GOP Rep. Mark Meadows gave a tribute to the late Rep. Elijah Cummings while he is honored at the U.S. Capitol where his body lies in state.
Meadows, a conservative from North Carolina, and Cummings, a liberal who represented Baltimore, Maryland, had a uniquely strong friendship prior to Cummings’ death, earlier this month.
“For me, I was privileged enough to be able to call him a dear friend. Some have classified it as an unexpected friendship. But for those of us that know Elijah, it’s not unexpected or surprising. Not only is he a quality man, we were able to share a number of personal stories and intimate secrets that Elijah never shared with anyone because he was a man of his word,” Meadows began.
He continued, “And yet through the tears of the past few days, I’m reminded of one particular conversation because of who Elijah is, you know, he had a smile that would consume his whole face. You know that. But he also had eyes that would pierce through anybody that was standing in his way. And he reminded him not too long ago of a quip that he made. He said that Darrell Issa was going to make him famous. And I reminded him that he is not defined by other people. He’s defined by the character of his heart, the honesty of his dialogue, and the man that — the man that we will miss.”
Their friendship was put on display multiple times this year.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing in February, Cummings came to the defense of Meadows, who was accused of a perpetrating a “racist act” by Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib when he brought up Lynne Patton, a black woman who is a longtime friend of Trump and employee at Housing and Urban Development, to argue that Trump was not racist. They later hugged it out.
Then, over the summer, Meadows came to Cummings to defense when Trump attacked the Democratic lawmaker and his district. The president also called Cummings racist.
