Obama, Clintons Use Elijah Cummings Funeral to Bash Trump
Former president gives speech about 'honor' and 'integrity' as he blasts his POTUS
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As mourners gathered to celebrate the life of the late veteran Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings during his Friday funeral, a number of prominent Democrats used their eulogies to bash President Donald Trump.
Speaking at the procession were former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, all of whom used their moment in the spotlight to take swipes at President Trump.
Obama remembered the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in a eulogy that drew implicit contrast between the Baltimore lawmaker and Trump.
"There's nothing weak about kindness and compassion," Obama blasted in an apparent dig at the current POTUS, earning applause in Baltimore Friday.
"There's nothing weak about looking out for others. There's nothing weak about being honorable.
"You're not a sucker to have integrity and to treat others with respect."
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Cummings, who died this earlier month at 68, played a key role in Trump's impeachment inquiry.
Obama said he sometimes turned to Cummings during difficult times of his administration.
"He was never complacent, for he knew that without clarity of purpose and a steadfast faith and a dogged determination demanded by our liberty, the promise of this nation could wither," Obama said.
"Complacency, he knew, was not only corrosive for our collective lives, but for our individual lives."
He said "honorable" was a title that "all kinds of people who get elected to public office" hold, again making a veiled reference to Trump as the crowd laughed and cheered in agreement.
"We're supposed to introduce them as 'honorable,'" Obama added.
"But Elijah Cummings was honorable before he was elected to office. There's a difference," said Obama.
WATCH: Barack Obama speaks at Elijah Cummings’ funeral.
— Millennial Politics (@MillenPolitics) October 25, 2019
It is so refreshing to hear from him again. pic.twitter.com/73SwI5iDKd
Hillary Clinton compared President Trump to the Bible's evil and "corrupt" King Ahab and first lady Melania Trump to Jezebel.
She did not name the president - but her message could hardly have been clearer; Cummings was one of the leaders of the current impeachment inquiry into the president's dealings with Ukraine.
Her comment drew loud applause from a crowd gathered to honor the late House Oversight Committee chairman, with Bill Clinton also in attendance, but no White House official representative.
Trump instead gave a speech at the historically black Benedict College in South Carolina.
No information was available as to whether he had been invited.
2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris were also among the thousands who attended the service at Baltimore's New Psalmist Baptist Church.
Hillary Clinton, still unable to get over her loss in 2016, politicizes the funeral of Rep. Elijah Cummings as she compares Trump to the "corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel" pic.twitter.com/SwsPwAyghe
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 25, 2019
"Our Elijah could call down fire from heaven. But he also prayed and worked for healing," Hillary Clinton said.
"Like that Old Testament prophet, he stood again corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel," she said.
"He weathered storms and earthquakes, but he never lost his faith," Clinton said.
"And he looked out for the vulnerable among us. And he kept reminding us, life is no dress rehearsal," she added.
"The American people want to live their lives without fear of their leaders," Clinton said, "and as leaders, we have a responsibility to keep the promises made when running for office to make the lives of Americans better," she said.
Ahab was a corrupt and evil king of Israel; Jezebel was his wife, a Phoenician princess who adorned herself in fine clothing and jewelry, and worshiped the false god Baal, only to ultimately meet her doom.
In the Old Testament Elijah brought the kingdom of Israel back to the true path of God.
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Clinton said Cummings had "little tolerance for those who put party above country or partisanship above truth."
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the widow of the longtime lawmaker and the Maryland state Democratic party chair, acknowledged that President Trump's attacks on Baltimore "hurt" Cummings.
She said Cummings was fighting the "very real corruption" in the country and was working to save "the soul of our democracy."
Bill Clinton lauded Cummings for "sticking up for Hillary and lots of other people, many of whom were voiceless and weak and will never be known."
"While doing all that he actually made, in one of the most partisan periods in our country's history, a lot of Republican friends.
"Why did he do that? How did he do that?" Clinton asked.
"I think he did it because everybody could see he was the real deal … His heart was in it.
"And I think he did it because, no matter how hard he fought and how passionately argued, he tried to treat everybody the way he wanted to be treated.
"The way he thought America should be treated.
"You know you can't run a free society if you have to hate everybody you disagree with," Clinton added in another veiled swipe at Trump, which the crowd acknowledged by cheering and applauding in agreement.
Bill Clinton pointed to the prophet Isiah and referenced Cummings' call to service: "Elijah Cummings spent a whole life saying, 'send me.' An entire lifetime."
“He tried to treat everybody the way he wanted to be treated”: Former president Bill Clinton speaks at the funeral of Rep. Elijah Cummings https://t.co/uMotRWrJeS pic.twitter.com/waXKcj4zhK
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 25, 2019
Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in 2016 after a bitterly contested election.
On Thursday, her former spokesman refused to 100 percent rule out that she would run again.
In her eulogy, Hillary praised Cummings, a leading force in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, as someone who "stood against corrupt leadership."
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