This archive report was first published on 17 October 2019.
October 17, 2019, marked a somber day in the House of Representatives as news of the passing of Representative Elijah E. Cummings spread.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings played a pivotal role in the impeachment inquiry, lending his signature to letters seeking witnesses and information alongside Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and Eliot L. Engel, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
His commanding voice and moral authority brought clarity to the effort, and his absence has left a void that will be difficult to fill.
House Democratic leaders now face practical questions, including whether proceedings will take a break for mourning and who will take the gavel at the Oversight Committee.
Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York is next in seniority, but she has not played a large public role in the oversight of the Trump White House.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi must also decide what will happen to the Oversight Committee's main threads of investigation, including the push for financial records of President Trump and the Trump Organization.
On Thursday, mourning was the order of the day, with Representative Kevin McCarthy of California writing, 'As a member of the House of Representatives, Elijah was a leader for both parties to emulate, and someone to share a laugh with even amongst the most contentious times. His presence will be deeply missed.'
Meanwhile, Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, will testify before House impeachment investigators that President Trump essentially delegated American foreign policy on Ukraine to his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Sondland will say that he did not understand until later that Giuliani's goal may have been an effort 'to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the president's 2020 re-election campaign.'
