A pallbearer for Rep. Elijah Cummings explained why he skipped the outstretched hand of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last weekend.
The internet buzzed for days after the funeral for the 23-year Democratic congressman after it appeared that a pallbearer bypassed McConnell while greeting a line of lawmakers as they began services for Cummings in Baltimore. The man, identified as longtime Cummings friend Bobby Rankin, appeared to shake the hand of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and then quickly move past McConnell’s expectant hand in favor of a hug for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Rankin, 64, who had known Cummings for decades when he died at 68 on Oct. 17, confirmed that he intentionally skipped McConnell. “When I saw Mitch McConnell, all I saw was my brother’s face,” Rankin explained to the Washington Post. Rankin explained that McConnell had been part of an attempt by Rankin and Cummings to secure veteran’s benefits for his brother, Jerry, a former Marine who was terminally ill with cancer.
Rankin said that his brother’s cancer was the direct result of exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina while he was serving in the military. Jerry died last October, having never received the veteran benefits he was promised, according to Rankin. “Elijah Cummings reached across party lines trying to help my brother get his military benefits, and Mitch McConnell was one of the persons he reached out to,” Rankin explained.
Though it was not immediately clear what McConnell’s involvement was with the prevention of Jerry Rankin receiving benefits, Bobby held him at least partially responsible. “I could not put my hands in the man’s hand who refused to help somebody who served his country,” he said. “I couldn’t do it, because I was thinking about my brother.”
