The bizarre footage of Jamaal Bowman pulling the fire alarm during votes to avoid a government shutdown has been released.
The new clip shows the Democratic New York Rep. pulling down a red warning sign and knocking down another in the incident that led to criminal charges.
The video obtained by NY1 shows Bowman, who insists he was rushing to get to votes, approaching double doors in the Cannon House Office Building in September.
The 47-year-old picks up one of the red signs, tries to open the left door and then turns to pull the fire alarm.
The member of the ‘Squad’ has insisted he didn’t mean to pull the fire alarm, claiming he believed it would open a door.
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The full footage of the moment Jamaal Bowman pulled the fire alarm during votes to avoid a government shutdown has been released
The bizarre new clip shows the Democratic New York Rep. pulling down a red warning sign and knocking down another in the incident that led to criminal charges
Rep. Jamaal Bowman has been criminally charged with one misdemeanor count for pulling the fire alarm during a House vote
But the release of the video has raised questions about what he was trying to do.
In the footage, it appears he doesn’t t try and open the door when he pulled the alarm.
Bowman briefly appeared in DC Superior Court on Thursday morning and pleaded guilty.
Under an agreement with prosecutors Bowman will have to pay a $1,000 fine and write an apology to Capitol Police.
The charge was for ‘willfully and knowingly [giving] a false alarm of fire, in violation of DC code’ and the New York Democrat was ordered to appear in court for arraignment on Thursday.
He has said he will pay a $1,000 fine and issue a formal apology to Capitol Police to have the charge dropped.
‘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 said in a statement.
Capitol Police have now concluded their investigation into the September 30 incident that Bowman’s office described as a mistake.
‘We finished our investigation. Our agents gathered all the evidence, packaged it up, and sent the entire case with charges to prosecutors for their consideration,’ they said in a statement.
Bowman, a former school principal, said he had pulled the alarm trying to open a door in a rush to get to a vote.
But the incident came as Democrats were trying to delay a vote on a bill to extend the government funding deadline and avert a government shutdown.
Obtained by @NY1: Footage of Rep. Bowman pulling the fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Bldg on Sept. 30.
Bowman pleaded guilty this morning in court to “willfully or knowingly giving false fire alarm” in DC. pic.twitter.com/HaBBAaLQqI
— Kevin Frey (@KevinFreyTV) October 26, 2023
Democrat Rep. Jamal Bowman says claims he purposefully pulled a fire alarm to disrupt House Republicans as they debated a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown are ‘BS.’
‘I thought the alarm would open the door,’ Bowman told reporters about the incident.
‘I was rushing to make a vote, I was trying to get to a door.’
‘[Bowman] pulled a fire alarm in Cannon this morning,’ a spokesperson for the Congressional Administration Committee said. ‘An investigation into why it was pulled is underway.’
Bowman called the notion that he pulled the fire alarm to delay a vote ‘complete BS.’
Rep. Bryan Steil, chair of the House Administration Committee, said of the charge: ‘Bowman’s excuse does not pass the sniff test. After pulling the fire alarm, Rep. Bowman fled the scene, passed by multiple Capitol Police officers and had every opportunity to alert USCP of his mistake.’
Bowman’s stunt incensed Republicans, with Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., drafting a resolution to expel him.
But House repercussions for Bowman were derailed by the ouster of Kevin McCarthy and the three-week impasse to find a speaker that followed.