Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) criticized Attorney General William Barr over reports that the Justice Department is launching a criminal investigation of the Russia probe.

Said Warner: “Senate Intel is wrapping up a three-year bipartisan investigation, and we’ve found nothing remotely justifying this… He needs to come before Congress and explain himself.”

As current and former congressional staff of the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, we had the great honor and privilege of working with him over the course of more than two decades.

Many public figures have praised the chairman in recent days, extolling his unmatched integrity, courageous leadership and commitment to service and justice. To these well-deserved tributes, we would like to add our own eulogy, based on our experience working by his side.

He was inspiring, both in public and even more so in private. He brought moral clarity to everything he did, and his purpose was pure — to help those among us who needed it most. He taught us that our aim should be to “give a voice to the voiceless,” including families whose drinking water had been poisoned, sick patients who could no longer afford their medicine and, most of all, vulnerable children and “generations yet unborn.”
'What feeds your soul?'

Whether in a hearing room full of members of Congress or in a quiet conversation with staff, his example motivated us to become our best selves in the service of others.

He was genuine. He insisted on personally interviewing every staff member he hired so he could “look into their eyes.” Each of us has a personal memory of sitting down with him for the first time, and it was like nothing we had experienced before. He would ask why we were interested in public service, how we thought we could contribute and what motivated us.

Then he would lean in and ask in his low baritone voice, “But … what feeds your soul?”

More than a few of us left those interviews with tears in our eyes, perhaps feeling that we had learned more about ourselves than about him. He made that kind of personal connection with everyone he met, from the people of his district, to witnesses who testified at hearings, to whistleblowers who reported waste, fraud or abuse. Since his passing, we have been inundated with messages from many whose lives he touched.

Be efficient and seek 'higher ground'

He was demanding. He would boast that he had the hardest working staff in Congress and that he sometimes would call or email us in the middle of the night, which was absolutely true. His directive to be “effective and efficient in everything you do” still rings in our ears.

Dear President Donald Trump:Let me tell you about my ex-boss Elijah Cummings

In exchange, he listened to us, respected us and trusted us. He made sure we knew he was truly proud of us — memories we each now cherish. The result of his unwavering support was fierce loyalty from every member of his staff. We committed to doing everything in our power to fulfill his vision.

He was a unifying force, even in this era of partisanship. He would command order with a sharp rap of his gavel, elevate debate by noting that “we are better than that” and urge all of us to seek “not just common ground, but higher ground.”

Guided by his faith and values, he would look for and bring out the good in others, forming bridges through human connection.

We are here 'only for a minute'

He fully grasped the moment in which we are now living. He invoked history books that will be written hundreds of years from now as he called on us to “fight for the soul of our democracy.” As he said, this is bigger than one man, one president or even one generation.

He was acutely aware of his own transience in this world. He reminded us repeatedly that we are here “only for a minute” and that all of us soon will be “dancing with the angels.”

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He would thunder against injustice, or on behalf of those who could not fight for themselves, and he would vow to keep battling until his “dying breath.” He did just that. His final act as chairman came from his hospital bed just hours before his death, as he continued to fight for critically ill children suddenly in danger of deportation.

He had so much left to accomplish, but he has left it for us to complete. As he told us presciently, “These things don’t happen to us, they happen for us.”

Grateful he was part of our destiny

It is difficult to describe the emptiness we now feel. His spirit was so strong, and his energy so boundless, that the void is devastating.

But, of course, he left us with instructions: “Pain, passion, purpose. Take your pain, turn it into your passion, and make it your purpose.” He lived those words, and he inspired us to do the same.

Sometimes, after a big event, he would take us aside for a quiet moment and say, “I just want to thank you for everything you do and for being a part of my destiny.”

Today, we thank him for being part of ours. And we commit to carrying forward his legacy in the limited time allotted to each of us — to give voice to the voiceless, to defend our democracy, and to always reach for higher ground.

They created a process in the Intel Committee that’s behind closed doors doesn’t provide access to the president’s accuser. Shuts Republicans out for all practical purposes. And is an unworthy substitute for the way you need to do it is at its core un-American…What’s going on is a runaround the impeachment process. Creating a secret proceeding behind closed doors that fundamentally, in my view, denies due process. And when you’re talking about removing the president of the United States, seems to me you’d want to have a process that is consistent with who we are as Americans and consistent with what Bill Clinton was allowed to do, Richard Nixon was allowed to do.”

Rep. Anthony Brown (D-MD) immediately replied, “When he describes it that way, all he does is try to leave the impression that there’s something nefarious going on. Let’s keep in mind you have 25% of the Republican caucus in the U.S. House of representatives is in that room. That’s unprecedented….Let’s say, that a Democratic member has to ask questions and review documents, those exact privileges are available to Republican members and their why is this in closed session? Because much of the information is classified and a lot of it is and this is different from 1973 Nixon and 1998 Clinton because in those cases, they had a special prosecutor or an independent counsel who did what we’re doing now in closed session behind closed doors. So right now, Adam Schiff and the Intelligence Committee are doing what we did not — what we had done in ’73 and 1998 by special prosecutors and independent counsel.”

“It’s so terrible what’s happening,” Trump began.

“You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny,” he continued. “I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay?”

“I can tell you, I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad. But the left plays it cuter and tougher,” Trump went on.

"I think Shep's a great journalist," Zucker told CNN "Reliable Sources" host Brian Stelter at the network's Citizen conference in New York on Thursday afternoon. "When he's available, he is somebody who is very talented and I would be very open to talking to him."