US Congressman Elijah Cummings died on Thursday, after undergoing treatment for an undisclosed ailment. Cummings, 68, was at the forefront of the move to impeach President Donald Trump.
Cummings represented Maryland's 7th Congressional district. He was the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, a position that gave him an important role in the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
The Associated Press also reported that Cummings was also part of the investigation into Trump over the role of his family members in the White House.
Local news reports said in September that Cummings was undergoing a medical procedure at John Hopkins Hospital and that he was expected to be out of office for a week or so. Cummings had also said that he was getting ready to get back into the business.
"I am recovering following my medical procedure and remain in constant communication with my staff and my colleagues in Congress... My doctors anticipate that I will be returning to Washington, DC when the House comes back into session in two weeks," he said in September, according to the Newsweek.
Here are some key facts about Cummings:
- Born as the son of a sharecropper, Cummings was a great champion of the poor.
- The Congressman earned a name as a great orator
- He has decades of experience in Maryland politics
- A trained lawyer, Cummings entered the Maryland House of Delegates in 1983.
- Cummings first won his congressional seat 1996
- Chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2003 to 2004
- Led multiple probes into Trump's governmental dealings
- Trump once described his Congressional district as a "rodent-infested mess where no human being would want to live."
