Representative Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) was charged by Capitol Police with a misdemeanor on Wednesday for pulling a fire alarm under false pretenses to delay a House spending vote.
Bowman, a member of the progressive informal group of legislators known as “the Squad,” said in an affidavit filed in a Washington, D.C., Superior Court that the alarm triggered “was [from] a usual door he uses” during votes and that he “did not tell anyone” about the incident until the Sergeant at Arms contacted him.
The representative denied any intention “to cause a fire alarm,” “to cause a security concern,” or disruption aimed at obstructing a congressional proceeding.
“I’m thankful from the District of Columbia Attorney General’s office on this issue and grateful that the United States Capitol Police General Counsel’s agreed I did not obstruct or intend to obstruct any House vote or proceedings,” Bowman said in a statement shortly after the announcement. “I am responsible for activating a fire alarm, I will be paying the fine issued, and look forward to these charges being ultimately dropped,” he added.
In late September, Bowman left the second floor of the Cannon House Office Building and triggered a fire alarm ahead of a contentious House vote which led to an evacuation of the building.
House Republicans argued that Bowman had done it intentionally to postpone a crucial vote avoiding a government shutdown. Nicole Malliotakis (R., N.Y.) called for a resolution demanding Bowman’s expulsion from Congress following the incident: “This is the United States Congress, not a New York City high school.” Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said the House Ethics Committee should open an investigation.
Bowman responded to the accusations in a statement shortly after the September 30 incident by insisting that it was not a vote-delaying tactic. “It was the exact opposite,” the New York representative said in a statement released afterward. “I was trying urgently to get to a vote, which I ultimately did and joined my colleagues in a bipartisan effort to keep our government open. I also met after the vote with the Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol Police, at their request, and explained what had happened.”
Bowman’s office later disseminated talking points to House Democrats comparing Republicans to behaving like “Nazis” in a bid to deflect attention from the matter. “I believe Congressman Bowman when he says this was an accident,” a memo drafted by the representative’s office reads. “Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.”
Another bullet point encouraged Democratic representatives to place blame on “MAGA” Republicans for “last-minute votes” pertaining to the stopgap spending bill. Another said the “signage on the doors is unnecessarily confusing.”