Rep. Elijah Cummings slammed President Donald Trump for telling reporters Thursday the Maryland Democrat had canceled a meeting with him because it could damage him politically.
"I have no idea why President Trump would make up a story about me like he did today," Cummings said in a statement. "Of course, Sen. [Chuck] Schumer never told me to skip a meeting with the president."
Schumer, the New York Democrat, is the Senate Minority Leader.
"I also sincerely have no idea why the president made this claim in response to an unrelated question about the Congressional Black Caucus," added Cummings, who is a member of the organization. "I am sure members of the CBC can answer these questions for themselves."
In response to a question about meeting with the caucus to discuss his plan to revive inner cities, Trump said, "I actually thought I had a meeting with Congressman Cummings.
"I was all set to have that meeting. We called him and called him.
"I spoke to him on the phone, and he wanted it.
"He was all excited — and then he said, 'Oh, I can’t move it,'" the president added. "'It might be bad for me politically. I can't have that meeting.'
"He was probably told by Schumer — or some other lightweight — 'Don't meet with Trump. It's bad politics.'
"That's part of the problem in this country."
Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he was "actually looking forward to meeting with the president about the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs."
He added he had hoped to present a proposal that would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices, which he had been working on with Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent.
"The president has said many times that he supports this proposal, so I wanted to have our bill ready to get his support," Cummings said.