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Elijah E. Cummings, a powerful Democrat who investigated Trump, dies at 68

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a son of sharecroppers who rose to become one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and a key figure in the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump, died Thursday in Baltimore, his spokeswoman said. He was 68.

His death resulted from “complications concerning long-standing health challenges,” the spokeswoman, Trudy Perkins, said in a statement, without elaborating on the cause.

As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Cummings, of Maryland, had sweeping power to investigate Trump and his administration — and he used it.

A critical ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Cummings spent his final months in Congress sparring with the president, calling Trump’s effort to block congressional lines of inquiry “far worse than Watergate.