President Trump delivered brief condolences to late Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings while giving remarks at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.
While addressing the historically black college in the state’s capital on Friday, the president hailed several modern and historical black figures, including Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, but paid special homage to Cummings.
Trump praised the Maryland Democrat, who died last week at age 68, for working tirelessly to lower the cost of prescription drug prices and vowing to continue the effort to make medication more affordable for Americans.
Cummings, who served in the House of Representatives for over 20 years, became one of Trump’s chief opponents in the early days of the impeachment inquiry. The two sparred most famously when Trump referred to Cummings’ hometown of Baltimore as a “rat and rodent infested mess.”
“We’re celebrating his life today in Baltimore,” the president said of Cummings’ funeral, held earlier today. “I want to give my warmest respects, please.”
The president also remarked on his administration’s efforts to reduce prison populations and touted the bipartisan appeal of a law he signed at the end of last year. The event at Benedict College was hosted by the 2020 Bipartisan Justice Center.
[Read more: ‘I was privileged’ to call him ‘a dear friend’: Mark Meadows gives tribute to Elijah Cummings]
