Video captured a friend of the late Elijah Cummings refusing to shake Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s hand at the congressman’s memorial service in the Capitol.
The clip, which has been viewed 2.1 million times since it was uploaded to Twitter on Thursday, shows Bobby Rankin shaking hands with a number of lawmakers.
Rankin is one of the men listed as a pallbearer for Cummings’s funeral on Friday.
In the video, Rankin hugs House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) before shaking the hands of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
But Rankin bypasses McConnell (R-KY), who was standing next to Schumer, as he goes to hug Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
McConnell is clearly left stunned as Schumer can barely hold back a sly grin.
Bobby Rankin, a friend of the late Elijah Cummings, refused to shake Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s hand at a memorial service in the Capitol on Thursday (pictured)
Rankin was seen in the video hugging House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (left) and shaking the hands of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (right), House Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The clip then shows Rankin bypassing McConnell to chat with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Pictured: Rankin shakes hands with Schumer
Pictured, from left: Pelosi, McConnell, Schumer, McCarthy, Hoyer and Jim Clyburn stand next to the flag-draped casket of Cummings as the late congressman lies in state
Despite the snub, McConnell, eulogized Cummings during the memorial service and described as a man who ‘did not just represent Baltimore, he embodied it.’
‘He celebrated its victories, sought to advocate for its needs, and worked to heal its wounds,’ McConnell said.
‘He knew there was only one reason why a son of sharecroppers, a child who had literally had to bear the injuries of bigotry, and segregation, could graduate from law school, and eventually chair, a powerful committee in Congress.
‘Only one reason, because principle leaders had fought to give kids like him a chance.’
Cummings, who was a leading force in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, will be eulogized on Friday by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in his hometown of Baltimore.
The funeral For Cummings (pictured, June 2019) will be held at New Psalmist Baptist Church on Friday
Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, also will be among those honoring Cummings at a 10am funeral service at the city’s New Psalmist Baptist Church.
A son of sharecroppers, Cummings served for 22 years in the US House of Representatives before his death on October 17.
He was an ardent civil rights voice who decades ago endured violence from white mobs as he and other African-Americans sought to integrate a public swimming pool.
The 13-term congressman was credited with helping calm tensions in Baltimore in 2015 when violence erupted following the death of an African-American man, Freddie Gray, in police custody.
Cummings was also a high-profile antagonist of Trump, who launched his June 2015 campaign for president promising to crack down on illegal immigration, saying Mexico was sending rapists into the United States.
Two years later as president, Trump reacted to a weekend of deadly violence during a ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Virginia saying there were ‘very fine people’ on both sides of the demonstrations.
The funeral was being held in Cummings’s congressional district, which Trump vilified earlier this year as ‘disgusting, rat and rodent infested.’
Cummings served for 22 years in the US House of Representatives before his death on October 17. Pictured: The flag-draped casket of Cummingsis escorted up the East Front Steps of the US Capital on Thursday
Before his death, Cummings death led a series of investigations into Trump’s administration and business dealings. Pictured, from left: Pelosi, McConnell, Schumer, McCarthy, Hoyer James Clyburn and Senator Ben Cardin, look on as Cummings’s casket of arrives for a ceremony in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol on Thursday
Cummings was an ardent civil rights voice who endured violence from white mobs as he a sought to integrate a public swimming pool. Pictured: McConnell and Schumer pay respects at a memorial service for Cummings at the US Capitol Hill on Thursday
McConnell was one of several who eulogized Cummings during the memorial service. The Senator described Cummins as a man who ‘did not just represent Baltimore, he embodied it’
Cummings responded by saying Trump should visit his majority-black congressional district. ‘I’ll ride with him for hours…I want him to see all of the wonderful things that are happening.’
Trump, who is scheduled to speak at a historically black college in South Carolina, is not expected to attend the funeral. It is not clear if other White House officials will be there.
As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings before his death led a series of investigations into Trump’s administration and business dealings.
He had been a central figure in Democrats’ ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president’s dealings with Ukraine.