flouri flourish. that s how we ll honor him. that s how we ll remember him, that s what he would hope for. may god bless the memory of the very honorable, elijah cummings. and may god bless this city and the state and this nation that he loved. god bless you. thank you. former president barack obama, a man he paid tribute to as the master of the house. the first african-american to lie in state in congress. this extraordinary funeral service included two former presidents, speaker of the house and close friends and others paying tribute to elijah cummings.
elijah e. cummings, and you know this is a title that we confer on all kinds of people who get elected to public office. we are supposed to introduce them as honorable but but elijah cummings was honorable before he was elected office. there is a difference. there is a difference if you were honorable and treated others honorably.
modulated bill clinton, clearly aged. with me, chuck todd here in the studio. chuck, we haven t seen bill clinton in a while speaking. and reflecting the elijah cummings that was beloved in washington and on capitol hill. i think it s remarkable how easily is a nation we mourn without our president. nobody i don t think is missing the president s voice in this. you think about some of the political leaders we ve buried in the last two or three years, and of course some of them have requested not to have the president around. it s remarkable how he doesn t get involved in this. here we see another former president. i ll keep my mouth shut. governor, friends, colleagues, staff. the seeds on good soil.
[ applause ] the parable of the soil tells us, stands for those with a noble and good heart. who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a cr crop. the seed on good soil. elijah cummings came from good soil. [ applause ] and in this sturdy frame, goodness took root. his parents were sharecroppers from the south.
national statutory hall for the service and was directly in front of the house chamg ber where he served for 23 years. former president es barack obama and bill clinton along with former secretary of state hillary clinton, and house speaker nancy pelosi are among those who will speak at his funeral this morning in baltimore. joining me now, reporter for the washington post, eugene scott, eugene despite the deep divisions in washington right now, with all that is going on, there was an overwhelming amount of support across the aisle, both republicans and democrats, as we just saw there, honoring the life of congressman cummings. talk us through that. indeed. representative cummings was known for his ability to lead other lawmakers in bipartisanship. you heard mark meadows speak. he had very positive interactions, to many people s surprises, with trey gowdy, something the former lawmaker actually wrote about in the