By ELLA TORRES, ABC NEWS
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Marco Rubio, attempting to pay tribute to Rep. John Robert Lewis, the Georgia Democrat and civil rights icon who died late Friday, instead tweeted out a photo of him standing with Rep. Elijah Cummings, who died last year.
Rubio’s tweet, which was deleted after about 20 minutes, read: “It was an honor to know & be blessed by with the opportunity to serve in Congress with JohnLewis a genuine & historic American hero. May the Lord grant him eternal peace.”
The senior senator from Florida also made that photo his Twitter avatar before later changing it to a photo of him and Lewis.
The social media flub caught the eye of many, and Rubio later tweeted that he’d shared “an incorrect photo.”
Earlier today I tweeted an incorrect photo
John Lewis was a genuine American hero
I was honored to appear together in Miami 3 years ago at an event captured in video below
My God grant him eternal resthttps://t.co/aEm4MxKxBP pic.twitter.com/0UpWSG3vNQ
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 18, 2020
Lewis, known as the “conscience of the U.S. Congress,” died seven months after a routine medical visit revealed he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He was 80.
Cummings, a long-serving Democratic congressman from Maryland, died in October due to complications from longstanding health challenges.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
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