health challenges”, his office said on Thursday. The congressman had been unwell in recent weeks and missed a series of votes on the House floor.
A member of Congress for more than two decades, Cummings was chairman of the House oversight committee, which is one of the panels overseeing the impeachment inquiry into Mr Trump, at the time of his death. This year, Mr Trump sued Cummings in an effort to conceal his business records.
Cummings and Mr Trump frequently clashed, and became locked in a war of words this summer as House Democrats stepped up their attacks on the president. In response, Mr Trump lashed out at the lawmaker’s district, which includes much of the city of Baltimore.
Mr Trump called Cummings “a brutal bully” and his largely African-American district a “rat and rodent-infested mess”.
In response, the congressman said he was a strong advocate for the area he represented: “It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the executive branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.”
Read also: Outperform Business Conference set to inspire entrepreneurs in Nigeria
On Thursday, in a marked change of tone, Mr Trump praised Cummings, saying: “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!”
Cummings, the son of sharecroppers from South Carolina, was born and raised in Baltimore. An attorney, he graduated from Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, and the University of Maryland School of Law. He was a member of the Maryland state legislature before being elected as a US congressman in 1996.
News of Cummings’ death prompted an outpouring of praise from Democratic and Republican leaders in Washington.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House, ordered all flags at the US Capitol be flown at half-staff in honour of Cummings, and said she was “personally devastated” by his passing.
