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Understanding 9/11tv Rep. Elijah Cummings Remarks at the National Press Club CSPAN August 7, 2019 9:01pm-10:05pm EDT
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open-door washington policy for all to see, bring you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. a lot has changed in 40 years, today, that idea is more relevant than ever. c-span is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> while speaking to the national press club, representative elijah cummings responded to recent criticism he received from president trump, questioning his leadership as a member of congress and the conditions of his hometown in baltimore. he also talked about the mass shootings in texas and ohio and his agenda is chair of the house oversight and reform committee.
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jeff ballou: good afternoon, everybody. i'm sure the gavel woke you up. welcome to the national press club, the world's leading professional organization for journalists. my name is jeff ballou, news editor with al jazeera media network, where my colleague has been unjustly imprisoned by the government of egypt for 957 days. we have called for his immediate release, along with other detained journalists. i am particularly grateful to my fellow members to pitch hit for our 112th president, alison kodjak, who is getting well-deserved rest while she prepares for her new duties leading the investigations unit at the associated press, having just left national public radio. thanking the members as always for putting their trust in me to
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have served as their 110th president in 2017. today, we welcome our headliner, elijah cummings. democrat from the state of maryland and chairman of the house committee on oversight and government reform. before i get into the formal introduction, we will introduce to head to table and a couple of housekeeping rules. the latter first, if you do have a question, those of you in the ballroom, you have your cards on the table so please write them down and pass them up front. and we will try to ask as many of them as time permits. also, if you have a mobile device,, please silence your cell phones. we encourage the youth of twitter and other social media to follow along and pose questions, but we would rather not have that accompanied by the usual beeps, sounding like r2-d2 from star wars. i would like to introduce the head table.
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from my left, mike smith, a member of the national press club headliners team and volunteer at the academy in baltimore. hold your applause until the entire group has been introduced. those listening on the radio or watching on television, if there are applause or other expressions of approval or disapproval, we hope not the latter, it is a reminder that the general public isn't invited to our luncheons and not a symbol of any journalistic bias one way or the other. next to mike, lisa matthews, news assignment manager at the associated press and member of the national press club board of governors. jonathan salant, washington correspondent at new jersey advance media and one of my predecessors who served as president of the national press club. furdous al-farouk, who loves to be called danny around the club, medical regulatory reporter
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at medtech insight and member of the national press club board of governors. jeff barker, washington reporter at the baltimore sun. robert costa, national political reporter at the washington post and post of washington week in a review and member of the club as well. dr. maya rockeymoore cummings, chair of the maryland democratic party and spouse of congressman elijah cummings. lori russo, president of stanton communications and co-chair of the national press club's headliners team. >> sam is on his way, breaking news. jeff: as always, sam feist is the washington bureau chief at cnn. he is rushing over here. we will introduce him when the time comes. alayna treene, white house reporter at axios. bob weiner, president of weiner public news and the national press club member who organized
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today's luncheon. thank you, bob. jennifer cummings, daughter of the congressman. nikki schwab, washington reporter at the new york post. and jennifer jacobs, white house reporter at bloomberg news. [applause] jeff: we welcome our headliner, congressman elijah cummings, democrat from the state of maryland, chairman of the house committee on oversight and house reform. his remarks come in the wake of president trump's comments about
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his district, which he called baltimore "a disgusting rat and rodent infested mess" and "worst in america." mr. cummings will also address the committee's investigation into the trump administration, the prescription drug industry's pricing practices, and other topics. now serving his 13th in the house, representative cummings has been an advocate for affordable health care, a leader in the fight against drug abuse, and the push for urban revitalization and assistance to lower income americans. i thank members bob weiner, headliners, cochairs, past, present, and many other staff members of the press club, who i thank for helping put together this lunch.
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usually in august, we are a bit sleepy, but not so much today. about 230 of you in here. thank you. with that, i am going to introduce congressman cummings, who will give some remarks. we will have some q&a and fun this afternoon. you are [applause] rep. cummings: thank you very much. god has called me to this moment. -- i did not ask for it.
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as a son of former sharecroppers and from south carolina, who plowed the fields, picked cotton, picked the strawberries, i am indeed humbled by this invitation. i want you to fully understand you that this invitation and the date was set a long time ago, and two months ago as a matter of fact. in a it just so happened that destiny has brought us to this moment. way i would like to thank the national press club.
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in alison kodjak, bob weiner, and jeff ballou. i would like to thank all of you for inviting me to join you i today for this conversation. you today for this conversation. and it is my hope there a will be a conversation among citizens about the state of our government and the future of our and precious country and our democracy. will and our democracy. before we begin, i want to take the moment to address the recent mass shootings that took the lives of people this past weekend. in an and in i have to tell you, no first of all, let me express you a and my sympathy and condolences to the families. will i want to thank our first responders. those who go into dangerous situations to save lives. -- i thank god for you
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. [applause] i am truly heartbroken for these families and communities suffering at the hands of gun violence. i'm sorry that once again, we are mourning the lives of those who were stolen from us before they reach their potential or their destiny. gun violence seems to know no bounds, none. none. school. a shopping mall. a movie theater, a park, a church. the only thing that has changed is the location. the only thing. i'm a man of deep faith. and i believe that prayer works. but the american people are begging us for more than
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thoughts and prayers. they want action. and guess what -- they want it now. they know this is a critical moment in our history. that is why i cosponsored a bipartisan background checks act which will ruire background checks for firearm transfers between private parties. this bill passed the house and i call on mitch mcconnell to consider the measure. and then i want president to sign it. we want action. [applause] we must also stop the hateful, incendiary comments. we got to do it. those in the highest levels of government must stop invoking
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fear, using racist language, and encouraging reprehensible behavior. it only creates more division among us and severely limits our ability to work together for the common good. as a country, we finally must say that enough is enough. that we are done with the hateful rhetoric, that we are done with the mass shootings, that we are done with the white supremacist domestic terrorists who are terrorizing our country and fighting against everything america stands for and everything that are phenomenal -- our phenomenal military has fought for. and when i am speaking of that -- [applause] i am reminded of a conversation that i had with my 10-year-old niece this weekend. she said, "uncle elijah, are they going to put us in cages?
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are they going to put us in cages?" that is coming from a 10-year-old. we are better than that. we must stand together with those who we do not look like, with those who we do not agree with, and recognize that we have more in common than we have that separates us. [applause] rep. cummings: we all are sick of this. we all want decency and respect. decency and respect. we want our communities to be protected. we want all to live in a country where our children are safe when they go to the mall or to walmart or to the local school.
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we must stand united and demand change. one of the things i have always thought about, and i think about it a lot -- it is one thing when you have a government where the people are afraid of the government, did you hear what i said? afraid of the government and we need to switch that around where the government is afraid of the people. [applause] rep. cummings: i have hope because i know some people at home in every city and country are watching the communities of el paso and dayton in pain. we are grieving with them. we feel your pain.
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we really do. we feel it. as you prepare to bury your own, who were simply trying to live a life of peace, doing what americans normally do, they are in pain and we are in pain. from that pain must come passion. and from that passion, we must do our purpose. we must shift that pain into action and demand that our government take serious action for people who intend on killing and obtaining guns to put an end to the senseless violence. let me turn to our discussion for the day. i will touch upon the great work my committee is doing and trying to do.
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to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse of this administration in our efforts to address critical issues like prescription drug prices. i will also briefly address the blatant attempts to attack my community in baltimore and in so doing, to divide us as a country and to distract us. i want to emphasize that, to distract us from all that unites us in combat the danger that our country faces. i was born along with my father -- five of my six brothers and sisters in baltimore. educated and still live in baltimore. i want my neighbors to know how humbled and i am so proud that they have trusted me to represent them in the congress of the united states of america.
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thank you, baltimore. thank you. [applause] rep. cummings: my neighbors by large are the most determined, hard-working, and deserving people i know. people anyone, and especially our national leaders should be proud to have as their countrymen and women. they are no different than the people of texas or ohio or anywhere else in our great nation. we have honest and candid conversations. we do not hesitate to critique and protest what is lacking and what is wrong in the city. these criticisms are necessary for they are the birthing ground of constructive change.
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at the same time, unbalanced criticism can be self reinforcing causing us to doubt our ability to improve. we are improving every day. when i hear a criticism from anyone about the city, what bothers me the most is we have people stepping on hopes of our children. and the hopes of our people. when i have my niece asking if are they going to put us in cages, there is something wrong with that. our children must know we are doing everything we can right now to ensure they will have a better future. i will do my part until i die to make sure that happens. time is precious. i will not waste it on anything attempting to distract me from my purpose and my mission.
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when i became the chairman, i said i wanted to conduct rigorous, responsible oversight and address the issues that matter most to american people. that is what my committee is doing and trying to do. we are addressing issues like prescription drug pricing, voting rights, criminal justice reform, opioid abuse, and each one of these issues are dear to my heart. i have been addressing them a long time. my committee's first hearing this year was on the rising cost of prescription drug prices. we heard from a mother of a baby. listen to this -- this was the first witness that appeared before my committee as chairman.
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she told us about her 22-year-old daughter, who is rationing her insulin because she could not afford it. it was $333 a month. she died. do you hear me? 22 years old. she will never reach her destiny. she is gone. $333 a month. i convened another meeting before the august recess where we heard directly from patients who described the devastating impact of not being able to afford their lifesaving medications. they represent the millions of patients all over the country who need our help and they need our help desperately. that is why i launched an investigation into the higher drug prices.
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the american people simply want to know why drug companies are increasing the prices so drastically. what happened to the steps that congress can take to make drugs much more affordable? oversight is the first step to finding the building to support effective, lasting solutions that can really address problems. oversight starts with gathering facts. you all should know a lot about that, this is in your self interest members of the press. if we are being blocked and not getting the information that we need to hold the administration accountable, then we have a problem. that is exactly what has been happening. oversight, gathering facts. committee has collected tens of thousands of pages of documents in response to our request to these drug companies.
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our staff is analyzing the staff -- we are expecting more. but it is interesting that the republicans won my committee. -- on my committee. they wrote the drug companies and told them not to cooperate with us. that is unheard of. by the way, let me put a footnote right here. don't let the congress off lightly. everybody keeps running around talking about the presidential race, which is very important. they talk about the congressional seats, and that is important. but do not let the senate go. do not. zero in on the senate.
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every single last one of them. we act like we don't have the power to change the senate. we do. and we need to act now, right now. [applause] rep. cummings: so we also are investigating voter suppression. let me tell you why that is so near and dear to me. this is frustrating. she was lying on her death bed. she did not say i love ou, she did not say i am proud of you, were to let --
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not let anyone take out. and let me say this, i get tired, and you should appreciate be, they want us to blinded by what we see, and i admit to you, we are much better than that. so i hope that we can learn from events of the past. we are also making strides to improve the criminal justice system. the house passed my bill, the fair chance act. it would prevent the federal government from questing criminal history information from applicants until they reach
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the conditional offer stage, very, very important in helping folks get jobs. we are also addressing the opioid epidemic. i introduced the care act with my calling, senator elizabeth warren, because it is time for our nation to take comprehensive approaches to providing the resources we need to treat those who suffer from addiction. more than 200 groups have endorsed the bill. or than 100 members of congress have cosponsored legislation. i say let's get it done. you can club. -- clap. [laughter] [applause] very soon, i will be traveling to west virginia to talk with advocates and medical professionals about the challenges they face every day
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when addressing this academic. -- epidemic. these are just some of the ways my committee is working hard to improve the lives of all, and i emphasize all americans. time, we have launched investigations to combat waste, fraud, and abuse, which is our job under the constitution of the united states of america. that is our job. [applause] , we areple investigating the administration's child separation policy. all really need to evaluate you and the press. but me give you the rest of the story. the problem is the administration refuses to give
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us the documents we requested and have instituted a delay and stonewall approach. this administration and dictated the approach the day after the democrats took control of the house, when he threatened a posture against democrats. this is frustrating. and it takes up a lot of time and a lot of effort. we need to ensure that we don't let the administration's attempts to delay and obstruct us go unchallenged. the american people voted. -- voted us into the majority with the expectation that we will uncover, expose, and ultimately fix these abuses. the oversight committee is an
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investigative body of the congress. and our job is to ensure that the same requirements of transparency and accountability. that have applied to every other administration apply to this one. so now the question, we must ask ourselves what we hope to leave for the next generation. that is a question we have to ask. it is a major question. i say to the american people that if you want your government to do more to address the issues that matter most to you, then you need to vote. you have to vote like you have never voted before. [applause]
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rep. cummings: if you want your elected officials to work for you, you need to vote. if you want more at the highest levels of government, only if you want more, you need to vote. you need to get up and vote. it is time for america to wake up. and pay close attention to what the administration is trying to do. for example, despite warnings -- now listen to this carefully -- despite warnings from internal experts within the commerce department that adding a citizenship question would be costly and harm the accuracy of
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the enumeration, this administration used the voting rights act of all things as a pretext to try to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. new documents reveal that the administration wanted to add the citizenship question in order to gerrymander legislative districts to help republicans. that is not fair. that is not right to any of us. that means the millions and millions of dollars are allocated to redistricting to make sure that we have fair representation would not be accurate. we would not get what we have paid into. i want to remind the taxpayers of america, you pay taxes. you deserve the very, very, very best from our government. we must have high expectations of our government. [applause]
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rep. cummings: transparency about these facts ultimately led to the president dropping the citizenship question at the last minute. imagine what would've happened if activists, congress, and the media turned a blind eye to their efforts. i urge everyone to take a long look at the actions and policies of the administration to determine how they will vote in the next election. i want to leave you with a thought. we are engaged in a fight for the soul of our democracy. i said that before our present administration won. i said it to the democratic caucus. i said to them, this is not about trump. this is not about hillary. it is much bigger than that.
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it is a fight for the soul of our democracy and we have to understand that. ♪ [applause] rep. cummings: we in congress and you in the media must confront and overcome the attacks on our constitution we created to protect institutions from sources both foreign and domestic. those of us who raise up to adulthood and citizenship in the time of dr. martin luther king, are not at ease. we are not. we are not afraid. above all, we will not be defeated. we have endured and overcome such threats before and we
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understand the duty to restore the good, bad, and ugly. dr. king often reminded us that our nation's darkest hours have often been just before the dawn. come on, now. go ahead. you can clap. [applause] rep. cummings: and let me remind you. he also said something i think about every day. he said so often, our silence becomes our betrayal. betrayal of future generations, betrayal of people like my niece. betrayal of those who have worked hard all their lives to be the best they can be, giving it everything they got. the promise still rings true.
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we stand together, if we march together, we vote together, we can restore the light of democracy. let me refer you to one thing. i know brother ballou said do not use your cell phones, but i want you to google, and i am saying this to every preacher, every evangelical, every speechwriter -- everybody. i want you to read this article. it sets in place where we are now. it is by president george w. bush's former speechwriter from the august second edition of the washington post. he detailed the racist history of our country and those who are victimized by it, making the point that racist comments
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reopen scars of so many past wounds. he also made a critical point that the president's racist comments expand to divide in our nation, and that those who allow those comments to go unchecked are enabling them. i want to thank my wife. dr. cummings. amen. [applause] rep. cummings: and my daughter, jennifer cummings, for being with me today. and make sure you read that article. everybody, make sure you read it. every preacher, you need to preach from it. i think what we need to do is be about the business of uniting our great country. we are truly, truly a great
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country, but we have to keep it. with that, i thank you. [applause] rep. cummings: they said it was a sold-out crowd, and i really appreciate that. you have the press all up in the gallery. jeff: the questions have been flowing, mr. chairman. they indeed have.
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with your permission, we will have a little fireside chat. many of you have sent many napkins. a couple of housekeeping reminders for those of you who may have tuned in late, you are watching the remarks of chairman elijah cummings, chairman of the house oversight committee of the united states congress. 13 term congressman from baltimore, maryland. and to our audience both here in the ballroom and those who are listening and watching, signs of applause and others signifying
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are signals that we do invite members of the public to our luncheon, therefore, it is not necessarily coming from those of us who are members of the press. we have to maintain neutrality. you had a lot to say, mr. chairman. rep. cummings: i did. [laughter] jeff: on the president's visit to el paso and dayton, and just for the sake of time moving along since you very much want something done, should congress cancel recess and come back to address gun control legislation? rep. cummings: yes. when people are dying. people are afraid to even go to the movies. they are afraid to go shopping. they are afraid to go about their daily lives.
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i have so many of my constituents, and by the way, i represent a very diverse district. very. i have the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. i literally have all people coming up to me with tears running down their faces. "please, i do not want to turn on the news anymore. please help us save our country." they are very serious about that. i think we have a responsibility to do what is necessary to save lives. i'm prepared to go. jeff: you talked about your bill that passed the house. have you spoken to anybody in the senate, majority leader mcconnell in particular, to move this background check legislation? rep. cummings: i am constantly
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trying to talk to my counterparts, but no, i have not talked to mr. mcconnell. i am asking him to allow the many phenomenal people of the legislation that we have passed in the house to help the american people move forward. that he opens the door. right now, he is blocking and doing everything in his power to do that. i asked him humbly to move away from the door. jeff: do you think the president could move the along? before you got on the helicopter, he very much said that he thinks there is a lot of momentum happening, converging around a background check legislation making it to his desk. rep. cummings: i am so glad you asked that question.
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i think we really need to be careful when listening to politicians talk about what they gon' do. [laughter] rep. cummings: let me be clear. you have a lot of talk. end, in the end, nothing happens. hook, ier after sandy riegelwith congressman of virginia, a republican, to try to get some meaningful legislation passed after sandy hook. remember that? and nothing happened. i think the question has to always be the bottom line. either you do it or you don't. you know, i think we play a
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, when i was are kid, they would play the little game where you shuffle things and put them -- what is happening is the republicans, listen to me carefully. they make these glorious statements. they will make these glorious statements. we love gun safety. the people want action. the people said, we want action. they will make these glorious statements and then they will know they can make the statements without any repercussions and they figure the president has their back. even if the president says nice things, i believe it is a situation where mcconnell has
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got his back. demand have to do is results. i would say to every editorial must in this world, you ask for action. what has come out of this? , do not ask a question in these difficult times -- why did something to you? ask the question, why did it happen for you? this is a moment in our history will be theists ones who open the door of the government and bring us to a new sense of normal. >> has speaker pelosi told you
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that she plans to call but congress? >> i have not talked to her about it. i would wholly supporter if she did. i think speaker pelosi is a phenomenal woman. i really do. courageous and she is one of the few people i know of that can galvanize this congress to address the issues of the american people and her sync with herin conduct every single day. i believe in her. i trust her. and i think if you are looking for signals to where we should be going, look to speaker pelosi. [applause] jeff: i do not to spend too much
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time on gun violence, but there are a couple of things popping up. the president is making his visits today -- visits to dayton and el paso, he said before he got on the helicopter that his rhetoric, quote, "brought people together." how would you size up the president's remarks? rep. cummings: let me be clear. [laughter] i want the president, as these many families again to bury their dead, to be a consoler in chief. it is so important. that is what i want from him. that is what people expect from leadership. i remember when president obama was president, we had a big meeting in the democratic caucus.
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and somebody was complaining about him not speaking up on certain things. president obama said something i shall never forget. he said, i didn't speak about it because i realized that every syllable that comes out of my mouth affects the world. said, i am very careful about what i say. i would hope that the president would consider that and i would hope that he will embrace these families. i know many of them -- i was watching the news this morning, thanks to you all, and there were protests and what have you. wantain, that is all i from him right now. and to sign the bills, of course. >> do we have a gun problem, anger problem, race problem, or
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mental health problem? >> you have all of it. haveave people who need to mental treatment, mental illness treatment. bent on people who are peoplearm and you have who are on the edge and i think sometimes these comments push them a little further. go through athat i week without getting a death threat. rarely. and i am just trying to do my job. people paidhat the me to do. the constitution says i must do. some people get confused. first was when i
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being interviewed by the new york times. this is before i became chairman. know, they say that you are the president's worst nightmare. i said, that hurts my feelings. i said, i am not about the business of being the president's worst nightmare. know, i'm doing my job. and i have these duties, but i said, guess what. president is probably a nice guy, but i love my democracy. i love my country. and i love my countrymen. more. hasther words, i love what led me to this moment.
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parents toropping the congress of the united states of america to a sold-out press club event, that is coming a long way. but only in america and only because of democracy. i get that. [applause] jeff: as you indicated during your remarks between the time you agreed to come here and today, the president made your appearance a bit more newsy from his remarks targeting your district. but your own governor has recently said, larry hogan, that he can't put all the blame on baltimore city on the president. rep. cummings: remind them that he is a republican. jeff: republican and he prides himself on being a son of a
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congressman who helped impeach nixon. but he did say that you could do more to help. everything you have been trying to do at the state level, you would love to have more help from the white house and from the congress to help the state help the city. what more do you think can be done? rep. cummings: a lot can be done. all the cutbacks that would affect cities have been significant. you know what, i want president trump to come to my district. god, i want him to come so bad. jeff: have you asked him? rep. cummings: no, i can't get to him. you are all doing a good job of it, put that in your editorials. i want him to come. i want him to come. i want him to come and look at
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my entire city. i will ride with him for hours. then i want him to go to baltimore county where the richest of the rich are. then i want him to go to howard county. then i want him to see all of the wonderful things that are happening. you know, when you beat up on people who have had difficulties and challenges in their lives, it doesn't help them. nobody in this room would do that. i invite him to do that, and we can again, there are many things i could talk to him about when he comes. we are talking about results. you all need to see when he comes. i want you all to be there. jeff: we will be there. rep. cummings: baltimore is a beautiful city. our former mayor, stephanie rollins blank -- stephanie
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rawlings blake is here with us. we work hard every day and she knows, we work hard every day. we have done some wonderful things. jeff: speaking of wonderful things, our good colleagues at the washington post did an interesting piece on efforts underway including yours but one thing that jumped out of the piece is that you had -- michael , who was tapped to run baltimore, all of these wonderful things but they are moving in different directions and not a lot is getting done. how do you get all of the oars to row in the same direction to get things done, not just in baltimore, but take it up a few thousand feet about urban challenges nationwide?
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>> sure. we all have to be rowing together. one of the things i challenge all of our organizations -- by the way, michael bloomberg has been phenomenal for baltimore. i could go down the list. what i have encouraged them to do, all of the philanthropists and people who want to help us, is not act in silos but to bring together the resources so they are made readily available to people. i have often said that there is nothing like an opportunity that you don't know about. again, i would encourage our true leaders to continue to urge folks to come together to work hard. peoplew, when you have in your district who are drug addicted, it is tough.
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people, since you are all here, i want you to look at mulvaney's former district rate look on the stats -- look mulvaney's former district. look at the stats on that. take a look at it and you will see an interesting comparison. we have to take people to higher ground. one thing i do agree with with regard to president trump, he said it is no time to be politically correct. he is right. this is no time because we are trying to save our nation. we need funds with regard to drug addictions. we need funds to build up our communities. me, there are thousands of people in baltimore who are working hard every day. --e of them did not operate
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they are not operating on a shoestring because they do not have a string. but they are coaching the basketball team. they are tutoring children after school. they are doing everything in their power to allow our children to reach their destinies. them to theke outreach center, something i worked on for 20 years, and he will see little children in a very depressed community sitting there learning code with regard to computers. i want to take him to all the different things that we need and perhaps he will help us. but we need somebody at the top making our cities -- and by the areas, do not forget them. do not forget them. they are very, very, very
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important. every time statements are made about the city, they forget that there are many suffering in appalachia, i will be going to appalachia in about a week or so. they have a serious drug problem in west virginia. serious. guess what, i am just as concerned about them as my next-door neighbor. jeff: we have about four minutes left so i will run through some quickies. since you talked about opioids, any prospects or further legislation on opioid abuse? rep. cummings: if the congress, and again, all of your editorial boards -- all of them, i want them to look at the care act which senator elizabeth warren and i cosponsored because it makes sense. instead of spending the $10 billion we are now spending, it
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would give us $100 billion. this drug problem is serious everywhere. it would allow local organizations working on this issue to have access to those funds. it will work on making sure -- we will work on making sure that doctors are trained and sensitive to drug addicted people. more blocksn bring bring a very important life-saving drug, we want to make sure that we get them to the people who need it. oxone, them with nal supplier of the drug big time. we are trying to get that in the
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hands of people who need it. >> on prescription drugs, the president was caught off guard drugrms of reducing prices. that is something you talked about in committee. conservatives are calling it socialism. how would you get a deal done? remember what i said a few minutes ago. hide and go seek. if the president once it done, it will get done. hello? if the president wants it done, it will be done. this hocus-pocus stuff does not work when people are dying. it does not work. let me say this, i have to say this. i know we have a minute. so ourbe clear
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presidential candidates do not get it twisted. do not get it twisted. you must read the article i referred you to. i am hoping in the next debate it will be part of the discussion. important that you go for higher ground. i must tell you that barack obama was a phenomenal president. [applause] seconds. a lot of people may think i did not cooperate with republicans when i was chairman, i cooperated and signed 700 letters with republicans investigating the obama administration. questions, then i will present you. rep. cummings: oh wow, just what
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i needed. [applause] any closer to impeachment? what was the other question? jeff: any closer on impeachment. rep. cummings: i got so excited about that one. i have said over and over again a time when impeachment may come, and i take the guidance of the phenomenal woman nancy pelosi. day that any administration , then i a court order am for impeachment. by that time, we are in trouble.
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we are in big trouble. it says the laws do not matter. , thet you to understand regular everyday guys asked me formsestion, is there two of justice? again, i will do everything in my power to lift up our nation to make it the very best that it can be. may god bless you all. [applause] jeff: thank you chairman cummings. thank you to the national press club. we are adjourned. rep. cummings: thank you. [chatter]
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>> c-span has live coverage of the 2020 presidential candidate at the iowa state fair starting thursday at 1:45 eastern with montana governor steve bullock, followed by former vice president joe biden. friday we are alive at 10:00 eastern with julian castro, and saturday we are live at 10:00 a.m. eastern with governor jay inslee, senator kamala harris, senator amy klobuchar, senator kiersten gillibrand, former colorado governor john hickenlooper, senator elizabeth warren, and senator cory booker. watch the 2020 democratic candidates live at the state air .n iowa thursday watch anytime live at c-span.org, or listen live wherever you are on the go using the free c-span radio
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