Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) pleaded guilty Thursday to a single misdemeanor after being caught on camera trying to obstruct a federal proceeding by pulling a fire alarm in a Capitol office building. As politicians tried to avoid a government shutdown in September, the disturbance prompted the inhabitants to flee for 90 minutes.
Bowman, a Progressive Democrat extremist who portrayed protesters at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as “violent insurrectionists” whose “terrorist attack” necessitated a government crackdown, will pay a $1,000 fine and serve three months on probation. The fire alarm charge will subsequently be “dismissed from his record under an agreement with prosecutors,” the Associated Press reports.
Many of the J6 defendants who are getting years in prison did less than Jamaal Bowman did when he pulled that fire alarm to stop the vote on the spending bill that would help avoid a government shutdown.
The two-term member told reporters on Capitol Hill that he was “in a rush” and triggered the fire alarm after expecting the “FIRE” warning system would unlock the door.
“I tried the door, it didn’t work so I pulled the alarm thinking it would open. That didn’t work, so I went downstairs,” Bowman lied. “When that didn’t work, I went downstairs,” Bowman explained. “It was a dumb choice, but you know, it is what it is.”
Bowman’s lies are so disrespectful to not only his own constituents but to the American people in general that he should lose his seat in the next election. But he is from New York, and so he is safe.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELThe alarm led Democrats to evacuate the Cannon House office building as they attempted to postpone the vote.
“I really regret that this caused so much confusion and that people had to evacuate, and I just caused a disturbance. I hate that. It’s pretty embarrassing,” Bowman admitted after his plea.
Director of the Independent Women’s Forum’s Education Freedom Center, Ginny Gentles, noted on X that Bowman worked in schools before becoming a member of Congress. In fact, Bowman founded the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in Eastchester, Bronx, and served as its principal for a decade.
“He’s from a state that requires TWELVE fire drills per school year,” Gentles stated in an email. “The man knows exactly how fire alarms work.”
😂 Congressman Bowman regularly brags about his years as a teacher and principal. He's from a state that requires TWELVE fire drills per school year.
The man knows exactly how fire alarms work. https://t.co/d7XWGoe2K7 pic.twitter.com/smWPceXRk1
— Ginny Gentles (@ginnygentles) September 30, 2023
Bowman was also a member of the Lower Hudson Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. In 2022, he left over disagreements on policy regarding Israel.
The bill would “establish a national commission to investigate the terrorist attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6” as well as “investigate ties between members of U.S. Capitol Police and white supremacist movements.”
“How does it happen that a group of armed, violent insurrectionists are able to march into one of the most secure buildings on Earth and force members of Congress to hide under their desks?” Bowman proposed the bill two days after the protests.
Bowman’s judgment of the rioters who gathered at the Capitol to protest the rigged 2020 election contrasts sharply with his reaction to the year’s worth of protests-turned-riots by Black Lives Matter activists. Bowman was defending the Black Lives Matter anti-police protests when running for his first term many months previously.
“I am Black Lives Matter,” Bowman declared that fall.
The violent BLM riots that year caused up to $2 billion in damage, or 66 times the projected damage from the Capitol riot.
Bowman described the tragic protests after George Floyd’s death in a June 2020 interview with Mehdi Hasan for The Intercept as “the American way.”
“The foundation of America was protesting oppression from a foreign government, which was England,” Mr. Bowman explained. “American history is rooted in protesting and standing up to a government that’s not meeting our needs and pushing elected officials to do the right thing.”
