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Rep. Elijah Cummings' meeting with President Donald Trump comes at a sensitive time for Democrats. | AP Photo

By Kyle Cheney

02/08/17 03:00 PM EST

Updated 02/08/17 05:39 PM EST

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) plans to press President Donald Trump on voter suppression of minorities in a White House meeting scheduled for next week a response to Trump's false claim that mass voter fraud tainted the 2016 popular vote.

Though the meeting is ostensibly to discuss a potential area of bipartisan cooperation lowering prescription drug prices Cummings said Trump's widely debunked claim compels him to raise his concerns about minorities being denied the right to vote.

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"I have no choice. It would be malpractice not to," he told reporters Wednesday at a Democratic retreat in Baltimore.

Trump has pledged to launch an investigation into voter fraud in the 2016 election, despite widespread bipartisan agreement that there's no evidence to support Trump's charge that 3 million to 5 million illegal votes were cast. But he has twice delayed plans to begin that process. Cummings said that if he does spend taxpayer dollars on such an investigation, voter suppression should be part of the analysis.

"It has now become normal, it has become baked in the cake, that we should be able to expect that not everybody is going to be able to vote," he said. "We cannot allow that to be our normal. And I will fight to the death to make sure that doesnt happen."

Cummings said he's received letters from about a dozen state attorneys general affirming that no widespread voter fraud occurred in their states, and he expects letters from all 50 attorneys general by the end of next week.

If Cummings holds his meeting with Trump next week, he would one of the first Democratic House members to huddle with Trump since he was inaugurated. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Republican and Democratic leaders for an introductory meeting last month. And last week, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, joined his Republican counterpart Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas) to talk tax reform with Trump.

A group of moderate Democratic senators, central to Trump's legislative agenda, were slated to meet with Trump on Thursday.

Cummings appears to be one of the few House Democrats to have developed a rapport with Trump, who reportedly called him last month and offered condolences shortly after one of the congressman's aides lost six children in a house fire. An aide confirmed that prescription drug prices were among the topics the two discussed on the phone.

Cummings said he's planning to meet Trump one-on-one, though an aide said he's still determining if others will join him. A White House spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment on the meeting.

Cummings is also the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, a top watchdog of government spending. The committee's chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), had a 30-minute meeting with Trump Wednesday but said no oversight business was discussed.

Asked whether he had any concerns about Chaffetz's private meeting at a time he's charged with being a watchdog of the executive branch, Cummings mentioned his own planned meeting with Trump and said, "No, I'm not worried about it."

Cummings' meeting also comes at a sensitive time for Democrats. The party's base, still anguished over Trump's election, has come down sharply against any sort of collaboration with the president. A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll out Wednesday shows just a third of Democrats want their party's leaders to work with Trump.

But the rising price of prescription drugs has emerged, along with infrastructure investments, as one of a handful of possible areas of Democratic collaboration with the Republican president.

Opposition for oppositions sake, even if we think the policies proposed are good for the American people ... I think the public would not think thats our responsibility or duty," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to lower drug prices and has called for allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies to bring down costs. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer affirmed Trumps commitment Tuesday to letting Medicare negotiate drug prices.

Heather Caygle contributed reporting from Baltimore.

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Democrat Cummings to discuss voter suppression in meeting with Trump - Politico