Spotted— Rev. Al Sharpton and Morning Joe host, fmr House Rep, seated side by side along with Mika Brzezinski.
Who’s who of DC politics here.
Jerry Nadler, Paul Ryan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Meadows, Adam Schiff, Ted Cruz, Amy Klobuchar and dozens more waiting on the body of Elijah Cummings to arrive.
Just arrived Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Camera shutters only sound in the room.
Cummings will be the first black lawmaker to ever lie in state inside the US Capitol. He died on Oct 17 at age 68.
Cummings once chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, members seated together in the crowd this morning.
Rep. Cummings’ body has arrived, now resting at the front of the room draped with velvet red curtains encircled by statues of Americans including civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Near his casket are 2 red & white rose wreaths, one with a banner that says senate, another house.
Opening up with prayer from Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, here’s what’s next:
Comments from House and Senate leaders focused on Cummings' resounding legacy but steered clear of politics with the exception of one comment by Speaker Pelosi:
“It was in defense of the children at the border that Elijah said 'We can be better.'”
Cummings chaired the House Oversight Committee with three Dems on the #Squad sitting as freshmen members including @AOC.
Pelosi said Cummings asked for it -- “Give me as many freshmen as you can. I love their potential and I want to help them realize it.”
Rep Ayanna Presley seen wiping away tears as she gathered around the casket with other members of the Congressional Black Caucas.
Earlier, Rep Mark Meadows, Republican and longtime friend of Cummings choked up giving his remarks.
Guests are now passing the casket & headed out.
“His authority came not from the office he held, nor from the timber of his voice, nor its sometimes thundering boom. It came from the moral force of his life.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this morning at the ceremony for Elijah Cummings. courthousenews.com/tribute-to-cum…
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are set to testify virtually at the top of the hour to the Senate Judiciary Committee about online misinformation and the 2020 election. Follow for live updates. @CourthouseNews
Sen Chuck Grassley, 87, who sits on the committee (also serves as Senate president pro tempore) announced just this morning that he tested positive for COVID-19 and will be working remotely from home.
Chairman Lindsey Graham will appear in person today, but has given other senators the option to question the tech CEOs remotely or in person.
Judge Emmet Sullivan: “Regardless of how someone votes, we want everyone's vote to be counted.”
Sullivan on a videoconference hearing right now discussing with plaintiffs and DOJ moving the USPS lawsuits to a more typical schedule, with no more daily hearings.
Notable data from this morning's USPS production:
In Pennsylvania, 170 ballots cast on Sunday Nov 1 were not delivered until Saturday Nov 7 -- after the state's Friday deadline to count ballots postmarked by Election Day.
NEW: USPS reports in court filing that “all clear” sweeps of facilities located 1,703 ballots in Penn and 540 in NC — 2,243 total between the two swing states with extended ballot receipt deadlines.
Total findings from USPS daily searches for misplaced ballots >>>
Update: DOJ telling Judge Sullivan that discrepancies in the above records were "growing pains," with different personnel filling out different forms for the first time yesterday to provide the info to the court.
Hearing coming up at the top of the hour on the USPS lawsuits over possible delayed delivery of mail-in ballots.
Yesterday, Judge Sullivan indicated Postmaster DeJoy was not "off the hook" for failing to follow an Election Day order to sweep facilities for misplaced ballots.
Note that court staff have set up two more public lines after hundreds of people dialed in yesterday:
We also got a dump of data from USPS in the last hour or so on:
Extra and late trips
On-time delivery percentages
Number of inbound/outbound ballots processed
(all stats the agency has been sharing/updating daily over the last week)
In a hearing set to begin momentarily, Judge Sullivan plans to question "the apparent lack of compliance" by USPS with his order to sweep postal facilities on Election Day to make sure no ballot was left behind. @CourthouseNews background: courthousenews.com/postal-service…
Sullivan, always very friendly with both parties, is NOT happy.
“I would like you to explain just what the heck happened yesterday.”
Judge Sullivan says that Postmaster General DeJoy may need to appear before him to testify.
Judge Sullivan is preparing to issue an order for OIG inspectors to sweep USPS processing facilities today that had low processing scores for ballots delivered yesterday -- including in Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania -- to make sure no mail-in ballots are left behind.
Text of the proposed order, which will change slightly in the final order including the 3 o'clock deadline pushed to 4:30>>>
NAACP motion for further relief filed moments before this morning's hearing>>>