- Video from Rep. Elijah Cummings‘ memorial service on Thursday shows a pallbearer passing over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a handshake line.
- A clip of the incident went viral on Twitter, with several people laughing at McConnell’s apparently shocked expression.
- On Thursday, Cummings became the first black lawmaker to lie in state at the US Capitol, and numerous former colleagues eulogized him.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A pallbearer at Rep. Elijah Cummings’ memorial service in the US Capitol on Thursday skipped over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a handshake line.
A video clip posted on Twitter showed C-SPAN’s footage of the line where speakers and pallbearers shook hands with several lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, McConnell, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
At one point, a pallbearer can be seen grasping McCarthy’s hand, then Schumer’s, then swiftly moving past McConnell before stopping in front of Pelosi and shaking her hand.
McConnell, who had been reaching for the pallbearer’s hand, dropped his arm and appeared stricken in the seconds after the pallbearer passed him by.
The Kentucky Republican turned and looked at Schumer in apparent disbelief.
C-Span
Cummings, who represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, died on October 17. He was 68.
He became the first black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol and was eulogized by several former colleagues — including McConnell — on Thursday.
In his remarks, McConnell praised Cummings’ work quelling violence in Baltimore during protests in 2015 over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died in police custody.
“‘Let’s go home. Let’s all go home,'” McConnell recalled Cummings saying. “Now our distinguished colleague truly has gone home.”
- Read more:
- Lawmakers and activists pay tribute to powerful Rep. Elijah Cummings, who suddenly died Thursday at 68
- The incredible life of Elijah Cummings: How a sharecropper’s son rose to become one of the fiercest Democrats who took on Trump
- The late Elijah Cummings, a key player in the Trump impeachment inquiry, was signing subpoenas from his hospital bed
- Trump ally Mark Meadows rejects the president’s claims that Elijah Cummings is racist and says he works hard for Baltimore
Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/elijah-cummings-pallbearer-mitch-mcconnell-handshake-snub-video-2019-10
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