Rep. Cummings (D-MD): “Our committee is going to be looking at DOD. We’re sending a letter to them.”

In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley on Sunday, April 22, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) confirmed that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on which he serves as Ranking Member, would be sending a letter of inquiry to the Department of Defense (DOD) about their knowledge of the prostitution scandal now enveloping the Secret Service, and any possible DOD personnel who may have been involved.  A highlighted excerpt from this interview is below.

Mandatory citation: CNN’s State of the Union:

CROWLEY: Let me ask you as a final question, you have mentioned a couple times that folks in your district ask you with regularity about the safety of this president.  Do you have more concerns with the safety of this president because he’s African-American than you would have had for, say, George Bush or those that —

CUMMINGS: First of all, let me say I have concern about all presidents and everybody that the Secret Service guards.  (CROSSTALK)

CUMMINGS: But the fact is that African-American people have always expressed concern to me about this president. They see, Candy, folk around this president with guns strapped on their legs.  And they say, you know, how can that be?  And they’re just — they worry. They’re concerned, but, again, I believe that the Secret Service is going to get through this. I think this is a time that they have to take a look at themselves.

By the way, the other thing we’re doing is we’re also going to be taking — our committee is going to be looking at DOD.  We’re sending a letter to them, trying to figure out what role they played in all of this, too.

State of the Union with Candy Crowley airs Sundays at 9:00am and 12:00pm on CNN.  The full transcript for this program will be posted to http://www.cnn.com/transcripts later today.

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