Cummings Accuses Issa of Thinking 'He's Back in the 1930's' After Microphone Cut Off

Cummings Accuses Issa of Thinking 'He's Back in the 1930's' After Microphone Cut Off

On the “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” Roland Martin interviewed Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) about House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) cutting off Cummings microphone this week at a hearing on the IRS scandal…

At first Cummings accused Issa of thinking it was the 1930’s:

ROLAND MARTIN : …Speaking of looking forward to something, did it get a little funky or what in Capital Hill a couple of days ago, in the hearing room where Congressman Darrell Issa cut the microphone off a brother, Congressman Elijah Cummings. And Congressman Cummings was about to straight go crazy. He joins us, he went off on Congressman Issa, and Congressman Cummings joins us right now. And Congressman, I told when you did the show you need to have a bullhorn next to your ankle next time so when he cuts your microphone off you can pull that bullhorn out and keep talking.

CUMMINGS: Yeah, I … you know, I think that Darrell Issa thought he was back in the 1930s or something. And I had to remind him that I am a member of the Congress of the United States too. And I represent over 700,000 people too. And you cannot have a hearing where the democrats are not allowed to say one syllable.

Then Cummings and the Tom Joyner crew joked about how the “brothas and the sistas” in his neighborhood would respond to a visit from Issa:

CUMMINGS: He basically said, at the end of our conversation he said; I’m sorry.

SYBIL WILKES: Wait. He called you, and you all talked, and at the very end he said; I’m sorry?

CUMMINGS: Yeah. Yeah. He called me actually about something else, and at the end of it he said; I’m sorry and I shouldn’t have acted that way.

WILKES: And what was your response?

CUMMINGS: I just said; we cannot operate like this. That this is America and that, you know, I accepted Issa’s apology but I said, you got to do better than this, brother. You got to do better.

MARTIN: Did you also remind him where The Wire was based that’s where you actually live?

CUMMINGS: I told him, yeah, I always remind him that I been living 32 years in the neighborhood where The Wire was filmed with the brothas and the sistas …

JOYNER: That have somebody.

MARTIN: Why don’t you invite Congressman Issa over to the house for dinner just so he can know.

JOYNER: Yeah.

WILKES: But …

CUMMINGS: …You know what, the brothers in my neighborhood know him by first name and last name. I think they would welcome him.

And finally Cummings said he received racist phone messages due to the incident.

JOYNER: Have you ever seen such disrespect?

CUMMINGS: No, I have not. And, you know what …

JOYNER: Calling the President a liar to the State of the Union … to cut his microphone off?

WILKES: They’re doing all of these actions and disrespecting people like Congressman Cummings and doing it and getting the applause of the people who hate the President and disrespect the party.

CUMMINGS: That’s exactly right, because we got a lot of calls in my office from haters that consistently use the N word over and over again.

WILKES: See.

CUMMINGS: About 90% of them, or other people, were saying; thank you for doing that.

MARTIN : Wow.

CUMMINGS: So.

WILKES: They got work to do.

JOYNER: My man.

MARTIN : Congressman, the brothers from the hood got your back. So let us know when we need to show up at a hearing, we’ll make sure that microphone stays on next time.

CUMMINGS: Evidently we should have a hearing in my neighborhood.

MARTIN : Oh, yeah, you’re going to be about your damn self on that one. You’re gonna have all the microphone time you want.

JOYNER: From Baltimore ….

Follow Pam on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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